For the past 100 years, it has been a mystery surrounding explorers climbing Mount Everest, but the discovery of a severed human foot may finally provide some answers.
Last month, a team of film climbers said they discovered an ancient leather shoe protruding from melting ice on the central Rongbuk Glacier, below the north face of Mount Everest. Upon closer inspection, the filmmakers discovered a sock still in the shoe, with the foot inside, with an embroidered tag of “AC Irvine.”
When asked if he thought the remains belonged to Andrew Irvine, director and climber Jimmy Chin said: “I mean, dude, there’s a label on it.”
Jimmy Chin/National Geographic via AP
Immediately, the National Geographic documentary team said they realized this was no ordinary shoe. They believe it belongs to English mountaineer Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine, who attempted to summit Everest with his climbing partner George Mallory in June 1924.
British mountaineer George Mallory is seen with Andrew Irvine at base camp in Nepal as they prepare to summit Mount Everest in June 1924. It is the last photo of the men before they disappeared up the mountain.
AP image, file
Irvine, 22, and Mallory, 38, may have been the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, although it is so far impossible to determine, as the duo never returned.
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Since then, this mystery has fascinated people inside and outside the international mountaineering community. Much of the fascination was with the camera Irvine carried during the trip, which likely contained incomplete film to prove whether he and Mallory reached the summit.
Photographer and director Jimmy Chin told National Geographic that the discovery of the foot made his team “have everything.” Literally running in circles Dropping F bombs.
A sock embroidered with “AC Irvine”, along with a shoe, were discovered in the central Rongbuk Glacier beneath the north face of Mount Everest by a team led by Jimmy Chen.
Jimmy Chin/National Geographic via AP
He speculated that the shoe had melted from the ice about a week or so before it was discovered.
Chen said the crows disturbed the remains, so his team asked the Sino-Tibetan Mountaineering Association for permission to hike down the mountain in a cool place.
Although the team cannot say with certainty whether the remains belong to Irvin, Chen is confident that they do.
“But I mean, my friend,” he said. “There’s a sticker on it.”
Chen called Irvin’s living relatives to share the news.
Julie Summers, 64, said the foot and shoe “tell the whole story about what probably happened.”
Summers, who wrote a biography about her great-uncle, told National Geographic magazine that the discovery is a form of closure. She speculated that Irvine’s remains may have been transported down Mount Everest by avalanches, and later crushed by the moving glacier.
The foot’s DNA will be tested and compared to samples provided by living Irvin family members.
Before the shoe was discovered, Chen said his team identified an oxygen bottle bearing the date 1933. That year, an expedition of climbers discovered an ice ax that had belonged to Irvine.
Chen and his team did not reveal exactly where the remains were found in an attempt to discourage others from searching for trophies.
Mallory’s remains were discovered in 1999. His body had a broken leg and showed signs of deep rope tears, meaning he had likely suffered a fall. Many believe that Irvine would have fallen with him, as it is common practice for climbers to chain each other together.
Mallory was reportedly carrying a photo of his wife while climbing Mount Everest, which he intended to leave for the summit. The photo was not of him, and his snow goggles were in his pocket, leading some to believe that he and Irvin actually made their ascent.
Before now, there was no trace of Irvine.
Irvine and Mallory attempted to summit Everest 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay ascended to the summit. Hillary, an explorer from New Zealand, and Norgay, a Sherpa mountaineer from Nepal, are the first two people to reach the summit of Everest.
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