George Mallory and Andrew Irvine vanish near the summit of Everest
On this day · 8 June 1924
On 8 June 1924 two British climbers were last seen "going strong for the top" high on Everest, then disappeared into the mist forever.
On 8 June 1924, British mountaineers George Mallory and his young partner Andrew “Sandy” Irvine set off from their high camp on Mount Everest, aiming to become the first people to reach the highest point on Earth. It was the third summit attempt of the 1924 British expedition.
That afternoon, geologist Noel Odell glimpsed the pair through a break in the clouds, high on the ridge and “going strong for the top,” nearing the base of the final summit pyramid. The mist closed in, and the two men were never seen alive again. Whether they reached the summit before they died remains one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries.
Because it’s there.
That was Mallory’s famous answer when a reporter asked why he wanted to climb Everest. His body was found in 1999 at 8,156 metres, and partial remains believed to be Irvine’s surfaced in 2024 — yet neither discovery has settled whether they stood on the summit 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s confirmed 1953 ascent.
Sources & references
3 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 3 independent sources.
