A foot believed to belong to a British climber who went missing 100 years ago has been found on Mount Everest, in a discovery that may solve one of mountaineering’s biggest mysteries.
Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine had attempted to climb Everest in June 1924 with his partner when the pair vanished. While his partner’s remains were eventually retrieved, Irvine’s body was never discovered.
But last month a team of climbers filming a National Geographic documentary stumbled on the foot, revealed by melting ice on a glacier.
Well-known adventurer Jimmy Chin, who led the team, hailed the discovery as a “monumental and emotional moment”.
Many have wondered if his team succeeded in becoming the first people to summit Everest, 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the top.
Over the years, some have tried to search for Irvine’s body, external as he was said to have been carrying a camera with undeveloped film which could prove that he and his climbing partner George Mallory had succeeded.
British authorities are now verifying the identity of the foot using a DNA sample, according to a National Geographic report, external. The BBC has asked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.
But the filmmaking team is fairly confident it belongs to Irvine, due to the sock found inside the boot being embroidered with the words “A.C. Irvine”.
“I mean, dude… there’s a label on it,” Chin was quoted as saying.
The discovery was made when the team descended the Central Rongbuk Glacier by the north face of Everest in September.
Along the way, they found an oxygen bottle marked with the date 1933. An Everest expedition that year had found an item belonging to Irvine.
Energised by this possible sign that Irvine’s body could be nearby, the team searched the glacier for several days, before one of them saw the boot emerging from melting ice.
It was a fortuitous spot – they estimated the ice had only melted a week before their discovery.
The foot has since been removed because of concerns that ravens were disturbing it, according to reports, and passed to the Chinese mountaineering authorities who govern the north face of Everest.
Julie Summers, a descendent of Irvine, said in a statement that she was “moved to tears” when Mr Chin told her about the discovery. “It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment.”
“Sometimes in life the greatest discoveries occur when you aren’t even looking. This was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we just hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large,” said Chin, who is known for making Oscar-winning climbing documentary Free Solo.
Aged 22 when he disappeared, Irvine was the youngest member of an expedition that has intrigued the mountaineering world for a century.
The pair was last seen alive on 8 June 1924 as they set off for the peak.
Mallory’s body would not be found until 1999 by an American climber. In recent decades, the search for the climbers’ remains has been mired in controversy amid suspicions that the bodies were moved, external.
