MALLORY AND IRVINE ... can we ever get enough of that story?

Having spotted a recent article about a British expedition going to the Himalaya to search for Sandy Irvine's body, and a recent reading of EVEREST THE UNCLIMBED RIDGE, prompted me to revisit that fateful 1924 Everest expedition. As with many mountaineers, and the general public, the story of Mallory and Irvine continually captivates. (In college I studied at a carrel in the basement of the library right next to the mountaineering book collection. Of course, it is debatable how much studying got done.)

I started my revisit to the 1924 MEE with a viewing of the engaging video LOST ON EVERST. This video, which is just under an hour in length can be rented online from the Steep Edge Film website. I must admit I have always had very mixed feelings about this expedition to search for the bodies of the climbers. In my mind it seemed sensationalist, with more than just a little commercialism thrown in the mix. Happy to report the video is informative, tastefully done, and clearly portrays the spirit of the adventure as something of a quest for knowledge ... Sort of like a high-altitude archaeological

From there I went on to peruse the very good Breashears and Salkeld book entitled LAST CLIMB. The text is fine, however the pictorial record they present is exquisite. Next up was a quick skim of Peter and Leni Gillman's THE WILDEST DREAM, with a Netflix viewing of the film of the same name. Finally, if I skip back in time a month, I can mention that I listened only drive to Yosemite (for the third time) to Jeffrey Archer's quite readable novel PATHS OF GLORY.

For all of my mountaineering life, I have to admit I was always pulling for Mallory and Irvine to have made the summit and hope that they had perished on the descent, maybe after an unplanned bivouac. I have to say that watching Conrad Anker free the second step in THE WILDEST DREAM, tells me they could have just maybe met the technical challenges. However, the fact that neither Anker or Houlding were still in period clothing and gear - as they were in the beginning of the film - tells me they knew they couldn't manage this bit and the summit a la Mallory. Still ... We will never know ... From LOST ON EVERST on to PATHS OF GLORYit is a story well worth revisiting