Here are excerpts with minor adaptations from the London Sunday Times of 9 May 1999 written by Nicholas Hellen on receiving news from the "Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition" at that time retiring from their successful exploration of the 8000m zone on the North East Ridge route of Mt. Everest
 

Mallory's body found-reports

High on the north face of Everest, the search party struggled to contain their euphoria. "Coming down for Snickers and tea.'' they radioed to base camp. Decoded, the message said: "We have found the body of George Mallory.'' He was frozen solid, like a Greek porcelain god, forever possessed of the physique of the 38-year-old athlete whose expeditions to claim the first ascent of Everest illuminated the 1920s.

The mystery of his disappearance near the summit on June 8, 1924, became over the next 75 years a symbol of vanished heroism, summed up by his explanation of why he returned three times to tackle the world's highest peak: "Because it is there"

Conrad Anker the American climber who first spotted Mallory's body was stunned by what he first saw. The mountaineer still wearing one hob nail boot was facing into the steep slope, appearing to be gripping desperately at the icy rock. His thin clothes were in tatters, he had a double fracture of in one of his legs and the torn rope was evidence of a fall, which did for him and his young companion, Andrew Irvine.

Anker  and four other members of the search team identified Mallory by the name tags on his collars. With their axes they chipped away at the ice that joined him to the mountain and examined him for clues as to whether he reached the top 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
 

When last seen they were later than expected, yet, at the height of summer, there had remained seven or eight hours of daylight to reach the summit and return to the safety of Camp VI. Until the discovery of Mallory's body nobody knew how long they persisted. Previous theories held that they should have turned back by 3pm to have any chance of returning alive.  But the discovery of the body showed that Mallory was descending with his goggles in his pocket - presumably late in the day.  His grandson, who climbed Everest by the same route in 1995, believed that a late descent  was indicated and that since Mallory was "a very daring  climber and the circumstances were extraordinary... he could have got to the top."

IRVINE had always had a good head for heights. As children he and his sister, Eve!yn. loved to torment their brother, Hugh about his vertigo.  He was a very strong University oarsman and had performed well on an undergraduate expedition to Spitzbergen.  Although not an experienced climber he was an innovative engineer and expert with the oxygen apparatus.

MALLORY'S motives were altogether more complex. At 38, his achievements on the mountains and his bravery in the trenches of the first world war had brought him little tangible gain. His attempts to become a writer had failed and he was dependent on a schoolmaster's salary. The expedition of 1924  was Mallory's third attempt on Everest  and it was clear that on his return he would have to concentrate on a career.

On the fateful morning of their disappearance, Mallory and Irvine faced grim odds against their success.  By modern standards they were hopelessly dehydrated and undernourished, and their equipment was inadequate.

We cannot tell what time they set off, although it may be that the effects of altitude delayed them beyond their target of a little before 6am.  Their oxygen cylinders probably weighed about 25lb each.

At about 6am Noel Odell, a fellow expedition member, set off from the camp below (Camp V) to provide support for them on their return to their tent.  He was a professional geologist and  spent some time collecting specimens of granitoid and limestone rocks on his way up towards Camp VI.  He glimpsed the two climbers towards 1pm in a break in the clouds and caught sight of them at the Second Step which he saw first one, and then another figure surmount, before the mists closed in again.
 

Later, under repeated questioning, Odell wavered and suggested they might only have reached the first step. We still do not know what happened that afternoon. If Mallory and Irvine did make it to the summit. they left no permanent trace. The only other evidence was an ice axe found on the ridge above the final resting place of Mallory during the 1933 expedition by Wyn-Harris and Wager. It was shown as late as 1965 to have belonged to Irvine.  There has been much speculation as to whether either climber made it to the summit.  The final proof may lie with a simple folding Kodak camera borrowed by Mallory for summit photographs but which was not found on his body. [© 1999 The Sunday Times, London]

A continuously updated supply of news on the expedition is provided by two current web sites - both are sources of news, background, interviews with members of the expedition and other experts and pictures.  CLEAR COPYRIGHT PLEASE

WEB SITES ARE:- http://www.mountainzone.com          http://www.pbs.org/nova/everest

Here is a typical dispatch from www.mountainzone.com

Daily Dispatches:-"What We Found At The Mallory Site"
Fri, May 7, 1999  Base Camp, Rongbuk Glacier.

Satellite phones for Everest provided by MVS/USA.

I just wanted to bring everybody up to speed on what's been going on the last couple days and give you a better idea of what we're up to. I know it's been really busy, and exciting, and hectic. Mountain Zone has been really busy between  Pete Athans and his crew's successful summit a couple days ago and everything that's been happening with the Mallory & Irvine Expedition.

We've all been really busy and working hard. So I've got to say, our rest days haven't been very restful.  Nonetheless, the plan is to head on up tomorrow, back up to ABC, (Advanced Base Camp) with the Sherpas following us the next day to set ourselves up for our second round of searching and our summit bid over the next week. So I sure hope you'll be following us as we move on up the mountain.

It's our intention to take the sat phone back up to ABC and hopefully be able to do some phone patches from higher up on the hill while we're climbing. The other thing I wanted to do right now was to clarify a few odds and ends about what we found at the Mallory site just to set the record straight. I know there's been a lot of speculation and questions about various details, and for the record, let me just go through a couple odds and ends.

There have been questions about what, in fact, was found on George Mallory, and I know Dave, in his earlier dispatch, had indicated that that included a letter from his wife. At the time, we hadn't really had a chance to go through the letters very carefully, and subsequently, we have had a chance to look at them more closely.  For the record, there were several different letters from various family members. The handwriting on some of them is a little tough to read, and it's not entirely clear whether the letter from his wife was in fact from his wife, but  we're working on that. There were letters from other family members as well, and  they were all addressed to him, but it's a little hard to tell from the signatures on them who actually wrote them.  There were other things too: some various  notes and lists and different things which we will publicize later that are kind of interesting, but unfortunately, none of them  are conclusive as far as whether he made the summit or not. In addition, we found a few other odds and ends. I think Dave mentioned  the altimeter and the pocketknife. He also had a couple of monogrammed handkerchiefs with his G.L.M. initials on them  and a couple other personal items.

Another question that's come up, which we want to specifically address, is, again,  for identification, was whether or not a DNA sample was taken. And the answer to this was 'yes.' We took a small piece of skin from his forearm, and this was taken  with the knowledge, and support, and permission of his family members. And this sample has already been taken back to England and is being processed in a laboratory. So we want the record clear on that, and that should hopefully take care of any question about who this person really was.

Another question was in regard to George Mallory's face and whether it was recognizable. And for the record, as I think everybody knows from Dave's dispatch, George was face down, looking uphill, and the whole body was exposed with the exception  of the face which was not excavated. And the answer to that then is  that we did not expose the face.  There's been several speculations about whether this was the body found by the  Chinese climber in 1975, and again, the search team is adamant that this body was  utterly undisturbed and had never been visited before. And we are confident that in  fact this was not the 1975 body.

Furthermore, another question that has been asked was whether we had given any  thought to bringing the body down, and the answer to that, hopefully, should be  obvious, which is that we've given no thought whatsoever to bringing the body  down. It would be neither practical nor appropriate to do so and, as Dave  mentioned, it was buried after a short ceremony.  We have had several climbers here at Base Camp ask us for the exact position of  the body, and we've not disclosed that because, as Dave mentioned, we don't want it to become a tourist stop. So between being reburied and not disclosed exactly  where it is, we feel that it's unlikely that people will visit the site in the future or, at  least, they'll have to work pretty darn hard to find it.

Finally, we would like to let everybody know  that at this point, we're really focusing our  attentions on the next week or two. Between the summit bid and the second round of  searching, we have a lot still on our plate, and  it's our intention to go back up and give it the  best shot we can.

Everybody's really doing well. The team is really working well together and  absolutely no internal problems whatsoever. Everybody's really happy, and I'm really pleased to say that this is a team I'm really proud of and is working great together.  Finally we wanted to call attention to the fact that our film crew on the mountain has been working hard representing BBC and also  PBS/Nova, and they have been shooting a lot of 16mm film, which, in addition to the high altitude footage that Dave and Thom are shooting, will be used to illustrate this trip in a TV documentary. So  we're really looking forward to continuing to work with them on  this.

Okay, I really want to thank all of our different sponsors as we prepare to go back  up for our final round. And for the record, I'd just like to list them again. In  addition to Mountain Zone and BBC and PBS/Nova, Lincoln, and Eureka!, Lowe Alpine, Mountain Hardwear, Vasque, Outdoor Research, Slumberjack  we've really worked with some great companies here, and without their help, this trip  would not have been possible.

Thanks again. We'll look forward to talking with you again maybe from Advanced  Base Camp. This is Eric Simonson at Rongbuk signing off.
 

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P.B. Stone on mountains under pressure (general overeview of so-called Mountain problematique

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