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Base Camp on the North side of Mount Everest
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Search About to Begin
by Liesl Clark
April 25, 1999
This isn't your usual Everest expedition, where sights are
fixed on the summit, and all hopes are aimed at the highest
node on Earth. (See
"Up to Base Camp.") In fact, this week our talented team of Himalayan climbers
is focused on a site some 2,000
feet below Everest's
summit, an 825-foot-wide snow terrace at 27,000 feet. What
they'll find there is yet to be determined (and possibly only
four days away), but we think that at the foot of the
Yellow Band
on inclined scree, 800 feet below an
ice axe found in 1933, lies the body of 1924 climber Andrew Irvine. Did Irvine
fall to his death on his way down from the summit, or did he
just lay down, exhausted, and die after a fruitless effort to
be the first up Everest?
The
mystery
of whether George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine were the
first climbers to stand on the summit of Everest has burned
within mountaineers' hearts for 75 years. After a month of
being on the peak—and ahead of schedule—our team
is now poised to
find answers: "We are in the unique position that we know better than
before where to look for evidence, and we have the strongest
team ever to attempt the search," commented researcher Jochen
Hemmleb
this morning as the last of our climbers headed off from Base
Camp to Advance Base Camp.
The mystery of Mallory and Irvine has been in the
hearts of climbers for 75 years.
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There is a palpable feeling of excitement in the air. All
climbers are healthy and feeling strong. Also, this is a dry
year on Everest, which means little snow lies on the rocky
terrace where we will conduct our search—a good sign
that if anything is up there it will be spotted by the
climbers. The trick is to get up there before the heavy
monsoon snows move in.
The climbers left Base Camp in waves on the first leg of their
journey to Camp V, from where they will base their first
search attempt. Eric
Simonson, Andy
Politz, and expedition doctor, Lee Meyers, left yesterday in the
early morning. Today, we said goodbye to Dave
Hahn,
Jake
Norton, Tap
Richards, and Conrad
Anker
as they all threw on their packs, weighed down with only bare
essentials, for their eight-hour trek up the moraine of the
East Rongbuk Glacier to Advance Base Camp. We (the film crew)
are staying behind at Base Camp to film Hemmleb's
communication with the team as he directs them via radio to
the search site at 27,000 feet with the aid of his 200-X power
telescope.
Hemmleb, who has been studying this mystery for 12 years,
knows every step of the way up to his proposed search
site—without ever having set foot on Everest. A
geologist, he has devoted his energies to solving the question
of what happened to Mallory and Irvine by applying
cartographic skills to the few photographs taken by
expeditions after 1924 of the area in question - the place
where a
body was found
by a Chinese climber in 1975. If rediscovered, this body,
described as an "Old English" climber, may have a camera with
it and images that will tell the long-awaited story of the
demise of Mallory and Irvine.
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A caravan of yaks makes its way to Advanced Base
Camp.
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We've been here for four weeks, and the team has already spent
several nights acclimatizing on the North Col, with one carry
to Camp V. Although it's still early, Simonson feels the
conditions are good to carry out an initial peripheral search
at the site where Hemmleb believes the body is. "This next
week we move up for our third foray onto the mountain. We've
established our Camp V at 7,800 meters (25,740 feet). Now we
intend to occupy that camp and conduct our search and then
move up to Camp VI," explained Simonson in an interview we
conducted with him at Base Camp for our NOVA documentary on
the climb.
"Our initial search efforts will be devoted to surveying the
highest area of probability. We expect to be able to comb that
area fairly exhaustively. We don't anticipate having a large
amount of time up there. We think that since the area is so
confined, a handful of people can do a reasonably good job in
that area over a few hours." For Simonson, the tactic of
sending the entire team up to Camp V—have them spend a
night and then leave early in the morning the next day to
climb up to the search site and conduct an initial
search—is the best plan for a quick search without using
up all of our oxygen supplies. Working at 27,000 feet is not
easy, and the climbers will need to use bottled oxygen to help
them function in the thin air above Camp V. "It's amazing what
a boost the oxygen gives you," comments Simonson. "You feel
warm, and you can think more clearly up high." It's the oxygen
that we believe will help bring the entire team back safely
after their first search.
Check back as we follow the team's progress up to Camp V and
then to the search site.
Unanswered Questions (May 25, 1999)
Forty-Eight Yaks (May 21, 1999)
On Top of the World (May 17, 1999)
Summit Team Moves Higher (May 16, 1999)
Still at Camp V (May 15, 1999)
Snow Bound (May 14, 1999)
Outsmarting the Weather (May 13, 1999)
Last Trip Up (May 12, 1999)
Up to ABC/The Rescue (May 11, 1999)
The Image of Mallory (May 8, 1999)
In Extremis (May 7, 1999)
Pieces of the Puzzle (May 6, 1999)
Dearest George (May 5, 1999)
Mallory's Discoverers Return (May 4, 1999)
Mallory Reported Found (May 3, 1999)
Waiting in Silence (May 1, 1999)
Up to the Search Site (April 30, 1999)
To the North Col (April 29, 1999)
Waiting out the Wind (April 28, 1999)
Search About to Begin (April 25, 1999)
Pitching a 1933 Tent (April 23, 1999)
Early Camp Found at 21,750 Feet on Everest (April 20,
1999)
Up to Base Camp (April 23, 1999)
Lost on Everest
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