A look at the last letters sent to and from George Mallory in his 1924 expedition to Mount Everest. Join this channel to get access to perks: / @michaeltracy2356 Fair Use: magdalene.maxa... thegeorgemallor...
Mallory was not unaware that fortune would follow fame should he be the first to summit Everest, the Third Pole. In addition to his own ambition and summit fever, Mallory was also highly motivated to rise above his father-in-law’s low expectations.
Yes. And still, in the 1920s’ the paid appearances and speaking opportunities industry was in its infancy. Any rich asshole with money enough to pave his way up on the Mountain can now have plenty of outlets to bore everyone to death with phony stories of his dashing exploits. But Mallory lived in a previous era, in which famous people still had decency.
Fascinating. Well done. I will comment with a little more detail after watching again and letting my thoughts incubate. But my initial impression is that this is excellent research and commentary. It is at least highly relevant information relating to this mystery. Mr. Tracy's passion on this case is inspiring. In a way, it makes me come alive, and wake up, for just a moment, to try and see what we can see- to try and deduce what can be known about Mallory's story from what we have.
I would love to see a „those are the hard facts about hillary/irvine expedition till now“ - video from you. Everything importend shortly summerized. I really love the way you present your work to us, detailed and not lacking with sarcasm. For me, as a none native english speaker, it is hard to keep this enormus amount of information, even tho its so freaking interesting Keep up the good work and thank you
I love your use of archives and primary sources. I hear much commentary on other channels about Mallory and Irvine but rarely see in them the sources you use to back up your videos.
I think these lines of thinking are highly speculative. There are way too many assumptions made. If Mallory intended to drop a letter or a photo on the summit, he might have instead done so at the highest point, when they turned around, assuming that they didn't summit. I still think that the strongest evidence that they might have summitted is simply that Odell saw them at 12:50 on top of the third step. And the description he gave really only fits that part of the mountain, which makes them reaching the summit very plausible.
Thank you Michael. More interesting work. A cynic might say that if one of Mallory's gloves can go missing, so could a letter/photo (as a souvenir). Also, if Mallory was conscious towards the end, he may have got the picture from his pocket to see in his last moments, but it was then taken by the wind after. A loose photo may also have blown away unnoticed by the team that dug/hacked up his body, as they were unable to be as careful as required. I would like to think though the photo was left on the summit.
The majority of the dig was filmed, there were lots of people hovering around. Nothing blew away unnoticed, and nobody took one letter over another. The team were generally decent. You'd want Mallory's compass, his altimeter, his goggles... something indicative of Mallory the mountaineer, because that's the reflection of themselves in George. They wouldn't take a random letter from his wife or a photo of his kids. Just my 2c
@@VanishedPNW Thank you for your reply. Michael's excellent own videos on this;- the physical condition of the people who searched his body, lack of planning, what they missed (you yourself have not mentioned the most important thing they need to find), what happened to the body, the state it was left in, what happened to all the items taken from the body & their records (& 'souvenirs'), photos taken, & the regrets of all those involved etc - you may wish to review your opinion. I agree a folded letter/photo blowing away when Mallory was found may be the least plausible scenario, but as the only thing so far is no letter/photo has been found, it's still an option.
Pedantic Cambridge point, but Magdalene is pronounced “Maudlin”. I went to the college next door, St John’s (pronounced…well, “St John ‘s”) 😊 and to get to the Pickerel pub we used to walk through Magdalene through - you guessed it - Mallory Court!
I’d love to read a full book of yours on the 1924 expedition. There’s so much rubbish out there, and I think the bookshelves could do with the wealth of your analysis built up here on RU-vid in book form to counter all that nonsense, and give Mallory & Irvine the advocate they deserve 100 years on.
Not a Yeti here. How about the possibility that GLM’s body was poorly searched in 1999? The prior video regarding the failure to find the summit rocks left me with the impression that the 1999 search was irresponsible and not to a standard a historian would accept. That strikes me as the real tragedy here, that evidence that was or even still is accessible, is not due to lack of diligence and due care.
How about the near certainty the body was poorly searched? In making this video a new issue emerged. Mallory was found carrying a letter from Noel Odell. This letter is not in the RGS, and I have no idea where it is. I have reached out to Hemmleb about its contents and whereabouts, but looks like he is ghosting me on Everest. So, it is not longer speculation that important items have gone missing and unreported from GLM's body. However, the 1999 team has such a bias against the summit, if there were a photo in his pocket, they likely would have produced it to "prove" they didn't make it. The other issue is that Wade Davis has seen the video of the search. Thus, I would hope that if he had seen them taking a photo out of his pocket, likely he would have reported it. But your point remains valid. What if the photo was in the handkerchief and it would not be visible in the video. Ultimately, we have no idea what the 1999 team actually found, but perhaps the search video will be released at some of the major items can be cleared up.
I think that too much harping on the irrevocable occurs with regards to the search. No search of his body could ever truly tell of the summit, in all honesty. At a point, one must accept that evidence may not exist to prove it, but GM and AI stood on the summit simply because they were spotted moving with alacrity toward it at noon, and Mallory could not be stopped. To me, the price of being the first came at a cost of his life and the life of a boy who would've likely made extraordinary contributions to engineering and the sciences had he walked off the mountain. Another cost of having been the first is the cruel irony of the world never knowing. The last move of Chomolungma's discovery chess match, if you will. Only an egotist and a disrespecting person could ever look at the life of Mallory, see how capable and extraordinarily determined he was, then dismiss out of hand and fight ardently the notion that he made it the last 600 feet. Who the fuck is Pollard to stubbornly doubt what is patently obvious? At what point does the extraordinary person...who actually blazed the very fucking trail to the very mountain you are standing on as a result of, receive the benefit of the doubt? They go to his house, they accept his hospitality with their feet up on his bureau, and they have the balls to ask to see the deed to the place and begin questioning whether he could own title to such. That's how it always feels to me. Doubt it privately, doubt it to yourselves, don't doubt it while desecrating the person's body who is responsible for the very passion which you are currently enjoying. The letter wasn't in the handkerchief. It would've been highly noteworthy, and so would a photo of any variety, as photos and cameras were on their minds. The two items simply were not there. They've never been referenced, never been recalled or alluded to, and they would be had they been found. Ruth Mallory was a critical part of the mystery in the minds of the 1999 team. Anything that had to do with her would've been mentioned and would've stuck out to them.
@@VanishedPNW I will just re-iterate that had Mallory's body been properly searched for summit rocks, if they had turned up nothing, I would conclude they most likely with overwhelming probability did not reach the summit. While a remote possibility would remain that he put the rocks in his backpack, that would be simply too remote a possibility. Had they found rocks in his pocket, the rocks could be analyzed to determine with an overwhelming probability whether they were from the summit or, if not, the location on the Mountain they were collected from. If there were no rocks, they did not reach the summit. The problem is that the 1999 team did not conduct a search that would find rocks. The accounts from Wade Davis, who saw the video, has the ripping the clothing apart. Mallory's pouch -- the most likely place he would have put the rocks was cut open with a pocket knife while still around his neck. It could have easily been removed and taken down to basecamp, but someone felt something metal in it, thought it was a camera and just cut it open. The bigger problem is that the 1999 team all know this now. Through no fault of their own, their team botched the "greatest mystery in mountaineering history." And it is the back-pedalling, the cover-ups, and the changing stories that I am critical of in this channel. I given them a complete pass for what they did on May 1, 1999. They were not told to look for summit rocks. They were told to look for a camera. I am just not happy with all the misinformation that goes into covering it up. Numerous books written on this subject and not a single one mentions using summit rocks to prove where exactly they turned around.
Guys how weird is it to think Mallory lived in a time when he couldn't even comprehend taking something out of his pocket for a single quick photo on the summit, never mind plenty, and he couldn't just send a pic to his wife via phone. Sounds obvious but really it's our entire lives now.
One thing in common is collecting summit rocks. Mallory would have done it, Hillary did it, even Jon Krakauer did it in 1996. Too bad the 1999 team ripped his clothing apart looking for that camera when the solution was right in front of them the whole time. I really do feel bad for those guys. Forever known as the team that botched the "greatest mystery in mountaineering history."
Thank you for again dispelling long-held assumptions about this expedition. Everybody "knows" the story of the photo of Ruth. They know it so well they never bother to research, and just call it "truth." I'd say we need a sharp, honest individual like yourself to stand for political office, but I far prefer having you upright and sniffing out falsehoods.
What are your thoughts on Roberts Edwards book on Mallory and Irvine? Recently watched an interview with him and contemplating purchasing the book. Love the videos, cheers!
It is full of errors and simple mistakes -- putting camps in the wrong location, etc. Unfortunately, those errors all compound and you are left with a made up story that doesn't match what the mountain looks like.
I’ve been interested in this on and off over the years as I grew up on the Wirral. did they make it? I don’t know, but there are a lot of hints that they could well have. I don’t believe for one minute that Irvings body is not still up there
You've done a great job of convincing me of your theory but this one doesn't move me much, while it would make sense that he wasn't in possesion of the letter and picture because he left them on the summit, to me it could just aswell have been the case that he got injured or in someway incapacitated and pulled out the picture and letter to comfort him in his last moments.
Nice video. So in these letters there is no mention of an alternative to the general route taken by Norton---ie no indication that he would try the entirely unexplored and apparently blocked path along the ridge. In 2014 Jake Norton wrote "Norton and Somervell differed from George Mallory in choice of route. Rather than following the crest of the Northeast Ridge which Mallory advocated, Norton and Somervell viewed a traverse across the North Face and into the Great (Norton) Couloir as the better option." Do you know upon what Jake based this statement?
Jake and similar commentators felt Mallory would follow the actual crest of the ridge. Norton had stated this was Mallory's preferred route in the expedition report, but it always had the problem that it didn't match up with Mallory's last note where he clearly indicates two different routes and one of them is not remotely compatible with a crest-of-the-ridge route. Now, of course, we know about the statement's Mallory made to John Noel where he described his two options -- the "zig zag" and the "couloir." We also have access to numerous other statements from Mallory, including the statement that the ridge route was impossible. The "impossible" statement came more recently in a batch of letters that Mallory wrote to a fan. So, perhaps back in 2014 it was still legitimate to be discussing whether the would attempt a crest-of-the-ridge route or even a "modern" ridge route (below the crest and attacking 2nd step from North). The problem is Jake (and others) had books, TV shows, movies, etc that all at this "Second Step" narrative. Ultimately, Jake, like the others was paid to climb Everest, paid to look for Mallory, paid to make the books, movies, etc... And when you are paid to do something, you do what you are paid to do. There are a number of inaccuracies in the Discovery video about the 2019 expedition with Jake on it. Jake has said he has nothing to do with the editing and had no control of the content. I just give me a pass on that. It doesn't do any good for me to keep saying "Jake is wrong about XXX." It is not clear what is Jake's personal opinion and what he is being paid to say. I don't really care. The facts are the facts no matter if said by Jake Norton or George Mallory. But people keep wanting to spin those facts to fit whatever narrative the people who paid them to climb that mountain want. All you have to do is ask any of these commentators, "Did the Chinese reach the actual summit in 1960?" As soon as they answer that -- or deftly dodge the question -- it will tell you everything you need to know.
It may well be as You say. But, dying slowly, he would have had time to look at the photo of his children, and the letter of his wife, during the time he bleeded out, or froze to death. Wind would have taken the items out of his hands afterwards. It is at least to consider, that it could have happened that way. I have nothing but my gut feeling, that they didn't reach the summit, because it would be to good to be true. Not a technical term, I know.
And while he was doing this, he re-wrapped the other letters int he envelope so we would think he didn't make the summit? What a clever guy. Funny how far the derangement syndrome goes.
Did his body look to be in the position where, just prior to his death, he had a Hollywood moment and started looking through pictures and reading letters? He quite obviously died in the position he came to a halt in. He may have been alive to instinctively cross his leg and linger for a while but no poetic moments ensued.
Mr. Tracy, I'm curious if you have read the book "Mallory, Irvine and Everest, the last step but one" by Robert H. Edwards? I just watched the author's interview on WanderLearn with Francis Tapon. He makes a lot of the same arguments you do including the length of the ice axe and it likely belonging to Mallory to the claim that Mallory and Irving did not go via the 2nd step but as you say up couloir bypassing the steps.
Unfortunately, that book is so riddled with errors, it is impossible to say much about it other than that it is sloppy and full of errors. For instance, the books places the 1933 High Camp in different locations on different pages of the book -- all of which are in the wrong location. And not just wrong, but so wrong as to make the analysis less than worthless. In that interview, he invents them pair carrying 3 ice axes (he claims one of the was carrying a second one as a backup). This is just so ridiculous that it is not worth responding to. Better to just say Mallory and Irvin were killed by a Yeti. While he does correctly say that Mallory and Irvine would not have climbed the ridge route, this has long been well established among legitimate researchers and enthusiasts. The problem is that the numerous obvious errors in the book undermine any credibility that he had and is analysis of the ice axe location is bizarre to say the least. Ultimately, there is one very simple test as to whether you should waste your time with a book. Just ask the author if the 1960 Chinese team reached the actual summit. If the answer is "yes" or "probably," then just move on to the next author. They are not independently thinking and are pushing someone else's narrative.
@@michaeltracy2356 Thank you for the very quick reply. I have watched all of your videos since discovering your channel. It's a fantastic resource on the matter of Mallory and Irving's attempt on Everest. You've convinced me that is more likely than not that they summited.
They are fairly generic, but Mallory would get letters and then write back at different camps. So, a letter to Ruth might be written at 2 or 3 different locations. That is, he would start the letter in Camp 1 and then finish it in Camp 3. As he is responding to things Ruth wrote, it would make sense he would carry her letter with him. Also common to re-read the letters. There is only "missing letter." Odell wrote a letter to Mallory that was found on his body. This was not originally reported, but a piece of it showed up in a photo. Why the 1999 team dead not report the letter and exactly where the letter is today remain an Everest Mystery. Why Mallory would have carried up a note from Odell is also not clear. But without knowing the content, impossible to say. 100 years later and still nothing but "honest mistakes."
@@michaeltracy2356 I don't suppose anyone has said whether that letter from Odell was wrapped in the handkerchief with the others? If it wasn't, might have been something just stuffed in a pocket earlier on and forgotten, rather than something carried along purposefully?
The photo caption where a piece of it appears says it was found in the handkerchief. However, that does not mean that it was. As with everything from the 1999 "searchers," we don't know what they found nor where they found it. He had other notes and pieces of paper that were not in the handkerchief, and the all provide some insight into what he was doing. At the least, the Odell letter provides some insight into the movement of the porters at some point in the expedition.
Well, the 1999 team claims some "official" inventory exists, but they never actually produce it. They haven't released their photos and when I emailed Hemmleb about this, he just ghosted me. He had replied to other emails, but I guess as soon as you find something useful it is Ghosts On Everest.
His book is full of errors. In the interview he comes up the idea that Mallory was carrying two ice axes and that way he could leave the ice axe in the location it was found and then continue to climb on with his backup ice axe. Just ridiculous made up nonsense.
Was Irvine the most competent climber in the world at the time to accompany Mallory. Wade Davis suggests that The Royal Society had considerable influence on the choice of Irvine. They were a very arrogant an opinionated elite.
Wade Davis seems to have an inferiority complex when discussing the British. He's always making and taking little remarks and digs. I'd take it all with a pinch of salt. As for Irvine, he doesn't have to be the best climber, just the best climber to support Mallory, at that time. Remember, whilst Mallory would prefer the team to summit, ultimately, all he's concerned with is him summiting and Irvine, in Mallory's opinion, with his capability with the oxygen apparatus, fit that bill. Mallory and Irvine's bid was relatively impromptu and no one thousands of miles away is having any bearing on what Mallory is going to do late on in an expedition.
The college itself states the pronunciation is Maudleyn www.magd.cam.ac.uk/about/history Also on the site - which I did not know - the e was added at the end of the name to distinguish it ftom Magdalen College, Oxford.
@@golden1789 I went to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1983 for summer law school. It was pronounced "Mawdlin." Not sure about the Magdalene College, Cambridge pronunciation.
In the archive somewhere. Why don't you look it up? A common theme on this channel is to watch what people do rather than what they say. The reason Mallory wasn't flapping his arms and trying to get to the summit that way was because he thought that flapping his arms and flying to the summit would not work. Most likely, the reason he was putting one foot in front of the other in the direction of the summit was because he thought is would work.
