Everest's First Summit? Mallory & Irvine Documentary · Original

As a retired mountaineer (Rainier), AND longtime commercial photographer…I REALLY APPRECIATE what the expedition photographer must have experienced…with HEAVY, archaic tools in BRUTAL conditions. At altitude. MUCH RESPECT to ALL around.

1925 till 1953 and no one submitted

When was this made? 60's maybe? I wonder if this documentarian is still alive to know they found both Mallory and now Irvine? Mallory had rope marks around his middle.

Is it true the famous photo of Hillary on the summit is really Tensing......as Hillary would not trust him with the camera ?.

This documentary was made in the 80s I presume, now, a 100 years later we know what happened to those two men. In the light of finding Irvine's foot this year (2024) and finding Mallory's body in 1999, we are sure of their fates, however, the hunt for Irvine's camera is still on. Finding it will determine if they made it to the summit. If they do find such proof it will rewrite history and make them the first pair to reach Mount Everest peak. I am eagerly waiting for any such news. Rest in peace all the climbers, the forever heroes of the human spirit, will and determination.

Those were the days when people were made of sterner stuff, steely grit, enthusiasm and determination. Do hope this recent discovery answers some of the crucial questions. RIP brave men and pioneers.

just under 27 minutes in... but surely the goal is to reach the summit, so doesn't matter if die on way down or come down and die years or decades later... if the goal by so many was to reach the summit or highest point in the world and return also, and that was every ones, that's 100% goal only, i mean why paying so much, why going in more than 1's more often than not, as in groups, why going at all knowing the risks... why such disappointment by some that didn't make it and risked lives going again, why some that went and came back, having made it, went again... clearly it's reaching the summit, right?
So mute point being made by Sir Edmund Hillary, because obviously he would not have been the first if turned out Mallory had, so adding well, i regard it only counting if you not only reached summit but returned, as in to dismiss, well you know without me finishing it off, understandable, but, wishy washy to anyone who is not in that position, surely... As in if the goal is to reach the summit, then, surely, that was achieved i mean what if reached it, came back down to first camp and died the next day, that not count then because not totally left the whole region and returned home?

The effects on the human body, when high altitude climbing was unknown in 1924. Like the so called..."Death Zone"

Where was Mallory's body found in relation to the pick axe?

I've read several books on this over the years. There were many remarkable men on these Everest expeditions; men who had been through the Great War. Mallory had told his wife that if he got within a few hundred yards of the summit he wouldn't turn back. But Mother nature's weather could overcome the most determined fellow and Mallory was certainly that. The photo of his wife? If it had been found in his wallet we'd know he hadn't made it. Did he have one last look at it as he lay badly injured in the snow? Will they find the camera, and if they do, will it provide anything?

They s😊houldnt have gone they had their lives

BBC 1970.

Nice doco this, remember seeing it years ago. Also refreshing not to see umpteen comments about how the Sherpa are being exploited, despite it being mandatory that climbers require guides and MUST employ Sherpas, whom are well paid and recognised.

Its so moving to know that in the moment of his triumph Sir Edmund Hillary looked to see if Mallory was there

It’s great to see that Tom Holzel has always been wrong. His first theory was proven wrong when they found Mallory with clear evidence he and Irvine had been tied together before death, and his second theory about Irvines body is at least partly wrong because we now have his foot!

I hope that there is a sherpa word .... Mallory and Lowe are in mountaineer Valhalla together swapping stories.

Don't belive Mallory or Irvine reached the top but it makes for endless speculation and story's. The fact they died trying and reached over possibly 28,500 ft elevation in the 20s is mind boggling.

Prob had a quick smoke at the top,sang their public school song ,said god save the king ,adjusted the tweeds ,tightened the laces on the brogues and started down again, recounting old stories knowing they didnt have a hope of survival...

Great introduction and well developed classic documentary. The story of stubborn colonialist-minded prima-donna-spirited spoiled aristocrats that could fancy using their richness and time for something more cultural or useful. Heroes wanna-be.

Very well done. Thank you for sharing

"Last sighted 1,000 feet from the summit." Bogus. Just not true

I somehow feel the ice axe was dropped by Mallory as he was descending after separation from Irvine on the way up. He missed Irvine on the way down and when he slipped off to his death he had just paused to adjust his left boot and had loosened the laces. By a quirk he lost grip on his axe and just as quirky it lodged its self as Mallory slipped off the ridge. His left boot was never found and his right lower leg had been badly broken.
His left foot was not frostbite damaged in life but freeze dried after death.

❤ I think they took off to start a new life they didn't have the proper clothes and they didn't know what to do and he was hurt that people already died so instead of going back to tell them that he's a loser or anything like that he took off to start new life and back then you can't tell if somebody started a new life specially in India where they were so that's my feeling on them especially he was a smoker he had a little jacket on I understand how he could walk through the snow like that is ridiculous and trying otherwise is ridiculous he probably went down the mountain and started with a new family two people already died or more look in the pictures what they were wearing nothing ❤😢

George Mallory made it !
i beileve so anyway.

Does it really matter if they summited the mountain if they never made it back down?
I personally don’t believe that Andrew and George made it to the top. People die in this day and age from frostbite when it gets windy and cloudy up there what makes anyone believe that a cotton windsuit, tweed jacket and boots I wouldn’t trust on a five foot hill let alone the tallest mountain in the world.
There’s been people who’ve been swept to their death just by walking out their tents without putting on their crampons so how would these guys make it to the top and back in obvious bad weather that was reported by everyone who was there!
But may their fans and friends dream on.

Sandy Irvine was so handsome and had so much going for himself but lost it all because of George Mallory’s selfish tendencies. Andrew isn’t the the only person that’s died on that mountain BECAUSE OF GEORGE MALLORY!
MALLORY DID NOT HOLD HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT ACCIDENT! The families of the seven dead had been going out of their way to hold him accountable for that “accident”. Accountability he would NEVER take and then he would take young and innocent Andrew with him on the second try

Bgm?

I believe Mallory and Irvine did summit Everest 1st in the 20s They are the 1st they just had an accident going down

Nope didn’t make it… the last few feet is really difficult in the death zone… too late in the day and poor equipment

Mallory went up with his Tweed jacket. All of them amazing people.

Doing this in twead jackets is crazy to think about

Noel Odell was the true hero of this story. Amazing mountaineer!

Edmond Hillary brings up an important point...tho a bit self serving. He said basically "It didn't matter if Mallory made it to the top. One must ALSO come down to have a successful climb."

Reinhold Messner, Dick Bass, Chris Bonnington, Rob Hall, Edmond Hillary ... Mallory is at or near the top of the mountain of great climbers.

Some of Irvine's remains were found on the Rongbuk Glacier. The body may have fallen from higher up, however, rumours circulate that the Chinese found his body in 1975, took his camera (botched the film developing) and 'threw' the body over the edge (reason unknown).
George Mallory's brother was Trafford Leigh-Mallory, the RAF Commander in WW2 who helped guide Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain - he died in 1944.

Wife and 3 small children. 😮
50-1 against making it .

Mallory and Irvine was the first warning to mankind that people ignore to this very day.

the more i think about it, the more i wonder if Odell just lied, and the truth was that he recognized how Mallory and Irvine fell down the Mountain
The Ice Axe and the Body of Mallory speaks for this case....and Odell wanted to build a heroic story for the two men

Oxygen setup weighing 30lbs, might have been better off without it.

This is the first claim that Mallory was possibly a less than expert climber. That seems to rarely be mentioned

What a supreme covert operation if Mallory and Irvine actually did summit first, and the evidence was destroyed. Imagine the historical insanity and award removal from Hillary and Tenzing that would have occurred if this was true. At this point in my life I have learned anything is possible, especially if fame and fortune are involved in a specific outcome.

I like to think they made it. I think Mallory fell in the dark from exhaustion and altitude. I like to think Irvine finally crawled into the slot for shelter and died there.

First summit means nothing without a successful descent. Getting down is the hardest part of the job. Mallory and Irvine found that out. Modern climbers who push up the mountain late in the day and don't make it back are considered fools, rightly.

Mallory felt so responsible for the loss of the porters that he led another man to his death.

we know the weather turned bad. what would be nice to know is how hard the route is from 28k ft to summit

So happy i stumbled upon this channel, great content! For someone who lives in SE America, and hopes to one day see a 8K meter peak.. these videos keep my curiosity alive