Andy Politz and The Missing Climber: The Discovery of George Mallory on Everest
Because It's There
English - August 11, 2022 15:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MB - ★★★★ - 3 ratingsWilderness Sports Society & Culture Documentary everest adventure space ocean Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
The question I’m asked most about the discovery of George Mallory is WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LOOK INTO HIS FACE? DID YOU TAKE A PHOTO? Amazing right, can you imagine that I’m the only living person to have looked into the face of British mountaineering icon George Mallory? It’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly…..
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After the discovery of George Leigh Mallory at nearly 27,000 feet or 8,200 meters on the north face of Mount Everest on May 1, 1999, the five searchers who reached the body that day covered him up as best as they could. (I was the sixth searcher, but turned back because of faulty 02 apparatus.)
Our climbing team descended back down to base camp for an extended rest…and, a HUGE Base Camp party….. During that time the discovery has gone out to the world. Mountainzone released a photo taken by Dave Hahn of Mallory’s exposed back and tattered clothes….the story is on the cover of The New York Times within a week, Conrad Anker’s picture is right next to George Mallory's photograph, with the map on Everest in a spread in the New York Times.
Six of us went back up to Camp 5 on May 12th to be in position for a search and summit bid, with the idea that TWO OF US would launch a search for Sandy Irvine while four would go tackle the Second Step and the summit. However, because of snow cover from the weather, the call was made that instead of a search for Andrew Irvine there would be a return to the site of George Mallory - with a metal detector.
At Camp 5, at about 26,000 feet, or 7,925 meters, we were slammed by a terrific three day long Himalayam storm…it was impossible to even stand up outside of the tents.
May 16th dawned blue and calm….and so up we went….
In this segment I ask Andy Politz about his experience on 16 May 1999, where we went together to the site of George Mallory.