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National Geographic team found Andrew Irwin’s boot at the stern of Everest

Posted on by L. Dreeye
National Geographic team found Andrew Irwin’s boot at the stern of Everest

In September, a National Geographic team led by famed filmmaker and explorer Jimmy Chin made a monumental discovery on Everest’s Rongbuk Central Glacier: a boot with a foot inside and a sock named “AC Irvine.” The find is believed to represent the partial remains of Andrew “Sandy” Comyn Irwin, a 22-year-old British mountaineer who disappeared along with his climbing partner George Mallory during their attempt to reach the summit of Everest in 1924.

Jimmy Chin told The Independent: “I lifted the sock and saw a red label with AC IRVINE embroidered on it.” The team, which included filmmakers and mountaineers Erich Roepke and Mark Fischer, originally explored the glacier while filming a documentary for National Geographic. “When it happened,” Mark Fisher told NBC News, “it was just crazy, you know, F bombs, and people were like, ‘Oh my God!’

The discovery reignited one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries: whether Mallory and Irwin reached the summit of Everest nearly three decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s successful 1953 ascent. Irwin’s were found, and the film inside could be developed, which could provide compelling evidence of their ascent. As the team continues to search the area, Chin expressed optimism, telling Deutsche Welle: “This is definitely narrowing down the search area.”

Julie Summers, Irwin’s great-niece and author of his biography, was deeply touched by the news. She told The Independent: “When Jimmy told me he saw AC Irvine’s name on the sock label inside the boot, I felt moved to tears. It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment.” Summers has lived with the mystery of her great-uncle’s fate since childhood and views this discovery as “something close to a solution.”

Andrew “Sandy” Irwin and George Mallory disappeared on the upper slopes of Everest on June 8, 1924, while attempting to become the first people to summit the mountain. They were last seen by teammate Noel Odell, who reported seeing them as “two little black dots” near the second step of the mountain, suggesting they were close to the summit. The question of whether they reached the summit has haunted the mountaineering world for almost a century.

In 1999, Mallory’s body was discovered by a team that included renowned mountaineer Conrad Anker. His remains were found at an altitude of approximately 8,165 meters, less than 2,000 feet from the summit. However, a camera that could have preserved evidence of their ascent was never found, and Irwin’s whereabouts remained a mystery—until now.

The discovery of the boot and remains could provide new clues as to the whereabouts of Irwin’s belongings, including the elusive camera. Jimmy Chin hopes there are even more artifacts nearby, telling Deutsche Welle: “It definitely narrows down the search.” The team hopes that finding the camera and developing any surviving film will help finally solve the mystery of whether Mallory and Irwin were the first to reach the summit of Everest.

Members of Andrew Irwin’s family, including Julie Summers, volunteered to provide DNA samples to confirm the identity of the remains found. “This is an object that belongs to him, and there is something of him in it. It tells the story of what probably happened,” Summers reflected in an interview with Deutsche Welle. The remains were handed over to the Chinese-Tibetan Mountaineering Association, which oversees ascents to the northern slopes of Everest.

The climbing community reacted with cautious optimism. German mountaineer and historian Jochen Hemmleb, who played a significant role in the discovery of Mallory’s body in 1999, called the recent discovery to Deutsche Welle a “historic find” but warned against jumping to conclusions. “At this time, this discovery, while sad, does not provide much insight into whether Mallory and Irvine reached the top or what actually happened to them,” he said.

The opportunity to finally solve one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries generated considerable excitement. As Jimmy Chin told The Independent: “It was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground and we just hope that this will finally bring some peace of mind to his family and the climbing world at large.”

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As the team continues its work, the world watches in anticipation, hoping that the discovery of Irwin’s boot is just the beginning of the search for answers that have been buried under Everest’s ice for nearly a century.

Sources: BBC, The Independent, NBC News, CNN Español, Diario de Sevilla, Deutsche Welle, Última Hora, 20 minutes, RPP News, National Geographic Society, NRC, Financial Times News, El Correo.

This article was written in collaboration with generative artificial intelligence company Alchemiq.