Everest 2004: Mallory and Irvine The Final Chapter: Q&A Part 2

Q. Is the oxygen bottle [you] found up there one [from] the 1924 expedition?  This should be easy to determine since Simonson has one already.

A. EverestNews.com: The bottle is clearly not the same size as that of the  bottles shown  in the pictures of  the 1924 expedition, meaning, of course the size of the bottle that Simonson's expedition found. However, it is still very unclear if other-size (s) oxygen bottles were bought that year. Today, we do not know what year our bottle is from, except to say it is very safe to say the bottle is certainly from the 1920's or 1930's.

Q. Concerning the Mallory and Irvine expedition, I have two sets of questions. One concerns the historical significance of your findings; the other involves the actual retrieval expedition.

1) (a) Does it appear almost irrefutable (except to die-hard skeptics) that the oxygen tank validates at least one of the pair cleared the infamous 2nd step?

A. EverestNews.com: Irrefutable on Everest! Who is to say, as Tom Holzel has theorized, that someone else could have carried it to where we found it? The same actually could therefore be said about the bottle that Simonson found. How can you prove how any object got anywhere? Irrefutable evidence is hard to find on Everest. We do believe that bottles don't roll up hill on Everest. But Irrefutable, few things on Everest are...

Q. (b) Is there other corroborating evidence at this time?

A.  EverestNews.com: Other evidence, but none proven to be corroborating at this time. There is still much more evidence to look at, much more studying, before we conclude if things corroborate or not.

Q. (a) What is your feeling about the underlying intention, and effect on your expedition, of the cut ropes?

A. EverestNews.com: [Not a M&I Question] We could speculate on intention but we won't. The effect on our expedition was that it was a real pain in the butt. Our guys were going down with full loads, and the ropes were cut or gone. We tried to get our guys to dump our loads, which means the artifacts would have been left on Everest, but our guys fixed ropes while down-climbing with full loads... Don't try that at home!

Q. (b) What can be done about the number of ill-prepared climbers who require, sometimes heroic, assistance of one or more experienced climbers.

A. EverestNews.com: Well it is a free world and anyone can go to Everest if they paid the fee. We believe in the "free world conception", and not a system where someone determines who can and who can't go. What is interesting is that on Everest, sometimes the "ill-prepared" climbers summit, sometimes they die; sometimes the strong and prepared die, sometimes the strong summit. Many climbers require "assistance" every year; most are assisted by Sherpas, whom you rarely hear a word about their rescues, occasionally of famous and strong climbers. Some expeditions do not even release the names of the Sherpas... So there is more going on than  is released... Don't believe everything you read.

Q. I take it this means you won't publish a post on the last topic you brought up, i.e. "what if the climbers are right?"

A. EverestNews.com: That will come…. But it seems best to answer the Q&A we can now. On this public Q&A, O.K? Our theory will be published hopefully within the next few weeks.

Q. I'm a bit confused about the oxygen bottle you found.  Does it definitely seem to be from the 1920's or 1930's, or is there question about that?

A. EverestNews.com: Based on the crude mechanics and stamped markings, the oxygen bottle we found is from the 1920's or 1930's. We believe it is very safe to conclude that.

Q. There has been some rather heated debate that Wang actually found Mallory (not Irvine) during his ‘hike’ from camp. Does your new knowledge of the location of Irvine’s body in relationship to the old Chinese camp help solve this debate?

A. EverestNews.com: Tom Holzel, certainly believes that Wang found Mallory. The location of the "old dead" climber, if Sandy, would support Tom's theory that Wang found Mallory. But, again, there is not irrefutable evidence of who Wang found, therefore the debate will continue.

Q. In your team’s opinion, would it have been easier for Wang to have found Mallory or Irvine?

A. EverestNews.com: Clearly Mallory's body is much closer to stated tent site of Wang and Mallory's body was located in a much safer and lower area of the mountain as compared to the "old dead".

Q. If we assume that the Oxygen Cylinder that your team found belonged to Irvine, wouldn’t it lend credence to the theory that Mallory and Irvine turned back well before making the summit? Thank you for all you have done.

A. EverestNews.com: If you assume the Oxygen Cylinder that our team found belonged to Irvine (which has NOT been proven one way or he other at this point), then in our opinion it would lend credence to the theory that Sandy Irvine did not surmount the second step of Mt Everest, and either turned back or waited for George.

We went to Mount Everest in search of an answer.

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