Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine

by Julie Summers

  On 31 May the four climbers, the reserve party and fifteen porters, the so-called Tigers, made their way up to the North Col. After fixing the rope ladder in the chimney, which took some time, they finally arrived at Camp IV where Sandy instantly set about preparing a meal of cocoa, pea soup and tongue. Sandy and Odell had been appointed by Norton as the official support team. This was the first time in the history of Everest that a team had been put in place with the single task of feeding and assisting the climbing party, welcoming them home after the climb and tending to their every need as required. This the two men did, by all accounts, with great dedication and their hard work was much appreciated. Norton wrote about it in a Times dispatch:

  Since 1922 we have recognized the necessity of this rôle, picturing the comfort to a returning party of weary climbers such support might afford. The most optimistic imaginations fell short of the reality, as produced by that “well-known firm.” For over a week those two have lived on the North Col (23,000ft.), and have cooked every meal – and only those who have done it can appreciate the recurring hatefulness of this operation. They have gone out day and night to escort and succour returning parties of porters and climbers over the intricate approaches to the camp, carrying lamps, drinks, and even oxygen to restore the exhausted. They have run the camp and tended the sick. Whether we reach the top or not, no members of the climbing party can pull more weight in the team than these two by their unostentatious, unselfish, gruelling work.

  Again, Sandy’s diary gives a brief and graphic account of his task: ‘Up at 4:30 am to cook breakfast for the climbers. Very cold and disagreeable job. Thank God my profession is not a cook!’

  When Sandy spoke his mind in his diary he was generally feeling fit and well, and at this stage he had recovered from his stomach bug and was as strong as any climber can be at that altitude. As he watched Bruce and Mallory leave the col he was consumed with feelings of frustration and disappointment. But he did not show it, and he soon got back to the task of caring for the incoming climbers, this time Norton and Somervell who had climbed up from Camp III.

  Mallory and Bruce succeeded in establishing Camp V about 200 feet higher than the 1922 site, but the wind got up considerably and it took the heart out of the porters. In addition, Bruce had strained his heart retrieving a rucksack which had been left below the camp. They spent the night at Camp V but were unable, the next morning, to persuade the porters to carry loads higher in order to establish Camp VI. The wind was still raging and despite Bruce’s best endeavours nothing could be done to alter the porters’ attitude. Mallory decided that they had no option but to retreat, a bitter decision for him. He told Odell when he arrived in Camp IV that he was upset by the porters’ refusal to go on. Despite this comment, it would appear that at some stage before he came back down from Camp V, Mallory had already resolved to make an attempt with oxygen, returning to his initial climbing plan. This, I believe he felt, was going to be his only chance of success. Another height record was not something Mallory was prepared to settle for, even without gas. He wanted to give himself the best chance he could at the summit and the attempt with Bruce had not represented that. If he returned to England with Everest unclimbed he would have to face once again the decision as to whether he should put himself forward for a further attempt, thus inflicting another separation on Ruth and the children. While he still had energy and the weather remained fair he felt he had no option but to try again.

  On 2 June Sandy was up again in the small hours, this time preparing breakfast for Norton and Somervell. They left for their summit attempt at 6 a.m. with two porters. One of Mallory’s porters came into Camp IV at about 10am ‘very done in’. He reported that the others were pushing on. An hour later Sandy looked up again and spotted the first party, Mallory, Bruce and the remaining porters, returning. He was surprised. He set two primus stoves going for drinks and soup and, picking up a rope, set out to meet them at the Col. The porters were exhausted and had been unable to tolerate the wind at Camp V. Geoffrey Bruce, having strained his heart, was keen to get down to a lower altitude as soon as possible. Mallory was tired but preoccupied. Before he retired to his tent Mallory confided in Sandy his idea for another attempt, this time with oxygen and this time with Sandy. This was exactly what Sandy wanted to hear. He hotfooted it straight down to Camp III with Hazard and Geoffrey Bruce and began to prepare the apparatus. He confided in Odell that he was delighted at the turn of events and Odell remarked later that he had exhibited real boyish enthusiasm at the thought of getting the chance he had seen slipping away from him over the last few days. His excitement was palpable tempered only by the appalling sunburn he had suffered through the wind and sun at Camp IV. ‘My face was badly cut by the sun and wind on the Col and my lips are cracked to bits which makes eating very unpleasant.’

  His fair skin had given him great trouble throughout the expedition and he had written home about it on several occasions. The great discomfort he was now suffering was exacerbated by the use of the oxygen mask. Years later Odell told Bill Summers that in order to derive maximum benefit from the oxygen, Sandy had been forced to clamp the mask onto the scar which had developed above his nose and in the soft tissue around his mouth and that every time he removed it, the frozen material would remove another layer of skin from his face. The pain must have been excruciating and it makes one wince to think of it. Despite this he was still in extremely optimistic mood and spent the whole of the afternoon of 3 June getting the two sets ready and ensuring that the porters were able to carry the maximum number of cylinders up to Camp V. Mallory too had descended to Camp III to discover from Bruce how many porters could be mustered and to discuss his plans for the assault with Sandy. That evening they heard a rumour that Norton and Somervell had returned to the North Col.

  This turned out to be untrue and he wrote in his diary for 4 June ‘Mallory and I prepared for our oxygen attempt but shortly after breakfast a porter came down to say that N and S had established Camp VI at 27,000ft and stayed the night there. Great was the excitement in the Camp.’ Noel had his telephoto lens trained on the summit all day but could see no sign of the climbers. Finally, shortly before midday, Mallory and Sandy ‘put the worst aspect on things and decided to go up the NC and be ready to fetch sick men down or make an oxygen attempt ourselves a day later.’ As they climbed they breathed oxygen, using 1.5 litres per minute, and Sandy was pleased to note that it slowed his breathing down at least three times. ‘George and I both arrived at the camp very surprisingly fresh.’ Odell, at Camp IV, had been scanning the mountain all morning with binoculars but had seen no trace of Norton and Somervell. Mallory took over the watch and believed that he could see downward tracks some 700 feet below the summit. Sandy could hardly contain his feelings and dashed to his diary to note, ‘I hope they’ve got to the top, but by God I’d like to have a whack at it myself.’

  Norton and Somervell left Camp VI early on the morning of 4 June but encountered their first set-back almost immediately. One of the thermos flasks they had prepared the night before had leaked in the sleeping bag. Mindful of the need for liquid higher up they were forced to delay their start and melt more snow for the thermos. They finally left at 6.40 a.m. and trudged slowly up the steep, rocky shoulder slanting towards the summit. As the sun began to warm them they encountered the Yellow Band, a seam of yellow sandstone that crossed the whole north face of the mountain. It consisted of sloping slabs and ledges where the footholds were difficult and the ever present threat of a tumble would take them 7000 feet onto the Rongbuk Glacier below. They had reached an altitude of about 27,500 feet. Here they noted a big change in their breathing. A little lower down they had been taking three or four breaths to each complete step; at this altitude their pace slowed dramatically as they were gasping eight or even nine breaths per step. Norton set himself the target of walking twenty paces and then resting but noted that his ability fell woefully short of his expectation and he managed only about thirteen before having to pause. They f
ound themselves having to stop every twenty yards or so for a rest and Somervell understood that they had reached the limit of their endurance. At a height of 28,000 feet he sat down: he could go no further. His breathing was laboured and greatly hurt his throat which was already raw after weeks of suffering from a high altitude cough. Norton agreed to go on, but his progress was painfully slow and Somervell watched him labouring for an hour, gaining little height. The going was even more treacherous than before and when he eventually reached the couloir which he hoped would lead him to the base of the summit pyramid he found it full of waist deep snow and overshadowed by fearsomely steep rock beyond. Since about 27,500 feet Norton had been experiencing difficulty with his eyesight. He was seeing double and had some trouble in placing his feet. He and Somervell had put this down to the altitude, despite the fact that Norton secretly wondered whether it was the onset of snowblindness. He had not been wearing goggles for the climb as the rims interfered with his vision and there was only relatively little snow at this height. His hunch of course was right and when he found himself on the steep slabs below the north ridge he was barely able to see the tiny footholds. In addition, these slabs were covered with powdery snow, which rendered them treacherously slippery and the snow masked what few footholds there were. ‘It was not exactly difficult going, but it was a dangerous place for a single unroped climber, as one slip would have sent me in all probability to the bottom of the mountain.’ There were a further 200 feet of this going before he reached the relative safety of the summit pyramid and he calculated that in the time left to him he would be unable to climb the 800 or 900 feet to the summit and return safely. At 28,126 feet he turned his back on the summit and climbed cautiously down towards Somervell.

  Somervell had not benefited much from his rest. His breathing was still desperately laboured and his throat perfect agony. They made their way painfully slowly down past Camp VI where they collected their belongings and collapsed the tents. They reached the level of Camp V by sunset when Norton glissaded on down, only noticing a brief while later that Somervell was not with him. He waited for half an hour and eventually saw him emerge from the rocks above him. By now it was dark. Somervell had been forced to stop frequently on the descent as the coughing fits were racking his entire body. He finally sat down in the snow. He was unable to breathe, his throat was almost completely blocked and he was sure he would die. In desperation he performed a number of compressions to his chest and succeeded in dislodging the blockage. A huge wave of coughing overtook him and he spat out the obstruction in his throat and a good deal of blood. He had in fact removed part of the mucous membrane of his larynx which had been damaged by frostbite. After that his breathing became less laboured but the pain in his throat was unspeakable. He stood up, able to breathe more freely than he had done for days and resumed his descent.

  As they approached the North Col, Norton began to holler and shout and was finally heard by Mallory who, with Odell, came rushing up to meet them carrying an oxygen apparatus. They derived no benefit from the artificial air and were far more desperate for liquid than anything else. ‘Mallory and Odell were kindness itself, and they kept congratulating us on having reached what we estimated as a height of 28,000ft, though we ourselves felt nothing but disappointment at our failure.’ As the two weary climbers were escorted back into camp at 9:30 p.m. Sandy was busy preparing hot tea and soup for them. When Norton lay in his tent after supper, Mallory talked him through his plans for a further summit attempt with oxygen. Norton ‘entirely agreed with this decision and was full of admiration for the indomitable spirit of the man – such was his will power and nervous energy – he still seemed entirely adequate to the task.’ He was not happy, however, with Mallory’s choice of partner and argued that Odell had more mountaineering experience, was fully acclimatized and fitter. Mallory was emphatic. He would take Sandy, he told Norton, as Odell was sceptical about the oxygen apparatus and Mallory needed to be with someone who was not only au fait with it, but who believed in it. Norton did not stand in Mallory’s way ‘it was obviously no time for me to interfere.’ In any case he was suffering from a severe attack of snow blindness, the pain of which is intense, but he later confided in Noel that he thought Mallory’s decision was risky.

  As final plans were being made the following day Norton was lying in his tent, the tent covered in sleeping bags, coping with his condition. He occasionally crawled to the edge of the tent to offer help in encouraging the porters, but he had a very hard day of it. In fact it was trying conditions for all of them with freezing air temperature and the heat in the sun being somewhere about 120 °F (38 °C) with a very strong reflection off the snow.

  Sandy spent the last day in Camp IV with Odell putting finishing touches to the oxygen sets. They talked a little about his delight at the prospect of having his chance to climb for the summit before turning in. The last entry in Sandy’s diary reads ‘My face is perfect agony. Have prepared two oxygen apparatus for our start tomorrow morning.’

  The diary breaks off at this point.

  It is 50 to 1 against but we’ll have a whack yet and do ourselves proud

  George Mallory to Ruth Mallory, 27 May 1924

  Sandy and Mallory left Camp IV at 7.30 a.m. on 6 June 1924. Odell and Hazard were up early preparing a breakfast for them of fried sardines, biscuits and ample hot tea and chocolate. Odell was not a little indignant that, despite being pleased that breakfast had been fixed, they did little justice to the meal. Out of excitement or restlessness, he concluded. Their packs, which included the modified oxygen apparatus with two cylinders each, some food rations and a few other small items, weighed some 25 lb. It may sound like a heavy load, which indeed it was, but it was considerably less than the 35 lb the load would have weighed with the apparatus of the original design. Sandy’s assiduous work had not been in vain. They were accompanied by eight porters who had in their packs bedding, provisions and the additional oxygen cylinders. The porters were not using oxygen.

  Sandy and Mallory (left) preparing to leave Camp IV on 6 June 1924

  They looked in on Norton who was lying in his sleeping bag still suffering badly from snowblindness. ‘My last impression of my friends,’ he wrote later, ‘was a handshake and a word of blessing, for it was only in my imagination that I could see the little party winding its way amid the snow humps and ice crevasses leading to the Col.’

  Odell took out his camera just as they were preparing to leave and snapped a shot of the two men, Sandy with his hands in his pockets, head bowed, waiting patiently, while Mallory fiddled with his oxygen apparatus. Little did Odell know that this would be the very last photograph taken of Mallory and Sandy alive. He watched them as they climbed the col and disappeared out of sight amidst the broken ice masses.

  The weather that morning was brilliantly sunny although later in the afternoon cloud gathered and it began to snow a little in the evening. They made good progress from the Col up to the Camp V at 25,600 feet and at five o’clock that evening four of Mallory’s porters returned with a note for Odell to say that there was no wind and that things were looking hopeful. The following morning Odell and his porter, Nema, headed up to Camp V in support. Owing to the limited size of the camp, - two tents, one for the climbers and one for the four porters, - Odell had to restrict his support activity to one camp below the high camp occupied by Mallory and Sandy. Not long after their arrival the four porters who had carried loads to Camp VI arrived in V with a note from Mallory which read:

  Dear Odell,

  We’re awfully sorry to have left things in such a mess – our Unna cooker rolled down the slope at the last moment. Be sure of getting back to IV to-morrow in time to evacuate before dark, as I hope to. In the tent I must have left a compass – for the Lord’s sake rescue it; we are without. To here on 90 atmospheres for the two days – so we’ll probably go on two cylinders – but it’s a bloody load for climbing. Perfect weather for the job!

  Yours ever G Mallory.

  Odell,
it must be said, was sceptical about the benefit of oxygen. He had tried a set on more than one occasion and claimed to have derived no benefit from it. He carried a set up to V, even though it had no mouthpiece as Sandy had taken it with him as a spare. He thought he might find a mouthpiece in Camp V. Interestingly, when Norton and Somervell had been offered oxygen from this same set on their return from the summit attempt they had derived no obvious benefit either. This led them all to conclude that oxygen was of no great help. How can it then be that Sandy could claim his breathing was slowed down by three times when he used oxygen and Mallory elected to use it for his final climb, despite it being a ‘bloody load?’ I suggest that Odell was attempting to use a rogue set, an apparatus Sandy knew to be faulty, otherwise he would not have taken the mouthpiece from it.

  After Odell had received the note, he searched the tent and found Mallory’s compass. His man Nema was suffering badly from the altitude at Camp V so Odell sent him back down to IV with Mallory and Sandy’s four porters. He was not entirely sorry to be on his own. He would be able, he wrote later, to spend more time on the ascent to Camp VI examining the geological aspects of the upper mountain. He sat outside his tent on the evening of 7 June looking across to the impressive and ‘savagely wild jumble of peaks towering above the upper Rongbuk glacier … culminating in the might Cho-Oyu [26,750 feet] and Gyachung Kang [25,910 feet], bathed in pinks and yellows of the most exquisite tints.’ Opposite him were the cliffs of Everest’s north peak and as he surveyed them he considered ‘with what hopeful feeling and exultant cheer Mallory and Irvine would take their last look around before closing up their tiny tent at VI that night.’ Odell had shared a tent with Sandy several times on the mountain and more than once Sandy had told him how desperately he wanted to have a ‘go’ at the summit. He also told Odell that despite his work on the oxygen apparatus and his complete understanding of its functions, he would rather get to the base of the final pyramid without it rather than to the top with it. Mallory’s experience of his attempt with Bruce, however, had convinced him that the top would not be reached without oxygen and Sandy immediately accepted that view, foregoing any personal preference in the matter, as Odell put it. In fact, Odell recalled him welcoming the chance to have a crack at the summit with almost boyish enthusiasm. Sandy ‘though through youth without the same intensity of mountain spell that was upon Mallory, yet was every bit, if not more, obsessed to go ‘all out’ on what was certainly to him the greatest course for ‘pairs’ he would ever be destined to ‘row’.’