A National Geographic documentary team has found the partial remains of famous climber Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, who disappeared on Mount Everest 100 years ago.
Climbers were hiking Everest in late September when they found a severed foot inside a boot that looked perfectly preserved but undeniably old.
“And lo and behold, there was the sign 'AC Irvine,' perfectly legible, stamped on the sock,” said Mark Fisher, one of the filmmakers who found the shoe, in an interview. “And when it happened, it was totally confusing, you know, the F-bomb and people were like, 'Oh my God.'”
Irvine and his climbing partner George Mallory were last seen by a fellow expedition member on June 8, 1924. It is unknown whether the pair reached the summit – an important Everest mystery among climbers and historians. If they did, it would be nearly three decades before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed ascent in 1953.
Mallory's body was discovered in 1999, but even expeditions dedicated to tracking down the pair's disappearance have not found Irvin's remains. Many have tried unsuccessfully to locate the camera Irvin was carrying, which may contain the only evidence that he and Mallory reached the summit.
Fischer's documentary team, which included photographer and director Jimmy Chin and filmmaker Erich Roepke, found the boot while exploring the central Rangbook Glacier on the north side of Mount Everest.
Irvin's family members have offered to share their DNA samples to verify that the partial remains are Irvin's, according to National Geographic. If confirmed, the rug would be the first definitive evidence of her body since her disappearance.
While the foot's location may provide some clues as to what happened on the mountain, Irvin's whereabouts at the time of his death are still unknown. The search may also raise some new questions: Did he fall off a cliff? How did he break up? Was it before or after his death?
Fisher, a climber and owner of an Idaho-based production company, said that although the documentary team was fascinated by Mallory and Irvine's story, they never expected to play a role in uncovering the mystery.
Walking along the Rangbuk Glacier, he said, it is common to see traces left by climbers over the decades. Most of them are insignificant: a can, a clothespin, an old basket or a ski pole.
But the mood changed when, while hiking, the group came across an oxygen bottle stamped with the date 1933. An Irvine ice ax was found on another failed British expedition to Everest that same year.
“And then we started speculating, 'Oh, what could it be?' Because there are so many theories about what happened to Irvin, right?” Fisher said. “And we started joking with each other, saying, 'Oh, let's find Irvin and let's find his camera. '”
If those patterns were close together, Fisher said, perhaps the team was close to another clue. So they came back a week later to take another look – just to be sure. That's when they found the boot.
“There was a lot of excitement about what we just discovered, because it was undeniable,” Fisher said. “We haven't done the DNA testing yet, so we can't say with 100% certainty that it's actually Irvin's boot, but like I said, the dog tag is perfectly sewn in there. It's perfectly obvious. It’s exactly like Mallory’s boots.”
Fisher did not give an estimated timeline for how long the DNA testing would take.
He said the team believed the boot had likely melted from a frozen glacier a week before it was discovered because it was so well preserved. The documentary team initially decided to leave it where they found it, but realized that the work could soon be damaged by wildlife and natural elements.
According to Fisher, they are now working with authorities to get the boot to Irvin's family.
