Mallory and Irvine disappear

8th June 1924

On the morning of 8 June Sandy was detailed to make their breakfast while Mallory got himself ready for the climb. At what time they set off has always been a point of debate. Mallory was known to like early starts and in the Alps he frequently set out before dawn on his climbs. They closed up the tent and headed off towards the north-east ridge, each man cocooned in a private world of hissing oxygen. To communicate other than by hand signals they had to remove their masks and this Sandy would have avoided on account of his sunburned face. 

Odell awoke early on the morning of 8 June and, after two hours of preparations, breakfast and tidying the tent he set off up towards Camp VI, full of optimism for the climbers above him and enjoying the glorious weather. He was deeply fascinated by the geological finds he was making and was concentrating hard on the ground beneath his feet. At a height of some 26,000 feet he climbed a 100-foot crag that he admitted, could have been circumnavigated but which he elected to climb as much as anything else to test his fitness. When he reached the top of the crag, pleased with his performance and triumphant to have found the first fossil on Everest, he looked up towards the highest reaches of the mountain. As he did so the cloud, which had been building since the late morning, parted, affording him a view of the north-east ridge and the summit. What he saw, or what he claims to have seen, has been so minutely scrutinized that in the end Odell changed his story; however, in his expedition diary he recorded the following: ‘At 12.50 saw M & I on ridge nearing base of final pyramid'. Moments after he saw them the cloud closed in and the whole vision vanished from his view. The diary entry goes on: ‘Had a little rock climbing at 26,000, at 2 on reaching tent at 27,000 waited more than an hour'. 

Odell checked the tent and saw that Sandy had left it strewn with bits of oxygen apparatus. There were also a mixed assortment of spare clothes and some scraps of food and their sleeping bags. He was amused by the sight of the tent which reminded him of all the workshop tents Sandy had made wholly his own during the trek. “He loved to dwell amongst, nay, revelled in, pieces of apparatus and a litter of tools and was never happier than when up against some mechanical difficulty! And here to 27,000 feet he had been faithful to himself and carried his usual traits.” He examined the tent for a note which might give some indication of the hour they left for the top or whether they had suffered any delay. There was nothing to be found. Meanwhile the weather had deteriorated. There was a blizzard blowing and he was concerned that the two men would have difficulty locating the tent under such conditions. 

He went out to whistle and holler with the idea of giving them direction. He climbed about 200 feet above the camp but the ferocity of the storm forced him to take refuge behind a rock from the driving sleet. In an endeavour to forget the cold he examined the rocks around him in case some point of geological interest could be found. Soon his accustomed enthusiasm for this pursuit waned and within an hour he turned back for Camp VI. He grasped that even if Mallory and Sandy were returning they would not be within hearing distance. As he reached camp the storm blew over and the upper mountain was bathed in sunshine, the snow which had fallen was evaporating rapidly. He waited for a time but, mindful of the fact that the camp was too small to house three men and also that Mallory had particularly requested him to return to the North Col, he set off back down the mountain. It had been Mallory’s intention, he believed, to get down to the North Col himself that night and even to Camp III if time and energy allowed as they were all aware of the possibility of the monsoon breaking at any moment. He placed the compass in a conspicuous position close to the tent door and, having partaken of a little meal, left ample provisions for the returning climbers, shut the tent up and set off back towards the North Col. As Odell made his way down by the extreme crest of the north ridge he halted every now and again to scan the rocks above him for any sign of movement of the climbers. It was a hopeless task as they would be almost invisible against the rocks and slabs. He saw nothing and arrived around Camp V in less than two hours, thus deciding to proceed down to Camp IV.