Posted: Oct 21, 2008 12:47 pm EDT
(MountEverest.net) This past spring, Tom Holzel's conclusion about Mallory and Irvine's final climb after tracking truth-in-evidence on Mount Everest became one of the most popular articles about the issue.

The ensuing ExWeb interview with Tom in addition offered a funny insight into the battle of this particular subject (find both stories in the links section).

Here goes another take from Tom on the M&I episode.

"I suggest that the reason Mallory's body was in such relatively good shape (compared to others who had fallen to the same area) was because Mallory had successfully descended through the Yellow Band and was now climbing down the snow-covered '8200m snow terrace'," Tom writes today, regarding a brand new entry posted on Velocitypress today.

"Desperate to get to shelter, he began to glissade, and eventually lost control," writes Tom, offering the following excerpt from the complete text:

The new wrinkle, Oct 21, 2009

"Once the squall began, they would surely have roped-up, and Mallory would have taken the lead. If they had ascended via the modern route —cutting diagonally through the Yellow Band, Mallory would be looking for the 'Exit Cracks,' those several cuts in the terrain which eventually lead to the then obvious route. But finding the cracks on the descent is tricky, even in clear weather, and they are easily missed."

"The climbers must then blunder their way down, still descending diagonally, but not finding the easiest path. If they ascended via the Longstaff route, that is, straight up from C-6 to the NE Ridge and then following it to the First Step, The path is presumably easier—you just hug the ridge until reaching the vicinity of the Northeast shoulder and then drop down. But regardless of which ascent route they took, it is highly likely in my view that once the squall hit, they would have tried to descend as rapidly as possible—and thus chosen some variation of the modern diagonal descent."

"With the onset of the squall and its driving wind, their greatest danger now lay not in getting lost—there are many ways to descend from the NE Ridge—but in becoming hypothermic due to their totally inadequate clothing."

"Their clothing that was only marginally effective on Everest, and only in low wind and moderately low temperature. This is because the insulation was not thick enough to prevent conductive heat loss, and the material was not truly windproof enough to prevent convective heat loss. With the onset of the squall both would now be entering the first stages of hypothermia, with its attendant reduction in reflex time,
strength and judgment. "

"Due to poor visibility on the newly snow-coated rocks, Mallory slipped. Irvine tossed his ice ax aside to grab the rope with both hands. The jerk of one climber's slip in a “gentleman’s belay”[12] is enough to pull his partner off his feet, but not nearly enough to inflict the significant rope-jerk injury that Mallory’s body exhibited around his waist. As they both fell Irvine would have had a second or so of time to react and try to slide feet-first."

"Mallory was caught by surprise. Perhaps Irvine was able to loop the rope over a rock to let it snag early in the fall. It likely snapped from the strain—but slowed them enough to enable them both to halt their falls. This fall inflicted rope-jerk injuries around at least Mallory's waist. In just a few minutes, the situation had gone from a tired, controlled descent to a desperate fight for survival."

"As the leader, Mallory’s first responsibility was to young Irvine. But they were now separated by one of the many ledges of the Yellow Band —a ledge high and steep enough that neither of them could climb up or down. Also, visibility was only a few yards, according to Odell farther down. Probably injured, unable to climb back up to aid Irvine, possibly disoriented from the shock of the fall, and certainly beginning to feel the effects of hyperthermia, Mallory had but one choice—get down as fast as possible."

"Mallory continued on, picking his way diagonally downhill. He exited the Yellow Band and continued his descent onto the '8200m snow terrace'."

"Perhaps, like both Norton and Odell before him, he conducted a series of glissades[i] to speed his descent to Camp 4. But on one of these, he lost control. Attempting to use his ice ax to self-arrest, it kicked back and pierced his skull.[13] He tumbled and slithered to the very edge of the snow terrace and crashed into a rock that stopped his fall.[14] This scenario explains why Mallory’s body was not nearly as dramatically traumatized as others (e.g., Wu Zongyue) that had fallen into his same area, but uncontrollably from higher up.[1]"

"It was lying on this rock that Wang found Mallory (I believe), possibly with the ice ax still stuck in his forehead. That’s why Wang made the gesture to his own face--to indicate the deadly puncture. (Or he simply noticed the plum-sized hole and recognized its lethality.) Wang then rolled Mallory off the rock in order to effect a symbolic burial, placing a few rocks on the body, which, over the years, melded into its pacific crucifix position. This also explains the crossed-over foot--the whole foot on top of the broken one."

"When you integrate Mallory's overall exhaustion, their lack of adequate hydration (remember Norton & Somervell coming down a few days earlier after a PERFECT day screaming 'We want drink.'), the length and difficulty of the route, Irvine's lack of climbing experience, and the total inadequacy of their clothing [17] to sustain them in a snow squall--well, there aren’t many positive indicators left for a possible summit success. Certainly unquenchable drive alone just won't do."

"They both fell, but Irvine was able to prepare for his fall. Perhaps he went feet-first and only bounced a ways down the slope, his feet and legs taking the blows. He managed to snag the rope over an outcropping and brace himself to hold the fall. He did, but the rope snapped."

"Irvine, too, realized that he could not go after Mallory, separated as they were by an unclimbable ledge and the driving squall. He continued a descending traverse. Eventually he got to the edge of another ledge—one of the many ledges that comprise the Yellow Band. Too exhausted, too cold to climb back up and seek out yet another descent route, he spotted a small rock clef offering the possibility of some slight shelter from the freezing wind. Dazed by hypothermia, he lay down and hoped for the best."

Find the full entry here www.velocitypress.com

In 1986, Everest expert and co-author of the book "First on Everest - The mystery of Mallory and Irvine," Tom Holzel set out to find Mallory's camera. In addition, Tom was the one to track down Zhang Junyan and corroborated the late Chinese mountaineer's Wang's story about the discovery of an "English body" on the mountain.

Odell says he saw Mallory and Irvine climbing the second step in less than five minutes. The section has only been free-climbed a few times since.

Oscar Cadiach (K2 Magic line, 7 main 8000ers, Everest twice), who climbed the second step without oxygen said, "It took me one hour to climb the 50 meters-long step. I hoped two hours more would be enough to reach the summit, but breaking trail in soft snow ended up with us topping-out six hours after climbing the Step."

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