Human remains discovered on Mount Everest may belong to climber who disappeared 100 years ago

A documentary crew discovered human remains on Mount Everest that are believed to belong to a climber who disappeared 100 years ago while trying to reach the summit, according to a report from National Geography. Due to climate change, melting snow and ice in the Himalayas is increasingly revealing the bodies of climbers who lost their lives trying to scale the world’s highest mountain.

British climber Andrew Irvine disappeared in 1924 alongside his climbing partner, George Mallory, as they attempted to be the first to reach the summit of Everest, at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). Mallory’s body was recovered in 1999, but Irvine’s fate remained a mystery until the recent discovery by a National Geographic team on Everest’s Central Rongbuk Glacier. They found a boot containing a human foot and a sock with a label that said “AC IRVINE” sewn onto it.

This discovery could provide significant clues about the location of the climbers’ personal belongings and potentially solve one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries: whether Irvine and Mallory reached the summit before they died. If proven, they would have successfully climbed the peak nearly three decades before the first ascent confirmed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

“It tells the whole story about what probably happened,” Julie Summers, Irvine’s great-niece, said in an interview with National Geographic. She added: “I have lived with this story since I was 7 years old, when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest. When Jimmy told me he saw the name AC Irvine on the sock label inside the boot, I was moved to tears. It was and will continue to be an extraordinary and moving moment.”

The first documented ascent of Everest occurred on May 29, 1953, when New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay successfully reached the summit. Ten years later, in 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to achieve the feat.

Members of the Irvine family reportedly offered to provide DNA samples to confirm the identity of the remains.

Irvine, who was just 22 years old when he disappeared, was last seen on the afternoon of June 8, 1924, along with Mallory, as they made the last push towards the summit.

Earlier this year, Mallory’s last letter to his wife was digitized and published online by the University of Cambridge. In it, he wrote that the odds of reaching the summit were “50 to 1 against us.”

It is believed that Irvine carried a small camera at the time and finding it could rewrite mountaineering history.

“This has been a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large,” said climbing team member Jimmy Chin and National Geographic Explorer. Chin chose not to disclose the exact location of the remains to dissuade potential trophy hunters, but remains hopeful that other artifacts, including the camera, may be nearby. “It certainly reduces the search area,” he said.

Since the 1920s, more than 300 climbers have lost their lives on Mount Everest.