Andrew Comyn Irvine

Born:	April 8, 1902 Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
Died:	8-9 June 1924 The North Face, Mount Everest, Tibet
Occupation:	Student, Merton College, Oxford

Andrew "Sandy" Irvine (April 8, 1902 – 8-9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the third British Expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. Irvine disappeared somewhere high on the North-East ridge, along with climbing partner George Mallory, whilst attempting to make the first ascent of the world's highest Mountain in June of that year. The pair's last known sighting was only a few hundred metres from the summit. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Map sources for Birkenhead at grid reference SJ3088 Birkenhead is a town on The Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, on the left bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. ... Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... “Everest” redirects here. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... The word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stÅ­dÄ“rÄ•, meaning to direct ones zeal at; hence a student is one who directs zeal at a subject. ... College name The House of Scholars of Merton Named after Walter de Merton Established 1264 Sister College Peterhouse Warden Prof. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... “Everest” redirects here. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... A missing person is a person who has disappeared for no known reason. ... George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 June/9 June 1924) was a British mountaineer who took part in the first three British Expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. ... In climbing, a first ascent (FA) is the first climb to reach the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. ... Lyskamm, 4 527 m, Pennine Alps A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. ...

Early life

Irvine was born in Birkenhead, England, to a family with strong Scottish and Welsh roots, and was educated at Birkenhead School, Shrewsbury School and entered Merton College, Oxford to study Engineering. A keen sportsman, Irvine excelled at rowing and sat at No.5 on the Oxford crew which won the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 1923, which was to be Oxford's only victory between 1913 and 1937. Map sources for Birkenhead at grid reference SJ3088 Birkenhead is a town on The Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, on the left bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic)1 Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime... This article is about the country. ... Birkenhead School - Preparatory. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... College name The House of Scholars of Merton Named after Walter de Merton Established 1264 Sister College Peterhouse Warden Prof. ... Engineering is the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ... A coxless pair which is a sweep-oar boat. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Boat Race Logo Exhausted crews at the finish of the 2002 Boat Race The Boat Race is a rowing race between the rowing clubs of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Andrew Irvine was compassionate, expressive, shy and creative. He was tall, broad shouldered, immensely fit, strong and possessed a natural engineering acumen, possessing the rare ability to fix or improve through improvisation almost anything mechanical. During the First World War, whilst still a schoolboy, he submitted to the War Office a design for an interrupter gear which would allow a machine gun to fire from a propeller plane without damaging the blades. He made local news in 1919 by riding his motorcycle to the top of Foel Grach, a 3000-foot Welsh mountain, where he met a surprised couple (Noel Odell and his wife Mona) who had climbed it on foot. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Old War Office Building, Whitehall, London - the former location of the War Office The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence. ... Foel Grach is a mountain in the Carneddau range in Snowdonia, Wales, and included in the Welsh 3000s. ... Noel Ewart Odell (1890 - 1987) was a geologist and mountaineer. ...

Everest expedition

In 1923 Irvine was chosen for a university expedition to Spitzbergen, where he excelled on every front. It was only during the expedition that he and the expedition's leader, Noel Odell, discovered that they had met before on Foel Grach. Subsequently, on Odell's recommendation, Irvine was selected for the forthcoming third British Everest expedition on the grounds that he might be the "superman" that the expedition felt it needed. He was at the time still a 21-year-old college undergraduate student. Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean and administered by Norway. ... Noel Ewart Odell (1890 - 1987) was a geologist and mountaineer. ... Foel Grach is a mountain in the Carneddau range in Snowdonia, Wales, and included in the Welsh 3000s. ... The Everest entry redirects here. ... In some educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelors degree. ...

His companion and friend George Mallory later wrote home to his wife, having set sail for the Himalayas, that Irvine "could be relied on for anything except perhaps conversation." He was later to make major and crucial innovations to the expedition's professionally designed oxygen sets, radically improving their functionality, lightness, and strength. He also maintained the expedition’s cameras, camp beds, primus stoves and many other devices. He was universally popular, and respected by his older colleagues for his ingenuity, companionability and unstinting hard work. George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 June/9 June 1924) was a British mountaineer who took part in the first three British Expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. ... Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... Large format camera lens. ... A small portable stove and its container MSR WindPro with skillet, heat reflector, wind shield and isobutane/propane canister A portable stove is a stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, as for camping. ...

The ascent itself took place in early June, and the last day that the climbers were seen was 8 June 1924. Keen-sighted expedition colleague Noel Odell reported seeing them at 12:50 pm ascending one of the major "steps" on the ridge and "going strongly for the top", but no evidence thus far has proved conclusively that they reached the summit. They never returned to high camp and died somewhere high on the mountain. It is still uncertain if they ever reached the summit, and Irvine's body has never been recovered. June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ...

In 1933, some nine years after the disappearance of Mallory & Irvine, Sir Percy Wyn-Harris attempted Everest and equalled Norton’s verifiable record height of 28,126 feet (8573 m). At around 27,500 feet (8380 m), just below the first step, Wyn-Harris discovered Irvine's ice-axe, left over from Mallory and Irvine's attempt in 1924. Irvine's ice-axe was found lying on a rock in an area of relatively gentle gradient and some have since postulated, without definitive evidence, that this position might indicate a possible fall site. Sir Percy Wyn-Harris (born 1903, died 1979) was an English mountaineer and yachtsman and was Colonial governor of The Gambia between 1949 and 1958. ...

The Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition

In 1999, Mallory's body was found at 26,760 ft (8,155 m) on the North Face of Everest by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition. Two details noted when Mallory's body was discovered further fueled the speculation as to whether the pair did in fact reach the summit that day in 1924: 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The goal of the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition of 1999 was to discover evidence of whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had been the first to summit Mt. ...

• Firstly, Mallory's daughter has always said that Mallory carried a photograph of his wife on his person with the intention of leaving it on the summit when he reached it. This photo was not found on the body when it was discovered. Given the excellent preservation of the body and its garments, this lack suggests that he may have reached the summit and deposited the photo there.

• Secondly, Mallory's snow goggles were in his pocket when the body was found, indicating that he died at night. This implies that he and Irvine had made a push for the summit and were descending very late in the day. Given their known departure time and movements, had they not made the summit, it is unlikely that they would have still been out by nightfall.

While tantalising, neither of these details is conclusive. What might provide concrete evidence would be the recovery of images contained in the cameras that the men were carrying. Unfortunately, neither of the two cameras that the expedition carried have been found. Many have speculated that Irvine may have been carrying one of the cameras when they died. Experts from Kodak have stated that if one of the cameras is found with film, there is a good chance that the film could be developed to produce "printable images", due to the nature of the black and white film that was used and the fact that it has, in effect, been in "deep freeze" for over three-quarters of a century. Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) is an American multinational public company producing photographic materials and equipment. ...

In 1975, a Chinese climber named Wang Hongbao reported seeing the body of an "old English dead" near the summit. He reported the discovery to Ryoten Hasegawa, a Japanese mountaineer, in 1979. However, before more information could be obtained, Wang was killed in an avalanche the following day. Current information indicates to most analysts that the body he saw would have been Mallory's. Inspired by the importance of the discovery of Irvine's body and the invaluable camera, high-altitude research expeditions spent weeks on Everest in 2001, 2004, and 2005 but were able to shed little further light on what had previously been known about his fate; speculation and debate continues, as does what is known in mountaineering circles as "The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine." 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... An avalanche is a very large slide of snow (or rock) down a mountainside, caused when a buildup of snow is released down a slope, and is one of the major dangers faced in the mountains. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Trivia

• The ghost of a climber has allegedly been seen by other climbers, two of whom (Dougal Haston and Doug Scott) in 1975 claimed to have shared a snow hole with the ghost during their climb. Some who have seen him believe that the ghost is that of Irvine.^{[citation needed]}

• Upon hearing of the dissapearance of Andrew Irvine along with his partner George Mallory, a family friend wrote; "One cannot imagine Sandy content to float placidly in some quiet back-water, he was the sort that must struggle against the current and, if need be, go down foaming in full body over the precipice"

• Arnold Lunn, one of Irvine's friends wrote; "Irvine did not live long, but he lived well. Into his short life he crowded an overflowing measure of activity which found its climax in his last wonderful year, a year during which he rowed in the winning Oxford boat, explored Spitsbergen, fell in love with ski-ing, and – perhaps – conquered Everest. The English love rather to live well than to live long.’

Dougal Haston (1940-1977) was a Scottish mountaineer born in Currie, Edinburgh. ... Doug Scott CBE (born 29th May 1941) is British mountaineer famous for the first acent of the Southwest Face Mount Everest on 25th September 1975, and was the first Briton to climb Everest. ...

See also

• Mountaineering
• Mount Everest
• George Mallory
• Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition
• List of people who have disappeared

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... “Everest” redirects here. ... George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 June/9 June 1924) was a British mountaineer who took part in the first three British Expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. ... The goal of the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition of 1999 was to discover evidence of whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had been the first to summit Mt. ... The following is a compilation of people who have mysteriously disappeared, whose death is not substantiated, whose remains have not been recovered, whose current whereabouts are unknown, and who (except for the most recent cases) may be presumed deceased. ...

References

• Peter Firstbrook Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine, BBC Books (1999) ISBN 0-563-48712-7
• Holzel and Salkend The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine, Pimlico (1999) ISBN 0-7126-6488-2
• Julie Summers "Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine" (2000) ISBN 0-297-64682-6

External links

• BBC History page on Everest
• Everest News on Sandy Irvine