OUT LOOKS: CHASING GHOSTS ON MT. EVEREST; MALLORY'S 75-YEAR-OLD MISSION REMAINS A MYSTERY DESPITE RECENT TRIO OF BOOKS.Byline: Rich Martin Special to the Daily News The images are gripping. George Mallory's corpse - alabaster alabaster, fine-grained, massive, translucent variety of gypsum, a hydrous calcium sulfate. It is pure white or streaked with reddish brown. Alabaster, like all other forms of gypsum, forms by the evaporation of bedded deposits that are precipitated mainly from and statuesque stat·u·esque adj. Suggestive of a statue, as in proportion, grace, or dignity; stately. stat  u·esque - preserved nearly intact for 75 years, face down on the
North Face of Mount Everest at 27,000 feet. One unhurt leg crossed over
a broken one as if for protection. Fingers clutching the talus talus (tā`ləs), deposit of rock fragments detached from cliffs or mountain slopes by weathering and piled up at their bases. A talus is a common geologic feature in regions of high cliffs. in
desperation.
The story is enthralling en·thrall tr.v. en·thralled, en·thrall·ing, en·thralls 1. To hold spellbound; captivate: The magic show enthralled the audience. 2. To enslave. . Did Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine Andrew Irvine may refer to:
Three in a series of new books from members of an expedition that found Mallory's body in May address the topic. One contends the climbers could have reached the peak; the other title proposes it is highly unlikely. ``Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine'' (The Mountaineers; $29.95) by Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson and Eric R. Simonson in no way concedes Mallory and Irvine succeeded but eliminates some of the arguments that the pair couldn't possibly have reached the summit. What is clear from the new findings is that Mallory and Irvine fell while tied together by rope and descending in the dark (Mallory had his sun goggles goggles, n the protective eyewear worn by dental personnel and patients during dental procedures. goggles see periocular leukotrichia. in his pocket) above 26,000 feet. Mallory suffered severe head injuries and a broken leg; Irvine's body has not been found. The authors accumulated circumstantial evidence circumstantial evidence In law, evidence that is drawn not from direct observation of a fact at issue but from events or circumstances that surround it. If a witness arrives at a crime scene seconds after hearing a gunshot to find someone standing over a corpse and holding a - letters, oxygen cylinders, the facts of weather and topography and a description of where they were when last seen. But there's nothing resembling a smoking gun; the camera Mallory took with him was not found. A photo he brought of his wife was found neither in his pocket nor at the summit, where he had hoped to place it if he reached the top. Before the 1999 expedition, the accepted belief was that Mallory and Irvine did not have enough oxygen to reach the peak. This logic apparently was incorrect; oxygen cylinders and a letter listing available air supplies were located, which points to the likelihood the pair had enough oxygen to summit. The authors are reverential rev·er·en·tial adj. 1. Expressing reverence; reverent. 2. Inspiring reverence. rev toward Mallory, a climbing icon, but could they have an unconscious bias to discover that Mallory did indeed scale the peak? It's natural to hope so; the story is so compelling we're rooting for Mallory and Irvine. No one can doubt the bravery and will of the old-time mountaineers. They climbed with primitive equipment. Back then, the idea of roping climbers together all the way up was unheard of Not heard of; of which there are no tidings. Unknown to fame; obscure. - Glanvill. See also: Unheard Unheard . The 1999 party was shocked to find how poorly clothed clothe tr.v. clothed or clad , cloth·ing, clothes 1. To put clothes on; dress. 2. To provide clothes for. 3. To cover as if with clothing. Mallory was; his thin layers of apparel appeared more appropriate for a picnic in the Alps than a high-altitude climb. The authors wrote, ``Did they? No one knows. Surely what matters, what warrants our attention and our awe, is the scale of their achievement given the resources available to them, their astonishing a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. strength and grit, the indomitability in·dom·i·ta·ble adj. Incapable of being overcome, subdued, or vanquished; unconquerable. [Late Latin indomit of their desire.'' Beyond the detective work, the 205-page ``Ghosts of Everest'' is a splendid read. Its writers' alternate description of the 1924 odyssey with the 1999 excursion to show the commonality - the dangers of falling and weather, the tiny margin for error - with the contrast - equipment, technique, planning. Together it makes the 1924 achievement all the greater, whether it included summiting or not. The color photographs are breathtaking; two photos of Mallory's body are worth the price of the book in the tale they tell. One could get vertigo from other shots from the separate journeys. To be certain, ``Ghosts of Everest '' is a fine book, but it is not definitive. Our rating: three and a half stars The arguments by Conrad Anker are more persuasive in ``The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest'' with David Roberts (Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. ; $22). Anker, acknowledged as the best technical climber on the 1999 expedition, found Mallory's body. He argues that Mallory and Irvine did not have enough time to reach the summit. Although no one knows when the pair left the highest Everest camp June 8, 1924, it is unlikely to have been before 6:30 a.m. Mallory did not have a flashlight and climbers in his day did not start early; today 2 a.m. is a common time to depart Time to Depart is a crime novel by Lindsey Davis. Plot introduction Set in Rome during October AD 72, Time to Depart stars Marcus Didius Falco, Informer and Imperial Agent. It is the seventh in her Falco series. camp. A successful climb would have required that Mallory and Irvine climbed significantly faster than modern climbers do. One scenario by Tom Holzel, a historian of Everest lore, calculated that the pair could have reached the top if they climbed 204 feet per hour. Anker himself, a fast climber, ascended 165 feet per hour with modern equipment, techniques, assistance and training. But Anker believes the team's biggest obstacle was the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer wall where there is now a permanent ladder. Anker free-climbed it but thinks Mallory and Irvine could not have climbed without better ropes and modern climbing gear. ``Even if Mallory and Irvine had miraculously climbed the Second Step, they would have been stranded above it,'' he wrote. ``Few climbing ropes at the time were longer than 100 feet. Had they doubled the rope around the anchoring boulder at the top and rappelled the Step, the rope would never have reached. Nor would they have been able to pull the rope down from below . . .'' The contention is persuasive. The counter-argument - a belief in superhuman su·per·hu·man adj. 1. Above or beyond the human; preternatural or supernatural. 2. Beyond ordinary or normal human ability, power, or experience: "soldiers driven mad by superhuman misery" effort and willpower - sounds like wishful thinking wishful thinking Psychology Dereitic thought that a thing or event should have a specified outcome . Anker's 191-page book is well-done, with a respectful look at Mallory. Yet the black-and-white photos aren't as memorable. Our rating: three and a half stars Peter Firstbrook's ``Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine'' (Contemporary Books; $24.95) provides color and history but adds little to the debate. Firstbrook, like Anker, speculates the pair probably did not have enough time to reach the top. But he contends they could have overcome the Second Step, based on achievements made during a 1960 climb by a team of Chinese climbers. (Anker, noting the lack of corroborating photos, believes the Chinese neither climbed the Second Step nor reached the summit.) ``Lost on Everest '' portrays Mallory as an idealistic man who had achieved little success and become obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with the idea of climbing Everest. Firstbrook, like the other authors, depicts him as absent-minded, sometimes nearly reckless. (Mallory took the blame for the deaths of seven Sherpas during a 1922 attempt on Everest.) Readers fascinated with Everest lore will find Firstbrook's 224-page account worthy. But don't expect to learn much about whether Everest was climbed in 1924. Our rating: two and a half stars CAPTION(S): 2 photos PHOTO (1) Of all the Mount Everest expeditions, the 1924 fate of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine may be the most intriguing, as evidenced by three new books on the subject. Courtesy of MacGillivray Freeman Films (2) Three recent books describe the ill-fated attempt by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine to scale Mt. Everest in 1924. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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