Who Conquered Everest First: George or Hillary?

[Andrew49]

A new movie claims Mount Everest was possibly conquered almost 30 years earlier than is thought. The Wildest Dream concludes that 1920s English adventurer George Mallory could be the first man to reach the top of the world's highest peak - decades before Sir Edmund Hillary. The feature documentary looks at the mystery surrounding Mallory, who risked everything in pursuit of his dream, using primitive gear and wearing gabardine and hobnailed boots. He was last seen alive in 1924 with climbing partner Andrew Irvine, just 244 metres below the mountain's peak, before the clouds closed in. In 1999, mountaineer Conrad Anker discovered Mallory’s frozen body high in the mountain's so-called death zone, where many others also perished. Almost all of the adventurer's belongings were found intact on his body, apart from a photograph of his wife, Ruth, which he promised to place on the summit if he succeeded.

The photograph was never found, fueling ongoing speculation.

Sky News

I think I'll go with George - even though he never got back to the bottom of the mountain.

[TotalMayhem]

I watched this last night, just awesome. It doesn't really matter whether Mallory was the first man to conquer Everest, it's an epic tale and brilliantly told.

Great cast too: Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman.

[whydontwe]

I think it was Tensing...the elite just couldn't cope with a 'pleb' getting all the plaudits !!!

[TotalMayhem]

I think it was Tensing...the elite just couldn't cope with a 'pleb' getting all the plaudits !!!

No, the Empire would have none of that nonsense! Maybe you should write a new book and shed some light on the aspect of the class war which the conquest for Everest certainly was.

Kudos to Mallory then, he didn't rely on a 'pleb' at all, his partner Sandy Irvine (whose body still hasn't been recovered) was an Englishman.

[whydontwe]

TM...agree...think it was a kind of 'class' war' in effect....but have to admit...don't know much about Mallory and Irvine...any stuff on web...or any books you'd recommend?

[morticia]

Kudos to Mallory then, he didn't rely on a 'pleb' at all, his partner Sandy Irvine (whose body still hasn't been recovered) was an Englishman.

which no doubt helps to explain why the poor bloke didn't make it back down again......

[morticia]

Read Tensing's biography years ago. He says Hillary stepped up first, closely followed by himself. In the man's own words. Doesn't really matter, since all concerned knew Hillary couldn't have done it without him.

Re Mallory, entirely plausible, but I think there may be a convention that in order to be credited with the ascent, you have to make it back down alive.... would help to encourage the younger and rasher to be a bit more careful, so I think that convention should be encouraged, on the whole.

[TotalMayhem]

Well, I wouldn't go as far as calling it a class war, but extreme mountaineering never was a sport for the masses, last but not least due to the immense costs involved in the preparation of such expeditions.

As for Tensing and Hillary, it doesn't really matter who was first because neither would have made it without the other, they both did it and that is all that counts, I don't think Tensing is considered a #2 in the same way as Buzz Aldrin for example.

[Starfire]

An Interesting thing is that the mountain is called after Colonel Sir George Everest Surveyor-General of India by Major General Sir Andrew Scott Waugh after triangle transfer the whole length of India.

In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft only 27' out as measured by satellite radar. Its height was first calculated by Radhanath Sikdar an Indian mathematician who worked for George Everest then for Andrew Waugh. He was a Derozian ( free thinker )

[TotalMayhem]

I'd say, one of the most remarkable men to climb Everest has to be South Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner. In 1978 he and Peter Habeler became the first climbers to reach the summit without the use of supplemental oxygen. In 1980, Messner was the first to conquer Everest alone and again, he did it without oxygen tanks.

The inhospitality surely is beyond imagination. Above 8,000 meters, in the Death Zone, the human body enters Necrosis (the state of dying) causing the premature death of cells and living tissue.

[TotalMayhem]

Amazing... you can now explore the highest mountain on planet Earth interactively in 3D and find out more about the ascents and trekking routes in the Khumbu region... all without supplemental oxygen.

Thanks to most advanced space technology, it is now possible to explore Mount Everest in high resolution 3D.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VzVp4hjSKE"]Everest 3D - YouTube[/ame]

You can download the software here (Windows/Mac OS), it's free.

[TotalMayhem]

A new movie claims Mount Everest was possibly conquered almost 30 years earlier than is thought. The Wildest Dream concludes that 1920s English adventurer George Mallory could be the first man to reach the top of the world's highest peak - decades before Sir Edmund Hillary.

The Wildest Dream is now also [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wildest-Dream-Blu-ray-Liam-Neeson/dp/B004G9UXG2"]available on Bluray[/ame].

[TotalMayhem]

15-year old Jordan Romero has become the youngest person to climb to the summit of the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents.

[C. Flower]

An unknown local was first, is my guess.

[TotalMayhem]

An unknown local was first, is my guess.

No, the first was Richard Bass, after whom one of the two record lists named. The other list is known as the Messner list, which replaced Australia's Mount Kosciuszko with Indonesia's Carstensz Pyramid... I believe we had a discussion here as well, whether it's Australia or Oceania.

And then there is this consideration:

It would be a bigger challenge to climb the second-highest peak of each continent, known as the Seven Second Summits - a feat that has not been accomplished. This is especially true for Asia, as K2 (8,611 m) demands greater technical climbing skills than Everest.