Fallen by Mick Conefrey

Author:Mick Conefrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2024-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Above towers Everest, somewhat powdered with fresh snow, still and windless, and half-shrouded in that type of damp, sticky cloud which surely this time presages the advent of the monsoon proper. Every eye in camp is turned on the final pyramid. Expectation is at its keenest, for somewhere there the final attempt, as it must inevitably be, is at this moment deciding the success or failure of the 1924 Expedition.

At the end of the day the skies cleared, but though they remained on constant watch, they saw nothing on high – no lights or flares; nothing apart from Odell returning to Camp 4.

The following morning, 9 June, there was still no sign of any movement above. Initially everyone hoped that Mallory and Irvine were at Camp 6, resting after their summit attempt the day before, but as the minutes and then hours ticked by, they grew increasingly nervous. The clouds came and went, first revealing then hiding the summit, but neither through their binoculars nor their telescopes could anyone see any hint of Mallory and Irvine. To make matters worse, in the distance over the Rapui La – one of the passes leading into Nepal – there were heavy clouds gathering, presaging the imminent arrival of the long-feared monsoon.

At 11.10 a.m., convinced that something had gone terribly wrong, Norton dictated a note for Odell, telling him to keep a close watch on the mountain for any distress signals but not to go any higher than 27,000 feet and ‘not to risk a single other life English or Tibetan on the remote chance of retrieving the inevitable’. Then, with a clatter, Edward Shebbeare broke the tension, arriving at Camp 3 along with thirty porters, to begin clearing the mountain. He had no idea that a third attempt was taking place but could sense the anxiety in the air. After a few hours’ rest, Norton sent him back down, telling him to return in two days, by which time everything would be settled – for better or worse.

Up at Camp 4, Odell could not bear the tension any longer. At 12.10, three hours before Norton’s note arrived, taking two porters and a mouthpiece for the oxygen set he’d found two days earlier, he headed back up the mountain, aiming to spend another night at Camp 5 and then climb back up to Camp 6. Before leaving, he agreed a set of visual signals with Hazard to tell him what he found: a single ‘flea bag’ in the snow if everything was ‘all right’; two parallel sleeping bags if medical help was needed; two bags in the shape of a T if there was no trace. Hazard copied the signals out and then sent a porter down to Camp 3 with a parallel set of signals, to pass any message on to Norton.

High on the North Ridge, the conditions were no better. The wind had returned and so had the freezing temperatures. When Odell reached Camp 5, there was still no sign of Mallory and Irvine.

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