A photograph showing British explorers George Mallory and Edward Irvine walking to their deaths on Mount Everest has been rediscovered after almost 100 years.
The black and white image had only been seen once before and that was during a photography exhibition 99 years ago.
Mallory and Irvine disappeared in June 1924 when they attempted to become the first people to climb the world’s highest peak.
The photograph shows seven members of the expedition ascending the north face of Mount Everest.
It was taken by Noel Odell, the expedition’s photographer, who was the last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive. He titled the photograph ‘Pilgrims to the great goddess Everest 1924’.
The photograph of the expedition was taken by Noel Odell and titled ‘Pilgrims to the Great Goddess Everest 1924’
Last photo of Edward Irvine (left) and George Mallory (right) to be sold at auction
Irvine (left) disappeared at age 22 with his climbing partner, renowned mountaineer Mallory, in June 1924.
The group set out from Camp VI, 8,000 meters above sea level on Everest, on June 8 after leaving a note for their support group saying “things are looking good.”
Several hours later, Odell arrived at Camp VI and could see the entire summit above him.
He pointed his camera lens and saw Mallory and Irvine at about 28,200 feet before they disappeared into the clouds. It was the last time the couple was seen alive.
It could never be proven whether the pair reached the summit and perished on their way down or whether they succumbed to conditions distressingly inferior to their historic goal.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to conquer Everest in 1953. In 1999, Mallory’s body was discovered about 700 meters from the summit.
In September of this year, a team of climbers filming a National Geographic documentary came across a preserved foot encased in a climbing boot and sock that was later confirmed to be Irvine’s.
The photograph taken by Odell is one of several taken by him on three different expeditions to Everest that are for sale.
They have remained in the Odell family and are sold by a direct descendant of the photographer and mountaineer who died in 1987 at the age of 96.
One of Irvine’s feet was found several hundred feet below where Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999.
A plaque commemorating George Mallory and Andrew Irvine placed on Mount Everest by Italian climbers. The inscription reads “of the glory of the peaks forever in our hearts.”
George Mallory is seen with Andrew Irvine at base camp in Nepal.
The images are expected to sell for a total of £8,000.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge of Henry Aldridge & Son, of Devizes, Wilts, said: “Odell is best remembered as the last man to see Andrew Irvine and George Mallory alive, as they made stubborn but delayed progress towards possible first promotion of Mount Everest in 1924, 29 years before Hillary.
‘This is a rare original photograph taken by Odell. It shows the members of the expedition on their ascent of Everest.
“It’s a tantalizing final glimpse of Mallory and Irvine before they died pushing the boundaries of human endeavor.”
The Odell collection also includes three original photographs he took of the south face of Everest in 1905 and a rare panoramic photograph from the 1938 expedition that ended in failure.