L’altro uomo dell’Everest

Year: 2002 Pages: 252 On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine set off for the summit of Everest. At 12.50, for a brief moment, the clouds enveloping the summit opened, and one of their companions who was climbing to camp 6 saw them clearly silhouetted against the sky, above a rock cliff, a short distance from the summit. The two never returned, but there have always been those who maintain that before disappearing into the clouds and legend they reached the top of Everest, 29 years before Hillary and Tenzing. The discovery of Mallory's body in 1999 did not solve the mystery; the discussion is still open. Why had the great Mallory chosen the youngest and most inexperienced mountaineer of the expedition as his companion? Little has always been known about Irvine, and the wildest hypotheses have been made about Mallory's "strange" choice. The Other Man of Everest, written by a great-granddaughter of Irvine, reveals the personality of that 22-year-old young man called by Mallory to share the responsibility and glory of the first ascent of the highest peak in the world. Which perhaps the two have really achieved.