K2-The Mountain

The north face of Gran Paradiso is regarded as one of the most serious mountaineering objectives in the massif.

June 08: On this day exactly 102 years ago (1924), legendary British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine disappeared high on the slopes of Mount Everest. 🥲

The pair vanished in one of the greatest mysteries in mountaineering history.

The Final Sighting: Geologist and climber Noel Odell spotted the two men at roughly 12:50 PM, describing them as "tiny black spots" ascending high on the Northeast Ridge, possibly near the Second Step. Odell reported they were "going strong for the top" before clouds rolled in and obscured them from view. They were never seen alive again.

The Ongoing Debate: Because no summit photograph was ever recovered, it remains a heavily debated topic whether Mallory and Irvine successfully reached the summit almost 30 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Discoveries: Mallory's remains were found in 1999 by a dedicated search expedition. In September 2024, a National Geographic-supported team found partial remains on the Central Rongbuk Glacier, positively identifying a boot and a sock with "A.C. Irvine" stitched on it, which added crucial new evidence to the investigation of their final hours.