The First Summit Of Everest

Were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay the first people to reach the peak of Everest?  Maybe, but evidence is mounting that George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine may have reached the peak in 1924. In fact, the pair were last spotted just few hundred yards away from the peak.

                                                                                                                                                                     In 1999,  Mallory's body was found 8,150 meters (26,760 ft) up the mountain. The picture of his wife which he had planned to drop at the top of Everest was not in his pockets. His goggles were in his pockets, which suggests he was descending the mountain in bad light when he died. For this reasons, it is often assumed that he reached the top of the mountain but died before making it back down. Irvine's body was never found, which is intriguing since he was carrying the camera. If found, the pictures could be processed to reveal if the pair actually got to the top. 

Always a gentleman, Sir Edmund Hillary never felt the need to dismiss Mallory and Irvine. When asked about it, he would only say that he didn't know who had reached the summit first, but he was sure he and Tenzing were the first to make it back again.