Local Team Finds Body Of Storied Everest Climber

Members of an expedition led by a Pierce County man say they have found near the top of Mount Everest the body of George Mallory, one of two Englishmen who may have been the first to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain.

Expedition leader Eric Simonson "was so excited that I don't think he could even process the reality of what they had discovered," his girlfriend, Erin Copland, said yesterday from his home in Ashford, near Mount Rainier.

Dispatches from Simonson and fellow climber Dave Hahn, a senior guide at Mount Rainier and the first to come across Mallory's body, were posted on Seattle-based mountainzone.com, a sponsor of the expedition.

"They found a name tag sewn into his clothing," said Peter Potterfield, editor of mountainzone.com.

Eight climbers have been looking for the bodies of Mallory and Andrew Irvine - who disappeared in 1924 - and a camera that could contain pictures proving they reached the summit 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

They found the body Saturday but haven't yet found the camera or evidence to prove they had reached the summit, Potterfield said.

But "the plan is to go back up after they get some rest. . . . This wasn't just a walk in the park," said Copland, who spoke to Simonson by satellite phone around 8:30 a.m. yesterday. "They think they can find Irvine."

`What better tribute'

The expedition is being documented by the Boston-based public television show "Nova" and is partly sponsored by PBS.

"When we realized that it was George Mallory, we were really blown away by that," Hahn reported on the Internet site. "We didn't want to disturb him, he'd been lying there for 75 years, but at the same time we thought what better tribute to the man than to try and find out if he had summited Mount Everest in 1924."

Hahn said the climbers performed a ceremony suggested by Mallory's family and covered the body.

Hillary said today the mystery of whether he and Tenzing Norgay were beaten to the summit may never be solved.

The New Zealander said he accepts that Mallory and his climbing partner may have made it to the summit 29 years earlier. Without a photograph, however, the world can never be certain, Hillary said.

`English dead'

The body was found about 2,000 feet from the windblown 29,028-foot summit not far from that of a Chinese climber, whose accounts were used by the "Nova" crew to try to locate Mallory and Irvine.

Jochen Hemmleb, a German climber and Mallory historian on the team, chose a location to search based largely on a 1975 report from climber Wang Hongbao of a body on the North Ridge route Mallory and Irvine would have taken.

Hongbao described the body as "English dead," and indicated its vintage clothing broke to pieces when he touched it.

The body was found on a snow terrace, just below the spot where an ice ax believed to be Irvine's was found in 1933. The ax had three notches on the handle, which was how Irvine marked his equipment. Two days after Hongbao told his story, he died in an avalanche.

Hemmleb and other organizers asked Simonson to lead the expedition largely because of his extensive climbing experience, including more than 260 ascents of Mount Rainier.

Copland said Simonson "puts Mallory and Irvine in the category with Lewis and Clark and John Glenn and some of the heroes he's had since boyhood."

"I think they're shocked and dizzied . . . not only that (the discovery) happened, but that it happened so suddenly," Copland said, adding that the climbers were likely too dazed and exhausted to hold a celebration.

"But I'm sure when the time comes it will be a big one," she said. "I'm envisioning a big barbecue here in Ashford with not less than one keg of beer."

Rest in peace

Two renowned climbers from the Seattle area, Jim Wickwire and Lou Whittaker, take differing views on the discovery.

Wickwire, a Seattle attorney, who tried three times to reach the summit of Mount Everest, believes the discovery is a "huge development in the history of mountaineering."

On the other hand, Whittaker, who has reached the top of Everest, said those who die on any mountain climb should be left in peace.

Most of the members of his climbs agree ahead of time that if they die they want to stay on the mountain, Whittaker said. "If they make a mistake or die, it's a beautiful (resting) place," he said.

Whittaker said discovery of remains "is the wrong reason to climb a mountain. There are bodies all over Everest," including that of Marty Hoey, a Whittaker team member who died in a 1982 climb.

Wickwire, however, said Mallory's disappearance "is the greatest mystery of mountaineering."

`A pretty heroic figure'

Hillary said it would not worry him if it was proved Mallory beat him.

"I've had 45 years of being regarded as the first person to get to the top," he said. "I don't think it would worry me too much if it was discovered Mallory had been there before me.

"I've always regarded Mallory as a pretty heroic figure, and I think in many ways it would be quite appropriate if it would prove he was successful," Hillary said. "Of course he didn't get down again, so he didn't quite complete the job fully."