Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine [Hardcover]

Julie Summer knew there had to be more. She searched for and finally discovered a trove of hitherto unknown information about Mallory's 22-year-old climbing partner, Andrew Comyn Irvine-"Sandy" to his friends-complimenting perfectly the detailed picture of Mallory painted by the Gillmanns. It is always unbelievable when the heroes of our Pantheon are described as having inhumanly spotless lives. Thank goodness the Gillmans, and now Julie Summers, are able to show the human side of their subject. Sandy, it is revealed, had a torrid affair with Marjory Summers, the 25-year old step-mother of his best friend. A strong clue to their intensely passionate involvement can be seen clearly in the full page photograph of the couple. (Any hint of this affair had been expurgated in Herbert Carr's book.) At last we have in this fine work the unearthing of this and much other new and refreshing information about someone who--although sharing equal billing--had essentially remained a footnote in the great Mallory & Irvine saga.

Irvine's contribute on the mountain was the guarantee of providing working oxygen systems to fuel their fatal climb--something which no one else on the expedition was capable of. In fact, given the anti-science mind-set of the gentlemen of the Royal Geographic Society and the Alpine Club, Irvine and George Finch were the only ones so capable. George Finch, who made a terrific oxygen-assisted attempt on Everest in 1922, was black-balled in part for his first-rate engineering talent, the results of which showed up (by climbing higher and faster) the oxygenless "first team" of Mallory & Norton. This hands-on know-how was too much for a gentleman...

Summer points out that Irvine had a form of dyslexia that resulted in his writing with what can only be called telegraphic punctuation. Some of this must have passed down the Irvine line (Julie Summers' grandmother was Irvine's sister), for the book is annoyingly replete with many small numerical errors: C-4 is given as 23,500-ft when it is elsewhere shown correctly as 23,000; The Rongbuk Monastery is three, not eleven miles from ABC; and Base Camp is a 16,500-ft, not 17,800-ft (which is C-1). In an otherwise detailed genealogy of Irvine's family which includes herself, she leaves out her mother! These are nits, to be sure, in an otherwise wonderful depiction of young Irvine's rather racy life.

The new information she gathers leads up to the expedition of 1924, and offers some interesting new insights into Sandy's role in it, but for the most part, this latter part of the book comprises well-known information. A breath-holding test at Base Camp revealed that Sandy, able to hold his breath for two minutes at sea level, was able only to do so for half a minute at Base Camp-a good sign of the reduced capacity of the blood to store oxygen at altitude. Mallory's "astonishing" ability to perform math exercises while the others were woefully slow is also an interesting new tidbit, but this should not lead anyone to think that full mental functioning is possible, even at "only" 17,000-ft. Mallory's (and everyone's) handwriting became more angular and cramped as he ascended, and dyslexic mistakes became ever more common (e.g., Mallory's "8 p.m." instead of 8 a.m.). Summers begins to suggest that the "8 p.m." notation meant Mallory might have conducted an afternoon recon of his route at C-6 prior to their next day's assault, but then fails to complete the thought. More likely is that the two men moved C-6 from its exposed position to a more sheltered spot hard on the lip of the North Ridge. This would explain why Odell felt it necessary to clamber some 300 yards up the rout during the snow squall, to aid the descending climbers in finding the tent which was no longer clearly in view from above, as it had been the previously during the Norton Somervell attempt.

This fine book is a necessary and delightful compliment to a full understanding of the dynamics of the endlessly fascinating Mallory & Irvine partnership. It goes far in explaining the universal attraction felt by all on the expedition for their young "experiment," and especially the instant rapport the two men quickly felt for each other. With Sandy's innate exuberance, his astounding mechanical aptitude, his boundless energy, and his unfailing enthusiasm and cheer even under the most daunting hardships, it is now abundantly clear why the equally sociable Mallory could not have chosen a better companion.

Until now Irvine has been seen as Mallory's sidekick, a historical cypher faithfully following in Mallory's footsteps. But, with great skill and enthusiasm, Julie Summers - Irvine's great-niece - has brought him to life and given him a character and an existence of his own.

Irvine, an Oxford undergraduate, just 22 when he died, is revealed as a richly complex character, unable to express himself too well in words, but a dedicated sportsman who rowed for Oxford, a better climber than previously given credit for, and a gifted and visionary engineer and photographer who relished the great adventure of tackling Everest.

He was a resolute strategist too, playing a long game, singling out Mallory as the man who was most likely to get him to the top. Julie Summers tells her story with vivacity and pace, piling on fresh detail after detail to give her narrative momentum and authenticity. Like all good researchers, she suspected when she embarked on her project that there was more to find - and lo and behold, was rewarded for her tenacity when, in an attic in a family home in North Wales, she came across a crate of letters and other documents that are as compelling as they are revelatory.

They included Irvine's letters to his mother from the 1924 expedition, never before published, and his designs for modifying the oxygen equipment that had previously been so unreliable. All through the long trek across Tibet in the spring of 1924 he was tinkering, modifying, redesigning, until the oxygen sets were far lighter and more dependable - a key factor in commending him to Mallory.

Julie Summers has also unearthed the almost obligatory scandal, an affair with his best friend's stepmother that Irvine conducted with precious few inhibitions. There are stunning new photographs in the book too, some reflecting Irvine's love life, others showing the full gamut of his enteprises in the pre-Everest years.

As the author's first biography, Fearless on Everest is a truly impressive achievement, and one that must be a contender for next year's Boardman Tasker prize - the coveted annual award for mountain literature.