VIDEO: Discovery of George Mallory’s Body on Everest

Dozens of hikers take on the challenge of climbing mount Everest each year.

4.8 people also don’t make it back each year, meeting their maker up there.

Most of the time, their bodies cannot be recovered due to the harsh weather conditions, so they remain up on the wild mountain ridges.

This video shows the search and discovery of George Mallory’s body on Mount Everest.

According to sometimes-interesting.com, as of mid-2011, Mount Everest has claimed the lives of over 216 known mountain climbers. The area above 26,000 feet is called “the Death Zone”, where breathing fresh oxygen from canisters is necessary for all but the most experienced climbers.

The atmospheric pressure is about a third of that at sea level, meaning there is about one third the amount of oxygen to breathe. The air is so thin recovery of bodies has proven impossible – and for many, Everest is where they take their last breath.

One of the more storied climbers that met his fate on Everest was George Mallory, a famous English Mountaineer. In 1924, Mallory fell to his death during a storm while attempting to be the first to reach the summit of Everest. His body was discovered in 1999 during the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition.

Decades earlier, Chinese climbers had reported seeing a “European body” laying face down on a shelf off the main trail. Given the description and the date of the find, experts had always assumed it was the body of Andrew Irvine.

Irvine was a fellow English Mountaineer who had attempted the ascent of Everest with Mallory, and perished in the same storm.

During a 1933 Everest expedition climbers found Andrew Irvine’s axe and rope. Because of this it was widely believed to be Irvine’s body discovered by the Chinese. When a body was found during the 1999 search expedition, it was discovered to be that of George Mallory, not Irvine.

Mallory was found face down in a bunch of shale with his arms spread out and up. His skin was in remarkably good condition, but was tanned from 75 years of sun exposure.

After examining the body experts hypothesized that Mallory’s rope had failed, their hypothesis bolstered by the short severed rope found tied around his waist.

He was also found with a golf ball-sized hole in his forehead, indicating Mallory might have suffered blunt force trauma from striking a sharp rock.

Andrew Irvine has never been found.

The morbidity of seeing hundreds of bodies along one’s ascent up Mount Everest is only trumped by the fascination of the levels of preservation of many of the bodies.  Everest temperatures are ideal for preservation; perhaps some of these brave souls will be re-discovered by future generations.

Some die in their sleep, some fall unconscious and freeze, while others (including those who fell or became injured) were left to die slowly of hypothermia. Until recently, the statistics were nearly one in four climbers dies attempting to reach the summit.

Advancements in technology and experience have led to a better survival rate of climbers. As of 2011 about 1,000 climbers a year attempt to reach the summit, and on average 15-20 perish.