Kolkata: Mountaineers from Kolkata are planning a tribute to mark the centenary of George Herbert Leigh-Mallory’s final attempt to scale Mount Everest on June 8, 1924, some 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited the highest peak on earth.
“It’s only fair that the centenary shouldn’t be allowed to pass without an event honouring the bravehearts,” said mountaineer Sujoy Das, founder of South Col Expeditions and member of city-based NGO, The Himalayan (involved in mountains and climbing), referring to the man associated with heroism and tragedy.“It’s a century since the 1924 expedition with Andrew Irvine ended in tragedy,” he added.
“Seventy-five years after Mallory’s disappearance, American climber Conrad Anker found his body high on the slopes of Mt Everest near the British Camp VI,” said another member of The Himalayan, which is organizing the George Mallory Centenary Commemoration at the Institute of Engineers on June 8.
AVM (Retd) Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya, who has been on the north side of Everest, will introduce the evening with an insight into the climbers of the 1920s and their incredible achievements with limited resources. Das will make a presentation through photos, video clips and maps of Mallory and the Everest expeditions 1921-1924.
Jamie McGuinness from New Zealand, founder of Project Himalaya, six-time Everest summiteer, will present remotely through a video whether the Chinese removed or buried Andrew Irvine. The event will conclude with a National Geographic film by Renan Ozturk on Everest and the search for Irvine filmed in 2019.
Britain was preparing to celebrate the success of the Everest expedition but was instead consumed with grief when the news of the deaths reached home. National mourning culminated in a memorial service at St Paul’s attended by King George V. Apparently, it was the first and only time in British history that mountaineers had been so honoured.