Imagine a strange beeping noise heard high on Everest. A digital video camera picks up the beeps and then focuses on the source of the noise. The camera begins to make out a mechanical instrument moving over the blowing snow and we realize the instrument is a metal detector—an odd sight against the hard rock and ice face of the world's highest mountain. The detector and digital camera are being used at 27,000 feet on Everest to look for a body found there in 1975. The body is believed to be that of Andrew Irvine, a climber who lost his life on Everest in 1924 while trying to make a summit bid with renowned climber George Leigh Mallory. Were they a few hours short of reaching the summit, or were they on their way down—the first to reach the highest point on Earth? We are here to search for the body and the camera Mallory and Irvine had with them, to try and solve this mystery. The camera may hold images that could shed light on their tragic story. Ours will be the highest archaeological project in the world. To try and discover what happened to Mallory and Irvine, our team of climbers have several objectives to reach before the end of May, when the monsoon snows arrive, bringing the climbing season on Everest to an end. To see where the clues lie, explore a map of the north route.

Finding the Body

In 1975, a Chinese climber named Wang Hongbao left his tent at Camp VI for a walk. He was gone for 20 minutes, during which time he came upon the body of a climber that he later described to a fellow climber as being an old "English dead" because of the vintage clothes he was wearing. No other English climber was known to have died at that elevation on Everest, so it is presumed this body could be that of either George Mallory or Andrew Irvine. Wang revealed his find only in 1979, during a Japanese expedition on Everest when he confided his story to a fellow climber. The very next day, he was killed in an avalanche, so no more is known about his find.

Examining the Search Area

First, our team must locate the exact site where Wang was camping (the 1975 Chinese Camp VI site) and then fan out in a 10-minute walk radius from that point to conduct their search; because Wang was gone from his tent for 20 minutes, he could not have walked more than 10 minutes from his tent before finding the body. The site is off the beaten trail up Everest and covers an area of about 1,080 square feet. Located at about 27,000 feet, the search area is also known as the Snow Terrace. The moutaineers, led by Eric Simonson and under radio consultation with geologist Jochen Hemmleb, who will be watching the team by telescope from Base Camp, will go out on three different research tours as outlined by Hemmleb's "Research Manual".

By studying photographs taken in the area and going over detailed orthophoto maps of Everest's upper North Face, Hemmleb has pinpointed the exact area in which the team should search

for the body spotted in 1975. "When I saw photographs of various Camp VI locations, I realized that the background in each of those photographs was different. From these differences, I deducted a method of pointing out locations on Everest's North Face. It became clear that the Chinese Camp VI, where the body was found, was different from today's Camp VI. That is no theory—it's visible in the photographs." Now all the team needs to do is follow Hemmleb's directions to that site. The team plans to follow Hemmleb's manual for searching, first by exploring and photographing the locations, and then by taking a pass on the Snow Terrace with a metal detector, in case the body and camp site are covered with ice and snow.

What metal would the device detect on Mallory and Irvine? Ice axes, nails on the soles of their boots, backpack frames, oxygen canisters, and the camera. If the camera is found, it will be transported, still frozen, to Kodak's labs in Rochester, New York, where the film will be and published on this Web site.

Looking for Clues

The Camera: Mallory (and also possibly Irvine) had a Kodak Vestpocket Model B Camera. Oxygen bottles: The bottles used in 1924 were larger than the bottles used in 1922 and longer and skinnier than those from the 1930s. Also, it is known that no bottles from the 1930s were left on the mountain higher than approximately 26,250 feet. Clothing: The last picture of Mallory and Irvine June 6, 1924: Mallory and Irvine leave the North Col for their final summit attempt. Clothing: The last picture taken by Noel Odell of Mallory and Irvine caught them leaving the North Col. They were wearing Grenville cloth anoraks made by Burberry's of London. Irvine put special zip fasteners on his anorak, a new invention at the time. Equipment: Ice axes, nailed boots, frame backpacks, and maybe even crampons.