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Yes, your family can visit you during A-school. You'll need to pre-clear them so they get through the security gate. There are hotels on the base where they can stay. You have limited free time on most weekends. After graduation, you have a couple of days to return home. Usually, the military gives you 10 days of liberty to move to your new duty station. The military does provide up to 10 days of leave in the form of Permissive Temporary Duty (PTDY) in conjunction with a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move. This leave will facilitate house hunting and settling into the new duty station.

@@ftapon thank you. What about HM a school, will I be able to go home for Christmas?

@@lovealwaysjasmine usually but not always

I tend to reject conspiracy theories, including the idea that the Chinese took Irvine off the mountain. It's possible but unlikely. It requires significant effort to do that. And what would be the point? It would only matter if Irvine's body had evidence (e.g., a camera or summit rocks) that they summitted before the Chinese. In that case, just take the stones and camera and leave the body intact. The camera's film could only be developed if they had a darkroom at base camp. If they waited until they returned home, it would be ruined, say experts. Lastly, there's a chance they wanted to hide the unsightly dead body for aesthetic reasons. If so, instead of doing the backbreaking work of carrying it off the mountain, they would either: a) Bury it b) Slide it down the glacier into a crevasse. We may have to wait until the Chinese have a perestroika-type opening, whereby they admit long-held facts. Perhaps the 1960 summit rocks are not from the summit. Perhaps have unshared critical info about Irvine. Until then, the mystery will continue, but I doubt they carried Irvine off the mountain (10% chance). More likely, they buried him (30%), pushed him off the mountain (30%), or he's still sitting where he was allegedly seen (30%).

Your hypothesis is solid! The weakness is that nobody has climbed the zig-zag route, and Messner said it was too hard. Messner went in August when it was snow-covered. Perhaps it's easier in June. The absence of any successful attempts on the route serves as a testament to the validity of Messner's claim: the zig-zag route is indeed a formidable challenge. Before this interview & book, I thought there was a 20% chance that Mallory summited. Now, I think it's 80%. I don't know why people don't think he could have climbed Messner's route.

​@ftapon Norton tried the Zig Zag Line, it seems to be the obvious and most direct option for anyone traversing the Yellow Band, under the North Ridge. He found the route feasible, but very dangerous, due to exposure, slippery ground and loose rocks. Norton was alone, so he decided to cross the couloir and try the gully, a safer option. However, this is a more time-consuming line and afterall it became too late for him to go for the summit pyramid. Messner traverse lower in the wall, he was not as close as Norton to have a look at the zig zag area. The australians that climbed the Great Couloir reach the summit area by the gully too. Maybe, nobody went there except Norton, to get a closer look. Thousands of climbers crossed the North Ridge of Everest, but I never heard of one who tried to climb this line. It is more an untried line, not an impossible one. It was one of the three options that Mallory and Irvine had: North Ridge (and Second Step), "Zig Zag" and the gully (crossing the Great Couloir). I don't know which way they followed, but one thing I am sure about: they didn't stay fooling around all day, sitting on rocks and talking about the views. They tried hard to reach the summit, by one of these routes.

@@eduardoprestes1663 I hope you're right. I'm just skeptical about the feasibility of an "untried line." Mountaineers LOVE to claim "first ascents" and new lines. Therefore, why hasn't anyone done the zig-zag line? Maybe it is too difficult. Dr. Edwards suggests the Chinese force people to stay on a narrow path toward the summit. Still, you'd think someone would get a waiver to try the Zig Zag.

I agree with your scenario. The only corrections: 1) They were spotted at 12:50 pm, which is "around noon" but I would say "around 1 pm" - that extra hour matters. 2) The weather was NOT good. First, Odell briefly saw them. Clouds covered the summit nearly the whole day. Good weather would mean they had clear visibility. They did not. An AI will provide the other facts regarding the weather: On June 8, 1924, the day George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared during their summit attempt on Mount Everest, the weather conditions were likely treacherous due to a severe storm. Here are the key details: ## Significant Drop in Barometric Pressure Newly analyzed weather data from the 1924 expedition revealed a precipitous drop in barometric pressure in the days leading up to June 8th, indicating the arrival of a powerful storm system.[1][2] The pressure drop at base camp was around 18 millibars, which is considered significant.[4] ## Intense Storm Conditions Near the Summit The barometric pressure drop suggests that Mallory and Irvine likely encountered an intense storm with high winds, heavy snow, and poor visibility as they approached the summit on June 8th.[1][2][4] Such a storm would have made climbing extremely hazardous and difficult to navigate. ## Lack of Oxygen from Low Pressure At Everest's extreme altitude, the air is already severely depleted of oxygen. The additional drop in barometric pressure caused by the storm would have further reduced the oxygen levels, potentially causing hypoxia (lack of oxygen).[1][4] Hypoxia can lead to confusion, impaired judgment, and physical impairment, all of which are dangerous for climbers. While accounts from lower elevations reported only a brief afternoon blizzard on June 8th, the conditions experienced by Mallory and Irvine several thousand feet higher were likely drastically worse due to the elevation difference.[1] In summary, the newly analyzed weather data strongly indicates that Mallory and Irvine faced a powerful storm with life-threatening conditions of high winds, heavy snow, low visibility, and oxygen deprivation near the summit of Everest on the day of their disappearance in 1924.[1][2][4] Citations: [1] www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38639968 [2] www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2010/08/06/129036467/everest [3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_British_Mount_Everest_expedition [4] www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-10854272 [5] www.cnn.com/travel/mallory-disappeared-everest-summit-mystery/index.html

@@ftapon That is a kind of new for me. I thought it was a cloudy and windy afternoon, a quiet and freezing night, followed by a sunny morning. If they face a storm there, then it would be very difficult to endure in that old fashion mountaineering clothes. But Mallory for sure didn't die in a freezing position, he felt and broke a leg, maybe with a head injury too. And he was pretty close to their highest camp, where he and Irvine could had found shelter. The better scenario for them stay the same. They traversed the yellow band under the ridge and reappeared on the only position Odell could saw then "on the ridge", near the thrid step and the citadel. And this would be pretty close to the summit. The other possibilities is that Odell diidn't see them (foolished by some kind of optical illusion) or they went all the way by the ridge, with Odell seeing them climbing the first step (there is an view angle problem with this hypothesis). You say that the storm would blocked the path to the summit. I agree, but I think that if they were low on the ridge, they would had stopped climbing as soon as the storm approched. And if they were low, they could reached the tent in a pair of hours, in a good shape. I believe more in a forced error, by exhaustion or induced by a storm, if there was one. But this could only happened if they went far on the climbing, like Odell reported, and remained out there in the evening and the night.

​@@eduardoprestes1663 As Dr. Roberts states after 4:10, Odell was unlikely fooled by an optical illusion. I'm 70% sure that Mallory made it to the summit despite the worsening weather. As you say, exhaustion and darkness set it on their descent. He was found without his oxygen apparatus, so he probably ran out of oxygen on the descent, so he ditched the apparatus. However, without oxygen, he would have gotten much colder, and he would lose his mental faculties. People suffering from oxygen deprivation make stupid decisions like taking off their gloves. Maybe in his delirium, he left his ice axe behind. He lacked light, oxygen, and warm clothes. He stumbled through a storm, hypothermic, couldn't see, desperate to find his camp. He slipped, broke his leg, smashed his face, and died minutes after coming to a stop. Was Irvine belaying him? Did he cry Mallory's name into the howling wind and hear nothing? Did Irvine hide between rocks with his sleeping bag, freezing to death? It was not sunny the following morning. I was cloudy throughout the day and into the following day. Perplexity writes: The weather on Mount Everest the day after George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared, June 9, 1924, was characterized by a significant drop in barometric pressure and temperature. This drop was likely the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as a Western Disturbance, which triggered a severe blizzard. The barometric pressure at base camp dropped by approximately 18 millibars, which would have exacerbated the hypoxic conditions experienced by climbers at high altitudes[1][2][3][4].

You're probably right that we'll never know, but I wouldn't say "never" until we find Irvine's body. If his body has rocks or photos from the summit, we'll KNOW they made it.

It's still too early to say, "Nobody will ever know for sure, ever." That's why we're still searching for Irvine's body. Perhaps it has a camera or rocks from the summit that offer irrefutable proof that they reached the summit. Until then, I try not to blindly believe things without evidence.

Let me cite Colonel Norton in the 1924 expedition report FIGHT FOR EVEREST, pp.111&112, talking about his & Somervell's summit bid: "...The line we had followed was one roughly parallel to and perhaps 500 to 600 feet below the crest of the Noth-east Aréte; this was the line Somervell and I had always favoured in preference of the actual crest, which Mallory advocated." Here we have another source which tells us that Mallory clearly prefered to climb via the North-east ridge.

@@bluesserenader There are letters that George wrote before the expedition that laid out a case for not climbing the ridge and why he wasn't going to go that route. Also, he told the expedition photographer where to set up his cameras and the two routes he planned on taking depending on the winds/weather and neither one of the were the ridge route.

He wasn't a tourist climber though. Whilst no one wants to die, the objective was to reach the summit. The first person to summit Everest is the first person to Summit Everest. Armstrong would've been the first man on the Moon, whether he survived the journey home or not. The rules are different for "firsts".

@@TheSaxon. True enough. Mallory/Irvine may well have been the first to summit, but my point is that Hillary/Norgay were the first to conquer Everest, because they got back down to tell the tale.

Cliche

Thanks for the valuable insight. Lots of misinformation out there!

To add on this aspect: The ice axe was found in 1933. Even today, with so much better equipement, in a lot of reports from climbers, positions are not identified correctly, sometimes even with huge deviations. We should keep this in mind not only when refering to the place where the ice axe was found but also regaring Odells ability to clearly remember when he saw what or who at which place. We know that Odell when askeds about the exact location gave different answers over time (which is absolutely understandable). Regarding Odell and the ice axe: When Odell saw the ice axe back in England, it's reported he saw 3 marks on it. Well spotted. Now I'm asking myself, when he was able to identify these 3 little marks, why he wasn't able to realize it couldn't have been neither Mallorys nor Irvines personal axe as it was too short for both of them. Furthermore, as it is believed today, it was an axe taken from one of the porters as a spare, why didn't Odell mentioned this, since, as a part of the team he must have known that this was a part of the general (not personal) equipement the team brought to the base camp.

@@MA-oj8zk I agree with your two points. 1. Memories are fallible. Remain skeptical. Stay open-minded. 2. The idea that Mallory grabbed a spare ice axe is dubious. Climbers shave every gram. Mallory inventoried his oxygen supply & other items. Why wouldn't he mention a spare ice axe? Pairing your two ideas together: we might question whether the ice axe was found in a place where it's unlikely to have an accident. Perhaps it's unlikely for a normal climber to fall there, but oxygen-deprived climbers who are stumbling in the dark without a light (like Mallory & Irvine might been) do stupid shit.

Then why did he change his mind where he saw them?

@@czarcastic1458 For the same reason you change your mind as to where you last saw your keys. Humans reevaluate their memories, alter them, invent new memories, etc...

I used to believe the same thing that you did It makes a ton of sense what you write But in the book the author explains that the ice axe would have to defy the law of physics to be standing where it was found. See the book for the full and compelling explanation.

@@ftapon Defy the laws of physics?? Was it hovering above the ground? I read that it was found lying flat on some fairly horizontal slabs.

@@julianwood6625 In 1933, Wyn Harris said the axe was "lying on the slabs, which are hereabouts inclined at an angle of 35-40 degrees, unsupported by crack or ledge, and dependent on friction alone for its lodgment." Robert Edwards writes in his book, "The proponents of the 'accident' scenario therefore had to believe that the ice axe had fallen from a climber's grasp and had stopped in the same spot, where no protrusion or indentation could arrest it. An object that falls even three feet is moving at 13 feet per second. Yet according to the 'accident' hypothesis, this falling smooth object had stopped on a smooth slab inclined at an angle of 35-40 degrees. In short, the 'accident' scenario defies the laws of physics. More than this, with available data, we cannot say."

@@ftapon Thank you for your response - much appreciated. What if Irvine was pulled along the slabs perpendicular to the incline? Also, he may not even drop it straight away, only after he's being pulled along the slabs himself, with the axe already on the deck. There's lots of possibilities - he could have landed on the axe creating large amounts of friction between the axe and the surface of the slabs. He could have had the axe with the spike in contact with the slabs (like using it as a walking stick) and not had a proper grip on it when he got pulled away - leaving the axe to pivot down onto the slabs and slide down a bit before coming to rest (neither the axe nor the slabs would have been perfectly smooth). From a mountaineering point of view, I reckon there's considerably less than a one percent chance that anybody would leave an ice axe as a marker and, if they somehow did, you'd have to multiply that by the probability that the person leaving it thought it would be sensible to leave it on a smooth slab inclined at 35-40 degrees - so you're talking less than 1 in 1000 at best. Compare that to a big unexpected accident - on rock slabs, he's going to drop that axe or have it ripped from him over 99% of the time.

​@@julianwood6625 I understand your point. You're right that there are scenarios where the axe could have been placed, and the accident occurred seconds later. At 13:40, Dr. Edwards observes that the found ice axe was too short for Irvine. But he also said that Irvine had to buy the ice axe. Maybe the short one was on sale? He was 21. He saw the climb as a "lark." On the other hand, you'd think that's one place you wouldn't want to skimp on. At 14:20, Dr. Edwards suggests that the ice axe belonged to a porter or was a spare. But if so, it would have appeared on their inventory lists. Climbers shave every gram of unnecessary weight. Carrying a heavy axe as a spare seems excessive & unrealistic. Also, using it as a marker seems hard to believe unless it was a spare. But if it was a spare, where did it come from? Why would a porter give up his ice axe? Another option: they ran out of oxygen on the descent. When that happens, climbers get disoriented & irrational. Perhaps Irvine, in the darkness, sat and placed his ice axe next to him while in a state of delirium. When he stood up again, he forgot about his axe and walked like a zombie until he fell or huddled a few meters down, trying to tough out the night. The possibilities are endless. We must find Irvine.

That is a fair point, but every year, "climbing hobbyists" with less experience than Mallory summit Everest without oxygen.

Anatoli Boukreev and his team made the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna I in 1997, but he died in an avalanche during the descent. Would you say his climb doesn't count?

@@ftapon Tracy deals with this argument also.

I keep hearing this argument and it makes no sense to me. So Scott didn't reach the South Pole??

Cliche

I agree that no matter what happened, their achievement was a remarkable milestone we must celebrate! But it does matter whether they summited because it makes their achievement even more noteworthy and it dethrones Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay.

If you really really want to be pedantic, nothing about history matters. It does not matter to me _at all_ who was the first man to step foot on the moon. The second guy was 3 seconds behind the first guy so who cares who was first? We can make pedantic arguments like this all day long, lol.

​@@ftaponSeriously, what did they achieve that was so marvelously different to the multitude of corpses that adorn Mt Everest, hmmmm? Some of those corpses actually made the summit, we have proof they did and here you are rabbiting on about conjecture, myth and legend from 100 murky years ago!!! I know you have to spruik your opinions to sell your books to inflate your bank balance, but for God's sake get a life - who cares after the hundreds who have summited and returned alive.

Thank you! Please share it! We need calm, dispassionate, unbiased analysis.

But Dr. Edwards assertion the Chinese won't let anyone off the fixed assigned routes is sort of moot. That's how Conrad Anker found Mallory by going off the accepted routes. So if we accept the whole argument the Chinese won't allow anyone outside those routes, then Sandy will never be found. However, without concrete proof the Chinese will only allow fixed routes, it still doesn't take into consideration that Sandy has never been found. I'd say the more accepted view would be what I mentioned above in the Chinese found Irvine and the camera and took him off the mountain and disposed of his body believing he might have been Mallory. Bao did say "Old English sitting." We know Mallory was in the arrest position and not sitting. So who was sitting as "Old English?"

I've also heard at the whole story about the photo is fictional and has not been confirmed even though it has been repeated many times, so it seems true. I don't know

@@ftapon ruclips.net/video/XdMzmvrIdYc/видео.html

True 😊 Tracey has strong opinions, strongly held. 😉 Let me know what you think of Dr Edwards's book!

@@ftapon I would love to see a Dr Ed + Micheal Tracy conversation/ debate. They are both scholars and well educated on the subject ... and both seem to be stubborn by nature too

​@@philcunningham6901 I reached out to Tracy (you can see the thread on his video about a comment made in this thread). Tracy refused to debate Dr. Edwards unless Edwards agreed that the Chinese never summitted in 1960. Frankly, I don't see why that matters that much. Upon hearing that, Dr. Edwards declined to debate Tracy.

"There's a photograph of him pointing to the spot on the mountain where he last saw them. It's clearly the first step." No it isn't. ruclips.net/video/2SGRCaGjZf0/видео.html

@@kenkaplan3654 Yes, it is. I've seen the picture. Posting one of Michael's Tracy's pedantic but ultimately irrelevant posts doesn't change facts.

@@redlaw8760 After Mallory's body was found, I read numerous in depth articles and debates among those who found him and other well known climbers as to whether they could have made it. Every single one assumed the obstacle was the second step, every single one assumed Mallory and Irvine took the modern route. Now the preponderance of evidence is Mallory clearly said he was avoiding it, not only from "pedantic" (it's called thorough) Tracy but now this author. At the end of what I suggested from Tracy he says it is impossible to verify a zig a zag route ( or "traverse east of the couloir" as Norton suggested in 1933 and Mallory had suggested earlier) because the Chinese will not aloow permits for that route and will end careers if tried.

@@kenkaplan3654 But to rely on writings and statements made by Mallory PRIOR to the 24 expedition ignores the reality of his situation DURING the 24 expedition. Logic, common sense, and Mallory's own responsibility for bringing Irvine, would not have allowed him to just reject Norton's account of his almost fatal ascent using the couloir route. Odell saw them at 12:10 PM. Judging by the evidence found at their camp, it's clear that they left later than they anticipated. For them to have made it to the 3rd step (which was not even called that at the time) at 12:10 is extremely unlikely. By the way, Messner has stated that he did not see any route from the couloir that would lead to the third step. A zig-zag route to the summit a some point invariably includes the couloir. So they would have had to find their way east of the couloir and then up. Now, I do not know if they made it. In all honesty, I would LOVE to see evidence that they did. My point is simply about probabilities. Things were extremely tough that day.

How many pieces of misinformation have you just put out there - I make it 6 minimum.

I feel the same way although I am now leaning toward the idea that they may have reached the summit. 70% chance. Before, I thought the opposite.

@@ftapon The evidence we now know favors it

Sounds plausible. In addition, we know (1) they had issues with the oxygen system already before they started the attempt (and had started late because of this) and (2) there was one empy oxygen bottle found below the first step which indicated at least one of them already had been on oxygen for some time below the first step. (3) No oxygen depot has been found, which might indicate they simply didn't have enough oxygen to establish a depot. (4) At the place Mallory's body was found, no oxygen system or bottles had been found which indicated they run out of oxygen. (5) I think it was Conrad Anker (i'm not 100% sure) who once said, that from his experience, the amount of oxygen they could have had with them (far less than today, the gear back then was factors heavier) wasn't sufficient for both to go to the summit and back safely and he thinks this is why they might have split on the second step. This would explain quite some facts but not why the rope on Mallory's body was ruptured. Finally: Edmund Viesturs in 1990 was the first person able to reach the summit and return before dawn (no batteries and headlamps back then) from a similar distance and time, how ever, he knew the route to the summit, his equipement was far more advanced then what Mallory and Irvine had back than and he surely was the better climber than Irvine.

@@MA-oj8zk I think Tracy deals with the oxygen bottle issue.

Your comment nails it!

Michael is doing a reverse engineering only taking facts into account which match his hypotheses, consequently ignoring all other facts. He's telling his story very well - he has to, as that's what he's doing for his living.... - but from a scientific point of view, i would critically consume his stories.

​@@MA-oj8zk Yep, like everyone else who claims they can prove Mallory and Irvine made it to the top they start out wanting to believe that they did, then they construct whatever kind of narrative and "proof" that they did. Too many experienced climbers have said there's no way they made it, people dismiss the 2nd step and claim "they just went around it", if it was that easy there wouldn't be a permanent ladder on the 2nd step, no one would have bothered with it.

@@MA-oj8zk What *facts* does he leave out? He is beyond thorough. He eviscerates contradictions of others. It's a circumstantial case. From the evidence it is more likely than not they summited. The place where Mallory's body was found is not consistent with an ascent fall due to Odell's citing and the view from where he stood. It IS consistent with a descent in or near dark following the lower ridge line they came from. Mallory was beyond adamant he was not going anywhere near the second step

@@MA-oj8zk Agree totally. To Tracy, it’s his way or the highway.

@@MA-oj8zk Concur. The only way Michael Tracy can get them within striking distance of the summit is to invent a "Zig-Zag Route" that places them at the base of the third step in time for Odell to spot them. The "Zig-Zag Route" is also a convenient way to deal with the insurmountability of the 2nd step and, again, get Mallory and Irvine in the right place at the right time. That a "Zig-Zag Route" was not clear to Norton (hence his continued traverse to the couloir) and then was not evident to Wager and Wyn-Harris would seem to indicate that such a route was not obvious and may simply not exist. If a "Zig-Zag Route" exists that could be climbed more easily than the modern "Ridge Route" then why is such a route not in use today? Tallying up the existing evidence that can concretely identify where Mallory and Irvine were on the mountain at one time (ice axe, mitten, O2 bottle, Mallory's body, etc.) leads to the unfulfilling conclusion that no one knows exactly which route they took or what their timeline looked like.

Tracy doesn't know squat.

@@czarcastic1458 Based on what?

@@kenkaplan3654 He may speculate on some things, but MT is an asshole that nobody wants to collaborate with. He is a textbook narcissist.

@@kenkaplan3654 All his opinions with zero facts. He doesn't know squat. He paints a pretty picture and you fall for it.

@@czarcastic1458 Actually he provides quite a bit of facts, especially wildly contradictory positions of a climber on the same issue.

Or maybe he lied

Knowing about the composition of different minerals doesn't mean a person shaped rock doesn't still look like a person to you, lol. I'm a carpenter, if you carved a human out of wood it would still look human to me from a distance. I don't have magic wood detecting eyeballs.

What does being a geologist have to do with seeing two people at 28,000 feet more than a half vertical mile away? The truth is it doesn’t even take hypoxia to see things at distance that appear to be moving that are not. The way it’s resolved is by continuing to watch them for a period of time and eventually finding out. Odell wasn’t able to do that as a cloud system moved in and ended his view. The chances he saw rocks or Gorak’s is just as likely as him seeing Mallory and Irvine. There’s all kinds of testimony from people who have climbed Everest who thought they saw people moving up or down the mountain at distance, who eventually realized they were rocks or other objects and not people. That doesn’t mean Odell didn’t see Mallory and Irvine, it means it’s just as likely he didn’t see them as it is that he saw them. Which is unfortunate considering he was the one who had the best chance of knowing where they were and what may have happened.

And right up until he passed, his vision was impeccable.

OMG seriously, like there's not a difference between looking at something at a distance and holding it in your hand, it's not like he was looking at a rock in his hand or 10 feet in front of him and said "Look!!! It's Mallory going for the summit!!!". Your claim has got to be one of the silliest I've ever read on RUclips, I mean really.

Yes they did!

​@@williambarkhoYour faith is almost touching.

I do not think so

They had flares but in best Mallory tradition had forgotten them

I'd like to see that photo. I searched Google images for "odell pointing to everest" and found nothing. Moreover, even if such a photo existed, the camera angle would matter tremendously because the margin of error would increase dramatically if the camera angle was suboptimal. Still, this interview & other evidence make me believe that Mallory probably reached the summit & died on the descent.

You cant see the first step from Odell's viewpoint. They were seen just at the third step

@@ftapon This was a great interview with Robert thank you. The picture is in a Conrad Anker and Wade Davis presentation called Discovering Mallory & Irvine, it's on the youtube video and at the 40 minute 35 second mark. The photo is very clear where he's pointing, but we don't know if he's pointing east of the first step as a sighting. To me it can only either mean that's where he thought he had sighted them or that it was the route they were taking. When it came to which route they were taking Odell said numerous times it was via the ridge route by "following the crest of the NE shoulder". The couloir route which Norton and Somervell took was much lower down than the crest and direct to the couloir.

@@Garde538 You don't know where Odell was when he supposedly saw then if he saw them at all.

@@czarcastic1458 Yes we do. See below,.

Really, the man who stepped past two dying climbers so he could summit? The first was saved by a British climber who abandoned their attempt to aid them. Pollard also defiled Mallory's body even removing his underwear among other things. He is the last person to ever trust.

Tom Pollard has absolutely no credibility none whatsoever!!!!!

​@@snappingbearis that something he does often? Phew yuk!!

I'm guilty of believing that the 2nd step was the only way. This interview indicates there were other options. Messner proved it on his solo ascent when he avoided the 2nd step. It's maddening that we haven't found Irvine.

​@@ftaponI think most people believe the second step theory because many mountaineers and / or authors have lazily continued with this narrative (for whatever reasons). This despite Mallory repeatedly stating he wanted nothing to do with it! There is a lot of evidence out there pointing towards them traversing below the ridge and being spotted coming up around the 3rd step. So glad to see Bob Edwards doing his research and dealing with facts rather than yesterday's tired narrative.

Agreed. Michael Tracey has done an excellent job of thoroughly destroying the ridge theory. Mallory and no one on any of the early British attempts on Everest ever considered it. They always favored the routes that would bypass all the steps, especially the second one. Mallory was geared for rocks climbing that is why he likely took the zig zag route out of the couloir and once that happened he would have summited.

@@snappingbear You're right. Tracy has done a remarkable job over many videos deconstructing their attempt. If one looks at Odell's view from the precise spot, the second step is not visible. It is clear Mallory wanted the zig zag route, The evidence is very strong they summited. For anyone interested, I recommend Tracy's incredibly detailed videos tackling every aspect of their climb. All on RUclips.

Agreed. Mallory had his goggles in his pocket, which suggests he was on the way down. No picture of his wife, or children, were found on his body (promised he would leave pictures at the summit). We know he had pictures of his children prior to the summit attempt as his wife had just sent him photos, which he acknowledged receiving. *Conrad is considered a slow climber when compared to today's climbers (Mallory was considered an alpinist, a fairly fast climber).

For the Army, consider 68W, or health care specialist/combat medic. For the Navy, look at the HM rate. I have videos about it. For the Air Force: Aerospace Medical Service Specialist (AFSC 490X1), which includes performing aeromedical evacuation ground or flight duties