George Mallory, left, and Andrew Irvine

An Australian climber has launched a major assault on Everest in a bid to discover the body of a former Shropshire schoolboy whose remains could prove he was the first person to conquer the world’s highest peak.

Duncan Chessell says conditions are the best they have been for decades to search for 22-year-old Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, who was killed along with mountaineering legend George Mallory somewhere near the summit in a tragic climax to a 1924 expedition to conquer the 29,035ft mountain.

Ever since there has been intense speculation on whether the pair made it to the summit, a full 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing claimed the glory and the fame.

Mallory’s frozen body was discovered by mountaineers in 1999. Irvine’s body has never been found, but it is known that he was carrying a camera which could provide photographic evidence that Mallory and Irvine conquered the mountain.

Camera

Photographic experts say that the film, preserved by the cold, dry conditions, could still be developed, and the camera has become the “holy grail” for searchers trying to solve the enduring controversy.

Birkenhead-born Irvine was at Shrewsbury School from 1916 to 1921, where he was head of Severn Hill house and a noted sportsman. There are various archives at the school connected with him.

Chessell said: “I was at North Col last week and the wind was 150 kilometres an hour, and it was stripping snow off the mountain which has been there for many years. There is now bare rock exposed which has been deeply covered for decades in the most likely areas where Andrew Irvine’s body may be.

“It is my intention to search those areas en route to the summit and take this rare opportunity to find him and, perhaps, the missing camera.”

The North Col, at 23,130ft, is on the route Mallory and Irvine would have followed to the summit. Chessell, who is attempting to become the first Australian to reach the summit three times, said: “I believe we have a good chance of finding something.”

By Toby Neal

Mallory and Irvine on Everest