Who climbed Everest, Mallory or Hillary?

I have a feeling that I'm about to spark a forum war here, but I think it'd be interesting to know what Mountain Project members think about perhaps the most debated topic in climbing history: Who first climbed Mount Everest, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine in 1924, or Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953?

Well in my comparatively short mountaineering career I have learned a few important things. The most important being that the climb is not over until you are at the bottom. It does no good to get to the top if you can't make it back down. So by definition I don't think you can count Mallory and Irvine.

Hillary was the first along with his partner Tenzing Norgay.

ChefMattThaner wrote:Well in my comparatively short mountaineering career I have learned a few important things. The most important being that the climb is not over until you are at the bottom. It does no good to get to the top if you can't make it back down. So by definition I don't think you can count Mallory and Irvine.

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First to Summit: Mallory. First to climb it: Hillary

As far as climbing records go, getting down alive is optional. You summit, you get the first ascent. So until it there's conclusive evidence to the contrary, Hillary and Norgay are the first to have summited Everest.

After seeing the investigation into Malory/Irvine, I think at least one of them made the summit, but as this is just speculation they don't get the record.

This book gives a great history, and I highly recommend it if you are interested: amazon.com/Lost-Everest-Sea… Others might disagree, but based on the evidence and how fast they would have needed to climb, it seems very unlikely that they reached the summit.

ChefMattThaner wrote:Well in my comparatively short mountaineering career I have learned a few important things. The most important being that the climb is not over until you are at the bottom. It does no good to get to the top if you can't make it back down. So by definition I don't think you can count Mallory and Irvine.

I think its highly likely that Mallory summited, however it's also possible he retreated at the step and then got lost as hell on the way down where he died.

Rienhold Messner's 1978 ascent without supplemental oxygen.

J Meagher wrote: Secondly, Mallory had promised to leave a photograph of his wife on the summit. This photograph was not found on his body in 1999, nor was it found in any of the lower camps, meaning the only logical conclusion is that it was left on the summit.

Or it blew away in the wind from the tattered shreds his clothing became in the 75 years his body lay on the mountain before it was found. That being said I am by no means an expert on this event and can totally see that it was very likely that Mallory made it to the summit. Therefore, making him the first human to reach the summit. But either way, he lost and Hillary won that battle if you ask me.

Remember when someone punked wiki and had Mallory getting it on at the top?

If you can't tell people about it, it didn't count. Except for you.

While I like to entertain the notion that Mallory summitted, there is almost no substantive evidence that he actually did. OK, someone saw them climbing up to the Second Step before the clouds moved in. That isn't evidence of anything but that. When Conrad Anker went looking for Mallory's body a few years back, he tried climbing the Second Step without the fixed ladder and thought it 5.10 offwidth. Even if those guys were feeling good as they continued, they never would have gotten past that. End of story.

Taylor-B. wrote:Rienhold Messner's 1978 ascent without supplemental oxygen.

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