'Unique and unconventional, Robert H. Edwards' book provides a new perspective on mountaineering’s greatest riddle. With fresh information, some controversial opinions, and plenty food for thought, it is bound to pour more fuel into the eternal flame that is the mystery of Mallory and Irvine. For this alone I highly recommend reading it!' - Jochen Hemmleb (Mountaineering writer and filmmaker, coinstigator and member of the 1999 expedition that found Mallory’s body, and three more search expeditions to Mount Everest)

'For a quarter of a century I’ve been held captive by the ghosts of Mallory & Irvine and their mysterious disappearance on Mount Everest in 1924. Finally, Bob Edwards has meticulously assembled all of the facts, the clues, and the countless possibilities surrounding their fate in a single, fascinating book.' - Thom Dharma Pollard (Member of the 1999 expedition that found Mallory’s body)

The last climb of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, towards the summit of Mount Everest on 8 June 1924, has been shrouded in mystery for a century. Were they the first humans to stand at the highest point in the world? The discovery of Mallory's body in 1999 did nothing to resolve the mystery. Until now, accounts of their climb have been driven by speculation and preconceived narrative.

In this book, which marks the 100th anniversary of the fateful climb, Dr Robert Edwards brings the fresh and original perspective of a mathematician to the story of Mallory and Irvine.

Dr Edwards has assembled the contemporary accounts of the early British expeditions, written by the climbers and their leaders, and has identified their anomalies and inconsistencies. He has studied the letters of George Mallory, and has held in his hand the diaries of Andrew Irvine. He has viewed, in person, some of the surviving artifacts: the ice axe found in 1933, and Mallory's boots, recovered in 1999. He has corresponded with modern mountaineers who have climbed Everest. Above all, he has applied mathematics and modern imaging and mapping technology to an analysis of what the 1924 climbers could, and could not, have seen and done.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Prologue
• PART I: PRELUDES TO EVEREST
  • Chapter 1 Sikdar
  • Chapter 2 The Third Pole
  • Chapter 3 1922
  • Chapter 4 ‘English Air’
  • Chapter 5 Windproof
• PART II: 1924
  • Chapter 6 Irvine
  • Chapter 7 Brainwave
  • Chapter 8 Tigers
  • Chapter 9 Pyramid
  • Chapter 10 Odell
• PART III: AFTERMATH
  • Chapter 11 Traces
  • Chapter 12 ‘Old English Dead’
  • Chapter 13 Finding Mallory
• Epilogue
• Appendix 1 Key locations on Mount Everest
• Appendix 2 British Mount Everest expedition 1924: recorded ascent and descent speeds
• Abbreviations and Conventions
• Acknowledgements
• Sources
• Endnotes