Irvine’s 1924 Boot found on Everest
A family that had long lost hope of finding a missing British climber from Everest received a call they never expected after nearly 100 years.
Last month, while filming a National Geographic documentary, a team of climbers uncovered a preserved boot, revealed by melting ice on a glacier. The boot is believed to belong to Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine, who disappeared while attempting to summit Everest in June 1924 with his climbing partner, George Mallory.
This discovery could hold the key to solving one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries: Did Irvine and Mallory successfully reach Everest’s summit, 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made history?
The well-known adventurer Jimmy Chin, who led the National Geographic team, described the moment they found the boot—containing a foot—as “monumental and emotional.”
For Irvine’s great-niece, Julie Summers, it was nothing short of “extraordinary.”
“I just froze… We had all given up hope that any trace of him would be found,” she shared with the BBC.
Many have searched for Irvine’s body over the years, spurred by the belief that he had a camera with him that might hold an undeveloped photo of the climbers at Everest’s summit.
Could this discovery be the breakthrough in finding his body—and the long-lost camera?
The family has now provided a DNA sample to help confirm if the foot belongs to Irvine, though the filmmakers are confident. The sock found inside the boot had a name tag stitched into it, reading “A.C. Irvine.”
As Jimmy Chin remarked, “I mean, dude… there’s a label on it.”
In September, as the team descended Everest’s north face via the Central Rongbuk Glacier, they made a remarkable discovery. Along the way, they stumbled upon an oxygen bottle dated 1933, a clue that reignited hopes. In that year, a previous expedition had found an item belonging to Andrew Irvine. Energized by this potential sign that Irvine’s body could be nearby, the team searched the glacier for several days. Then, one of them spotted a boot emerging from the melting ice.
The find was truly fortuitous—the team estimated that the ice had only melted a week prior. Concerned that birds were disturbing the remains, the foot was removed from the mountain and handed over to Chinese mountaineering authorities, who oversee Everest’s north face.
For Irvine’s descendants, the discovery has been deeply emotional, particularly in this centenary year of his disappearance. Julie Summers, Irvine’s great-niece, grew up hearing about her adventurous “Uncle Sandy,” an Oxford-educated young man who captivated his family’s imagination.
“My grandmother had a photo of him by her bed until the day she died,” Summers recalled. “She always said he was a better man than anyone would ever be.”
Irvine, born in Birkenhead, was just 22 when he vanished, the youngest member of an expedition that has intrigued mountaineers for a century. He and George Mallory were last seen alive on June 8, 1924, heading toward Everest’s peak. Mallory’s body wasn’t discovered until 1999 by an American climber. Over the years, searches for Irvine’s remains have been clouded by controversy and rumors that his body had been moved.
Summers dismissed those speculations, expressing relief after hearing from Jimmy Chin, “that he was still there on the mountain.”
If it could be proven that Irvine and Mallory were the first to summit Everest, it would completely rewrite mountaineering history, Summers noted. “It would be nice—we would all feel very proud,” she said. “But for the family, it’s always been about how far they got and their bravery. That’s what matters.”
Ultimately, Summers believes the only way to know for sure is if the camera Irvine was believed to be carrying is found, potentially holding a photograph of the climbers at the summit.
She suspects the search will continue, as the lure of finding the camera will be “irresistible.” Whether or not it will ever be recovered remains uncertain.
Chin, reflecting on the discovery of the boot, said it was a “monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team,” hoping it brings closure not just for Irvine’s family but for the climbing world at large.
For Summers, this discovery serves as a reminder of a young man who embraced life fully, seizing every opportunity—and most importantly, “having fun.” Surprisingly, though, she and her cousins are grateful that the older generation wasn’t alive for this moment.
“For them, Everest is his grave,” she explained.
