Mallory and Irvine The Final Chapter Everest 2005: Time for a Coke

Is that the fat lady singing outside the tent? Maybe Old man Winter tugging on our tent flaps...

The "light" times will soon be over. Record numbers will head up in a very small window, some will come back, others won't. People will sit around and give their opinions why those that died did not come back. Most think that it could never happen to them; they all know better than that, each day above ABC is a roll of the dice. And sometimes things can go wrong down "low".

Wish us luck? No, we don't believe in luck. It looks like we have one chance this year. Each of the teams we are supporting is independent. There are 3 teams. Each has a different goal. One will attempt a variation which no one else has done on Everest, except maybe George Mallory. One will go alone like only one before and another will try to film the third step area. The teams have a code word in case they get into trouble to alert the others that there is a problem. Of course, they might not be able to help; Everest is a big mountain. They know the risks. Our search objectives this year have changed; we have learned a lot from last year's efforts. We are looking for markers, something left behind by Mallory [and/or Irvine if we are wrong] to let us know they were there. Finding a "marker" left by George Mallory is truly a needle in a haystack. But hey, summiting Everest in 1924 was a longshot as well. 

We hear others will go back and search areas where we were last year, maybe they think that we were on to something or maybe they don't know the detail that last years footage gave us. Our research has helped this years search a lot! We would advise all climbers to be very careful, the risks are huge and at best the payoff is a footnote in the back of a history book...

We are just looking for the answer...

Tom West plans to return in 2006, his fever is still running high. He would like your support: Can you help out?

With our kindest regards and thanks, The Staff at EverestNews.com

We return to Mount Everest in search of an answer.

Dispatches

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