The biggest mystery that continues to interest people regarding Mount Everest is no doubt the faith of the summit attempt of George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine on June 8^th, 1924 – almost 30 years before Everest was officially conquered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Mallory and Irvine, part of a British Mount Everest Expedition, had set off from their high camp at roughly 8,200m on the North Ridge of Everest and at 12:50 they had been seen less than 300 meters from the summit – just before disappearing into a pre-monsoon snow storm and only to reappear in the pages of history.

In 1999, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition was organised to discover evidence of whether Mallory and Irvine had reached the summit during their June 8-9^th attempt or not.

The expedition was organised and led by IMG founder Eric Simonson and based on the research of Jochen Hemmleb, who had identified an area in which he expected to find both Irvine’s body along with a camera, which, had the pair been successful, should contain a summit photo.

Within hours of beginning the search on May 1^st, Conrad Anker found a body on the North Face, at 8,155m, but to everyone’s surprise it turned out to be Mallory, not Irvine.

Mallory’s body was found well-preserved only an hour or two from the safety of where their camp had been. However, the biggest news was created by what was missing. Mallory had carried a photograph of his wife Ruth with him, which he had planned to place on the summit in the event of success – but it was no longer part of his possessions.

No-one apart from Mallory and Irvine knows what really happened on June 8^th, 1924 and until Irvine’s body and more importantly, his Vest-Pocket Kodak camera is found, the faith of their expedition will continue to split opinions.

This year was always going to be special – after all it’s the 60^th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

With big expectations 29 teams consisting of 315 climbing permit holders approached Everest from Nepal (the South Col Route) and 10 teams consisting of 100 climbing permit holders from China (the North Ridge Route).

There was unprecedented coordination of climbing and summit push strategies between teams – everyone keen to avoid the traffic jams of last season on both the Lhotse Face and the Hillary Step, which I had experienced first-hand.

Fortunately, this season was also characterized by a long summit window, from May 17-25^th, with excellent weather. This, along with the coordination between teams ensured that most climbers avoided major traffic jams during their summit pushes and based on latest count almost 190 climbing license holders reached the summit – reflecting a 44% success rate.

Among those successful was Dave Hahn, who recorded an amazing 15^th summit – a record for a non-sherpa climber. The Sherpa record of 21 summits is shared between Phurba Tashi and Apa Sherpa.

Another noteworthy achievement this season was 80 year old Yuichiro Miura from Japan becoming the oldest person to summit Everest. Amazing feat!

Unfortunately, this season will also be remembered for negative things. Nine climbers lost their lives during the season, just shy of last year, which turned into the second deadliest in history. Among the deaths was very experienced and much liked Alexi Bolotov from Russia.

The season will also be remembered for a fight that took place in Camp 2, at 6500m, on the South side, between Simone Moro and Ueli Steck and a group of Nepali Sherpa – triggered by an unnecessary incident above 7000m on the Lhotse Face. Much has been written about the incident, so I will only state that the resulting negative publicity towards mountaineering across the globe was unfortunate and will take long to erase from the minds of the general public.

Image by Justin Merle.

At 1130 local time on May 29^th, 1953 – exactly 60 years ago, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay made history by becoming the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Hillary and Norgay were part of the ninth British expedition led by John Hunt and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society, which had decided to attempt the summit via the South Col route from Nepal.

Nepal had only opened its doors to expeditions in 1950 and Hillary was part of a British expedition in 1951, which had surveyed the route and confirmed that it could be used to reach the summit. However, their attempt had been stopped by an impassable crevasse in the Khumbu Icefall.

Further, Norgay had been part of a failed 1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition, during which he had been personally forced to abandon the summit bid 150 meters from the South Summit, which stands at 8750m.

During this early period of exploration on Mount Everest, the Nepalese government limited expeditions to only one per year and given that a French expedition has received the permit for 1954 and a Swiss expedition for 1955, the British team was under pressure to claim the first ascent.

The expedition established a total of six camps to reach the South Col at 7900m and launched the first summit bid, by Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans on May 26^th, using closed-circuit oxygen systems. The two-man team became the first to reach the South Summit at 8750m, but was then forced to abandon their summit bid due to becoming exhausted as well as having problems with the oxygen systems and running out of time.

On May 27^th, the expedition launched their second and last attempt at the summit by the climbing pair of then 33 year old Edmund Hillary and 38 year old Tenzing Norgay. The pair reached the top of the world at 1130 local time on May 29^th, achieving the historic first ascent of the highest mountain on earth.

News of the expedition’s success reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s ation on June 2^nd, 1953. By the time Hillary and Norgay returned to Kathmandu some days later, they had been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. However, more importantly, they had inspired thousands to pursue their footsteps to the top of the world, including myself.

Exactly a year ago today, I took my last steps to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth.

There’s no shortcut to the top of the world. Those last few steps on the summit ridge represented the conclusion of years of preparation and training, including almost two months on Everest itself, acclimatizing and waiting for a summit window to arrive, which would allow a push to the summit through the dangerous Death Zone.

The most common question I get from people regarding Everest is “Why expose yourself to all the hardship and risk your life trying to reach the top of the world?”

The answer is that I’m not sure. I’ve always been keen to test my limits, both in my professional and private lives, which is probably the reason for the desire to see whether you’re strong enough physically and mentally to deal with the challenges posed by Mount Everest.

Whatever the original reason that led me to climb Mount Everest, it left a fire at the bottom of my stomach, which means that I’m not done yet. More adventures await.

Twenty years ago today, on May 10^th, 1993, then 25 year old Veikka Gustafsson took his last steps to the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first person from Finland to reach the top of the world.

This historical achievement propelled Veikka to pursue all the 14 over 8000m high mountains in the world without the use of supplementary oxygen.

He completed the project 16 years later in 2009, becoming only the 17^th person in history to complete this amazing feat and just the 9^th to do it without the use of supplementary oxygen.

Veikka has been an excellent flag carrier for Finnish mountaineering and Finland as a nation throughout his project and also set a great example for the next generation of mountaineers like myself.

Thanks Veikka and congratulations on the anniversary!

I’ve had a great albeit short trip to Lausanne, the home of the International Olympic Committee, in Switzerland. I love the views of Lake Geneva surrounded by the mountains!

I was honoured to be invited to present the awards at the IMOCA Ocean Racing World Championship ceremonies held at the amazing Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne.

The event was attended by four former world champion, which helped create a great atmosphere for the presentation of trophies.

The world championship went to Mr Francois Gabart, who recently won the 7^th Vendee Globe, setting a new world record time for the solo round-the-world sailing race, which is regarded as the Mount Everest of sailing.

Tomorrow it’s time to pack bags and head back home – although would have happily spent a week or two in Lausanne!