Excerpted from Ghosts of Everest by Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson and Eric R. Simonson

Eventually, the oxygen cylinders may tell us more, though even this is not certain. What we do know with some certainty is that they did run out of oxygen high on the mountain and jettisoned their apparatus there. They did not have it on when they fell; the straps that held Mallory's mask to his face were tucked away in one of his pockets. If someone finds empty 1924 oxygen bottles still strapped into their apparatus somewhere between the Second and Third Steps, we will be able to say with some degree of certainty that they turned around at that point -- largely because they could not have pressed ahead, oxygenless, to the summit and have descended safely all the way through the Second and First Steps to the Yellow Band in the darkness. If someone finds only empty 1924 bottles between the Second and Third Steps (without the apparatus), we may be able to speculate with some certainty that they each had changed to a third cylinder and had gone on toward the summit. Ultimately, however, without a definitive snapshot from the famous Kodak Vestpocket camera, we will never know with certainty whether they reached their goal.

There is one especially tantalizing, if indirect, clue that they may well have made it. It is known that Mallory had intended to place a photograph of his wife, Ruth, on the summit if he reached it. When Mallory's body was found, there were several letters in the pouch around his neck. None was from his wife, and no photograph of her was found on his body. Forgetful as he might have been, it is virtually unthinkable that he would have forgotten the photograph, or at least a letter from his beloved Ruth, with whom he corresponded regularly throughout the expedition. Where are they, if not at the summit?

Move on to Where They Fell

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