But could they have made it to the Third Step by 12:50 P.M.? Bottle No. 9 tells us they were on the Northeast Ridge, still below the First Step, at about 9:00 A.M. It would have been extremely difficult (though not impossible) for them to have made it as far as the Third Step by 12:50 P.M. Says Eric Simonson:"Even today, using fixed ropes and the Chinese ladder to surmount the headwall at the top of the Second Step, you have to push pretty hard to make it to the Third Step in under five hours, and they had none of the advantages we have today."
The First Step is impossible and the Third Step seems unlikely. Is there another alternative? There may well be -- indeed, it appears to be the only one possible, given what we know. It is an alternative first proposed by Tom Holzel in 1981. The Second Step is climbed in three stages: a traverse to the right from its base to a short rock climb, a steep climb up a very small patch of snow, and an ascent of the relatively short vertical headwall near the top. It is entirely possible that Odell had seen the two climbers come up that small snow patch (neither a crest nor a slope), although the snow patch would have been in deep shadow when he saw them, and then scale the headwall at the top. If this is what Odell saw, the next question is, can the headwall be scaled in a period of time that can be described with the word "shortly?"
During the 1999 research expedition, Conrad Anker answered that question decisively: it most certainly can. He had knee-barred up the off-width crack in the face of the headwall so quickly -- with such"alacrity," to borrow Odell's words -- that his companion, Dave Hahn, had not even had time to adequately belay him. At the top, at 10:45 A.M., Anker called expedition leader Eric Simonson, who asked him the critical question: could Mallory have climbed the headwall? Anker's response was, "Yes, with a high level of commitment and risk, he could [have]." Of the headwall climb, Anker said, "I would give it a 5.8 rating at sea level, but up here it feels more like 5.10."
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What do you want to do?
