AN EXHIBITION based on the mystery of two Wirral mountain climbers who died together on the slopes of Everest almost a century ago is in line for a top award.
Andrew “Sandy” Irvine and fellow climber George Mallory, who both lived in Birkenhead, were last sighted on June 8, 1924, on the north east ridge of Everest, only a few hundred yards from the summit.
Since that fateful day, arguments have raged on whether the intrepid duo died before reaching their goal or were descending from the summit – 30 years before the world’s highest peak was conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
The story fascinated Northwich’s Salt Museum curator Matt Wheeler, who spent over two years researching the life and times of the pair and compiled a fascinating exhibition which broke all attendance records at the museum, before being transferred to the Williamson Gallery in Birkenhead, near Irvine’s birthplace and close to where both men were brought up.
Now the “Above the Clouds – Mallory and Irvine and the Quest for Everest” exhibition, which attracted visitors from across the country, has been short-listed for a 2010 Museums and Heritage Award for Excellence.
ŠMatt said: “I have always been interested in explorers and when I first heard about Irvine and Mallory I couldn’t resist trying to find out more, particularly because of their Cheshire links.”
ŠTheir ill-fated 1924 expedition was the main focus ofŠ his exhibition which included original photographs and artefacts loaned by the Alpine Club, Magdelene College Cambridge, Merton College Oxford, and the Royal Geographic Society, along with many other organisations and individuals.
Irvine, who died aged 22, was born and grew up in Birkenhead. He was known as a talented sportsman who rowed for Oxford against Cambridge in the 1922 and 1923 boat races.
His colleague, Mallory, was the son of a clergyman and born in Mobberley, Cheshire.
His family moved to Birkenhead in July, 1904. An outstanding gymnastn he was 38 at the time of his disappearance. Irvine’s remains may well have been found by a Chinese expedition in 1975. They came across “an English dead” at 26,740 feet.
