A boot with the foot of a climber who disappeared 100 years ago was found on Everest: this discovery may reveal the mountain's greatest secret

A team of researchers, together with employees of the American TV channel National Geographic, found a well-preserved boot with a climber's foot on Mount Everest. It is believed that this boot belonged to Andrew Comyn "Sandy" Irwin, who disappeared while trying to conquer the world's highest peak 100 years ago with his partner George Malory.

According to experts, this discovery could potentially help solve one of the biggest mysteries of mountaineering – whether Irwin and Malory managed to become the first conquerors of Everest. Until now, it was believed that climbers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to do so in 1953, LiveScience writes.

22-year-old Briton Andrew Irvine went missing with climber George Malory in June 1924. They were trying to become the first people to climb the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest. However, it is not known whether the explorers achieved their goal, as they disappeared without a trace.

Over the years, many people have searched for Irvine's body to find out if he was the first to climb the world's highest peak. The Kodak camera he had with him could have shed some light on this, possibly capturing the historic ascent. However, nothing was found.

And then, 100 years later, the climbers stumbled upon the remains of the British man by accident. His foot and shoe ended up on the mountain's surface as a result of melting ice.

"I've lived with this story since I was 7 years old when my father told me about Uncle Sandy's secret on Everest. We all lost hope that they would ever find his footprint. But when I was told about the discovery, I felt moved to tears," Irwin's great-niece, Julie Summers, told the BBC.

The family provided a DNA sample to the lab to confirm that the foot was indeed Irwin's. But the National Geographic crew is sure that it belongs to him. After all, the sock found inside the boot has a patch with the initials and name "A.C. Irvine".

Interestingly, the remains of the climber George Malory were discovered back in 1999 and there was no photo of his wife, whom the climber took with him and planned to leave at the top. So, perhaps, the researchers died while descending from Everest.

According to the researchers, Mallory's body was found less than 600 meters from the summit. Interestingly, George's remains were tied with a rope around his waist and had injuries, suggesting that the pair of explorers fell while being tied together.

Despite the fact that in recent decades the search for the remains of climbers has been a subject of controversy, Andrew Irvine's family hopes that the search for the camera will continue and then there will be indisputable evidence that their relative was the first person in the world to conquer Everest.

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