I have obtained 27 (+1) photographs related to the Spitsbergen expedition by Merton College, Oxford University in the summer of 1923, the year before Sandy Irvine's fateful expedition to Mt. Everest.
As they are quite valuable, I would like to introduce them here as a reminder. I don't want to cause any trouble by scanned clear images, so I have deliberately included images with the original warping and shadows.
- This entry is a translation of the Japanese original.
- Any comments or additional information you may have are very welcome! Please contact me via X (Twitter / @Mt_1924) or the comments section (click on the 'コメントを書く’ link to write a comment).
Reproduction or use of the images in this article is strictly prohibited.
CONTENTS
Sandy Irvine's 'Another Expedition'
Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, which lies to the north of Norway. It is located in the Arctic Circle at around 78° north latitude, and is famous for being the site of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
The island was discovered by the Dutchman Willem Barentsz in 1596. Although there was a coal mining industry there, the world was still largely unexplored in the 1920s. Oxford University sent some research expeditions to the islands, and one such expedition in the summer of 1923 included Andrew Comyn 'Sandy' Irvine - who had perished near by the summit of Mt. Everest with George Mallory in June 1924 - as part of the sledging party.
In addition to Sandy, this expedition also included his close friend Geoffrey Milling, who rowed with him in the Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC), and a friend Geoffrey Summers*1, Tom Longstaff, who took part in the 1922 Everest expedition, and Noel Odell, a geologist who would go to Everest with Sandy the following spring, also took part.
This Spitsbergen expedition is far less well known than the 1924 Everest expedition, and in many books about the 1920s Everest, there is barely a paragraph devoted to this "another" expedition. However, this event is very important for the background to how Sandy, who had little experience of climbing mountains or snow ended up heading for Mt. Everest.
The Svalbard Archipelago was one of the many unknown lands that still have many unnamed mountains and glaciers. Odell was looking for members for a sledging party to explore the interior of the archipelago, and he met two OUBC athletes - Sandy and Milling, who recommended by the team leader George Binney*2. They passed Odell's test with flying colours, and they got tickets to Spitsbergen to spend a special summer together.
The sledging party had originally planned to survey the inland area of North East Land (Nordaustlandet), but the ice was too thick to reach the planned landing point. As a result, the plan was changed and sledgers were carried out to cross Spitsbergen island from northeast to southwest. This small group, which acted separately from the main party which continued to journey by the ship, consisted of Sandy, Odell, Milling, and a surveyor R. A. Frazer.
Despite problems with their sledges and skis, frequent thick fog and blizzards, the sled team completed the route from Duym Point (Tommelpynten) to Billen Bay (Billenfjorden), and carried out geological surveys, measurements and many mountain ascents. The surveys were mainly carried out by Odell and Frazer, but Sandy and Milling also assisted them, with the former undertaking repair work and the latter taking on cooking etc., as well as playing a major role in the heavy work of drawing the sledges.
At the time of preparing for the trip to Spitsbergen, Odell was already working on the oxygen equipment to be used in the Everest expedition in the spring of 1924. However, Odell himself was not at all enthusiastic about this job, and when he met Sandy - a sports and mechanical genius, he thought he had found the perfect person for the job.
Whether Sandy realised it or not, this Spitsbergen expedition had a meaning as an aptitude test to see whether he would be suitable for the Everest expedition.
During crossing Spitsbergen, Sandy assisted Odell in his research and went on climbs with him. When they were confined to their tent, he listened to Odell's stories of great experience and discussed oxygen apparatus with him. And in his notebook, he listed items to take with him on the "next" expedition and books to read, clearly with Everest in mind.
As it turned out, he left a great impression on Odell, and the following spring he threw himself into the new world of ice, snow and rock that was Everest. Sandy Irvine is now mainly known for the tragic and mysterious ending to his story, but here we will retrace ‘another expedition’ from the perspective of him.
The Mystery of the Envelope
Our crossing from E. to W.
By Sandy Irvine
The 28 photos we have acquired this time were contained in an envelope with the logo of the Hotel Mount Everest.
Sandy and Mallory, who were two of the last to arrive in Darjeeling on the expedition members, stayed at this hotel from 22 to 25 March, and began their trek on the 26th. For a while, the trek was split into two groups due to the accommodation capacity of the bungalows, and Sandy walked with the same group as Odell and Mallory.
The envelope's note is in Odell's handwriting. It is likely that the majority of the photos contained within were taken or selected by Sandy.
What I don't know is the circumstances surrounding the use of this envelope.
- Sandy brought the photos from England and gave them to Odell at the hotel, then he put them in a nearby envelope and wrote the note on it.
- Sandy brought the photos from England and put them in a nearby envelope, then gave them to Odell at the hotel and Odell wrote the note on it.
- Odell put the photos of memories with Sandy in an envelope from a place that was related with him, even if it was of a different place and time.
They were the first things that came to my mind.
As for 1 and 2, it is worth noting that Sandy and Odell corresponded with each other many times between the Spitsbergen expedition and the Everest expedition. Odell was in Persia on business just before the Everest expedition, so it would have been difficult for him to meet Sandy, but even without taking photos to the expedition, Sandy would have had plenty of time and means to send them beforehand.
However, this collection includes a photo that seems to have been taken by Sandy while he was on the ship to India for the Everest expedition (shown at the end of the entry, a landscape of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait). If this out-of-place photo was really put in the same envelope as the photos from the Spitsbergen expedition, it seems likely that it was in the same place when Sandy put the other photos from England into the envelope.
What's more, we should also consider the notes attached to most of the photos. The notes were written by multiple people - Sandy, Odell, and others. Except for Sandy or Odell, but there is almost no possibility that they were written by any of the other members of the 1924 Everest expedition. Cannot recognise they were written before or after the expedition, but since it includes Sandy's handwriting, we can at least confirm that the photos were in his possession between the 1923 summer - 1924 spring. Please note that the photo of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait was almost certainly taken in spring 1924, so this is not a guess that applies to all the photos in the collection.
In any case, I don't know for sure, and at the moment I can only speculate. If I can look more closely at the letters, I might find something that suggests Sandy intended to take the photos with him on the expedition, but I haven't found anything like that yet.
However, when I imagine the background in this way, I am reminded of a letter to Milling from the early days of the Everest expedition, Sandy suggests that he and Odell talked about him and Spits (to the point of annoying the other members of the party) over and over again. If he wanted to reminisce and talk about the Spitsbergen so much, he might have brought these photos with him, even if it meant carrying a bit (just a bit) more luggage. If that's the case, it's quite fun to imagine Sandy's intentions in choosing these 27 (+1) photos from the many he took, a scene that they are spreading out the photos and reminiscing about this and that, and the faces of the Everest expedition team members, who were probably fed up with hearing about the same summer repeatedly.
Following the photos
Here I have roughly arranged them in chronological order. As I can't specify the dates and places for some of the photos, probably there are some that have been mixed up or are out of order, as I have included photos of places that were visited both at the beginning and end of the expedition. Seeking more infotmations.
The Terningen
They left Newcastle in the UK and travelled to Bergen in Norway and then to Tromsø, which is the gateway to the Svalbard Archipelago. This was Sandy's first trip abroad.
The ship they boarded in Tromsø was the Terningen. In Sandy's diary, the name is often written as "Ternigen", so it seems that he had pronounced it ambiguous.
The background may be Spitsbergen, so it may be a little later in the timeline.
Unfortunately, they were hit by rough seas as soon as they got out to the open sea. Even Sandy, who is a physical powerhouse, was so seasick from the roughness of the sea that he took opium and lay on a bed, and in his diary he wrote in a weak handwriting that it was 'such as hell' or 'felt like death'. Poor Sandy, he was in perfect physical condition and very healthy, but he had a weak stomach and intestines, perhaps inherited from his father. Even on the trekking the following year, he was uncomfortable being rocked on the back of a pony and so on. There's nothing you can do about the stomach, intestines and semicircular canals, as they don't work in conjunction with the muscles.
Spitsbergen Island
Looking W. towards mountains of Prince Charles Foreland
This is a view of the mountains on the small island, Prince Karls Forland in Foul Sound (Forlandsundet). Taken on 26 July. The Terningen sailed north through the strait between this island and Spitsbergen.
'Foul Sound Looking W.' is written by Sandy, and the rest is by Odell.
(Irvine + Milling)
Taken by Odell or Summers on 28 July. The note is in Odell's handwriting.
On this day, many of the team members went ashore, and Sandy, Milling, Odell and Summers went out to the Friedrich Glacier (Friedrichbreen).
Sandy is looking into the glacier with an ice axe in his hand, seemingly unaware that he is being photographed. This was the first time he had seen a crevasse and a dry glacier. There are no glaciers in modern-day Britain, and Sandy had never left Britain until this expedition, so he was probably referring to the dry glacier in particular, comparing it to the glaciers he had seen on the Norwegian mainland.
It's unusual to see a photo of him wearing a casket hat (?). The silhouette of his feet with gaiters is the same as we often see on the Everest expedition. The rope looks connected to the axe.
In contrast to Sandy, who is absorbed in the glacier, Milling is looking directly into the camera and striking a pose. He looks holding ski poles instead of ice axe.
Landing: At Duym Point
7pm-ish on 19 July 2024 (by the author)
On 30 July, Sandy and the other three sledgers landed at Duym Point, the starting point for inland exploration. There are many photos of the scenery Sandy saw as he set off on his adventure to the land of the as yet unnamed mountains and glaciers, having parted from the main party.
The angle of the photo is the same as their journey, looking toward west along the coast as they travelled from north to south through Hinlopen Strait.
'1st Camp.' is Sandy's, 'Duym Point...' is Odell's handwriting. Probably L-R: Frazer, Odell and Milling. Taken between 30 July and 2 August.
After landing, only the four of them were travelling together, so as long as the three people in photos can be identified, the photographer can be identified naturally, unless an extreme situation was assumed. They stayed at this first camp until 2 August, but they also took the following photo on 3 August...
Sandy's handwriting.
The days are long and bright for 24 hours due to the midnight sun, so they reversed their daily routine and went out at night when it was relatively clear, rather than during the day when it was often foggy.
towards Hinlopen Strait
The first line is Sandy's handwriting, and the second line is Odell's.
(the coast in the distance on the left)
7:30pm-ish on 19 July 2024 (by the author)
South of Duym Point
A point called Whirlpool Lake appears in Sandy's diary. This is most likely the location shown in this photo. Taken on 3 August.
Taken sometime between 2 and 4 August. The note is in Sandy's handwriting.
The second camp used by the sledging party. Spitsbergen is an interesting place from a geological and palaeontological point of view. Odell is a geologist, so he should have enjoyed it more than anyone else, I think.
A sledging camp in North Eastland Eastern Spitsbergen
Milling, Odell, Frazer
The party having breakfast. The date of the photo is unknown, but as it was taken in the east, it would have been early in the sledging journey.
Sometimes Sandy mentioned about pemmican*3 in his diary. The food being boiled in the photo may be pemmican, or it may be tea, sugar or other luxury items listed in the equipment list. To prevent the team from eating all the luxury items too quickly, the amount of these items consumed per day was strictly controlled.
Although there was a supply of sweets, most of the provisions were dried fruit and other preserved foods. Although Sandy does not mention it, it seems that the team were hungry for fresh, juicy fruit. Longstaff who went to greet the returning sledging party after their long journey had filled his pockets with chocolates and sweets, thinking they would be pleased, but Frazer lightly complained to him for not having any pineapple (canned). Sandy's diary records that they met up with Longstaff, shook hands, and ate the chocolates that had probably given by him.
Skiing Across the Frozen Land
Sandy's diary already mentions that they were drawing sledges with skis on 31 July. There are many photos of them, but the dates on the photos are unknown, so let's take a look at them all at once.
First, there is the key person in this collection, Sandy Irvine.
Sandy's name appears mainly in relation to the Everest expedition, but he also played a major role in Spitsbergen. During the expedition, he mainly did heavy work such as drawing sledges, assisted in the survey of Odell, and was in charge of repairs.
Incidentally, there is at least one photo of Sandy taken at the same time, which you can see here.
The skis he is wearing are made of light, flexible hickory. They are about 230cm / 7ft 6½in long, which is quite large compared to the current recommended size of ±10cm / 4in (Sandy was about 182cm / 5ft 11½in). The belt that fastens the boots is made of leather, and the seal skin is tied to prevent slipping.
Sandy had never skied before this expedition, and at first he would stumble and fall every time he came to a gentle downhill slope. However, he soon got the hang of it and began to enjoy the fun of skiing, and five months later, he showed his amazing talent of skiing in the Alps during learning how to ski with an eye to the Everest expedition. It is sad to think that he died at the age of 22 on Everest a few months later, but he wrote: 'When I am an old man I will look back on Christmas, 1923, as the day when to all intents and purposes I was born. I don’t think anyone has lived until they have been on ski.'
This is surely taken the same time as Sandy.
The antique shop that was exhibiting the collection identified this young man as Sandy, but I believe he is Milling. The photo taken at the Friedrich Glacier is particularly easy to understand, Milling had dark hair and a narrow face, so he does not look at all like Sandy, and it would be impossible to misidentify them under normal situation. However, if you only look at this collection, you can see that it is possible to mistake them because their laughter is a little similar (it is probably rare to see a photo of Milling smiling) and the shape of the hair and his facial features are difficult to make out because of the hat. Even though, it seems a little unnatural to be wearing different equipment in the same location, likely at the same time of day and in the same weather, and Sandy's fair hair means that his eyebrows probably can't be seen clearly at this distance.
The strap on his skis broke during the expedition and made a dangerous trouble, and Sandy has been bothered by the repairs. Milling was also a beginner at skiing, but he soon started to enjoy it together with Sandy. Worth to hardships.
Like his best friend, his job was mainly manual labour, including drawing the sledges, and he also acted as Frazer's assistant and cook during the inland expedition. This was hard work that was often resented, but he willingly accepted it. When Sandy hunted an arctic fox, Milling thought the meat valuable enough to cook. However, Sandy and Frazer just turned up their noses and kept eating pemmican, and the only person who ate this unique meal with Milling was the kind 'Noah' Odell.
After graduating from university, Milling went to Canada to work in the Arctic. It is highly likely that his experience on Spitsbergen influenced his career choice. If Sandy had returned from Mt. Everest, nobody knows what path he would have chosen, but he might returned to the polar regions like Milling.
The following photos were taken on Conway Plateau.
Drawing a sledge with the aid of sails.
Odell + Frazer
There were two sledges used in the expedition, each weighing around 500lbs / 226.8kg. Of course it was a huge task to draw them.
Unlike the 2016 Oxford University expedition, which retraced the route of the 1923 party, they did not have any dogs. But if the conditions were good, they could have drawn the sledges with the help of the wind like this - if the ground was not soggy and muddy, or flat and frozen, or the sledges didn't get stuck in the "hummocky" ground that had been damaged by the wind, and if there was a good wind. In his diary, Sandy often mentions that the ground was ‘hummocky’.
26 July 2024 (by the author)
Keep block for alpine ___
_EOE
_ T
150 Sc
hairline
2 M
flush frot
___
The note is difficult to read and I can't understand it... L to R: Milling, Odell, Frazer.
(N.E.O., R.A.F., G.M.)
At least these three photos were probably taken at the same time. The I'm not sure the location of Conway Plateau, so it needs to be investigated further. If I can recognise it, should be able to narrow down the date.
Sandy was not only a good photographer, but also an important member of the team drawing the sledges, so of course he drew the sledges with the others. I imagine that he may have left the group for a moment to take this photo just after they left the camp.
It's definitely an upset in two ways.
Nevertheless, it must have been far better than the trouble they got into when Sandy and Odell fell into a deep bog that was up to their waists, and they had a lot of trouble retrieving the stuck sledges. This was a terrible incident, but Sandy's tenacity and resourcefulness in solving the problem using his skis made a strong impression on Odell, and was a major factor in leading him to join the Everest expedition.
It was hard work drawing the heavy sledges through the snow-covered morass. Spitsbergen is full of wetlands, and if you don't wear boots you'll get your feet soaking wet. Of course they were prepared for this, but even so they were made uncomfortable by the water that soaked through the fabric.
Odell Milling Frazer
This is one of the photos that posts most often in the Spitsbergen expedition topics. It's a picture I've known about for years, but when I pick this photo up and look at it with the notes they actually wrote, while imagining the fingers that touched it and the conversation in front of it, I get a strange feeling that I don't get when looking at photos I'm not familiar with.
At Inland
The scenery he saw inland is not just of sledgers drawing sledges.
Aerial + Wireless [off?]:
Probably taken between 7-10 August.
The tall object standing by the tent is a wireless antenna for communication with Terningen. This antenna frequently breaks and stops working due to being blown around by the wind, and each time this happens, they have to rush around to repair and re-erect it. It is one of the equipment that is mentioned many times in Sandy's diary.
This is probably the same Carpet Camp as in the previous photo. There don't seem to be any rocks that would block the wind, but it seems that it was a very comfortable place because they could use the rocky ground instead of snow or ice.
Sandy mentions this place several times, but puts quotation marks around the word ‘carpet’, so it seems that at least at the time it was not an official place name, but was called that because of the scenery. It was probably named Carpet during this expedition (or previous one), and by 1935 at the latest it was being treated as a place name, and is now called Carpethøgda. The rocky ledge they used for camping looked like a carpet laid out on the white snow. The view is shown in the following photo.
Sandy was a bit of a germophobe. It's a little tough for him, but he found it hard to change the clothes, let alone take a bath, after leaving Duym Point. However, on 10 August at this peaceful campsite, he was finally able to take off all his clothes and dry them, and warm himself up in the sunshine while naked. He wrote in his diary with great joy as seme as bathing during the Everest expedition.
He was taken a photo at the time *4. The angle of the photo and the shape of the clouds were the same as this photo. It means, probably this is a photo taken by naked Sandy on 10 August. It's amazing how you can identify the date of a photo in this way.
The geologist Odell carried out drilling work for research at North Red Crag (and in Sandy's diary, it is written in the singular form). Sandy also helped him as an assistant, and left a sketch in one of his notebooks. Although this record does not have a date, when it is checked against the records in the other notebook which is neatly organised as a separate diary, it seems most likely to be from August 10th.
There is a point called Red Crag (Raudberget), so it is highly likely that the photo was taken in this northern face or area.
This photo is also one of the most commonly seen photos from the Spitsbergen expedition. I'm not sure the location of Ronaldshay Plateau, so the date of the photo is also unknown and requires further research.
If the weather was good, they could dry their wet shoes and socks like this. However, if it was snowing, they would have to wear damp shoes the next day. I'm sure there were even more clothes being dried at the Carpet Camp.
Mt. Newton (centre) from Mt. Irvine
Taken on 16 August. The difficult rocky mountain that Sandy and Odell climbed on this day was named Mt. Irvine. Incidentally, there are also mountains and glaciers named after Odell, Frazer, Milling, Oxford University and Merton College.
There are now small towns on Spitsbergen, such as Longyearbyen, and even when Sandy and his fellows were exploring, there was a coal mining industry, but the history of people settling here in a permanent way is not very long. The island was not given names until after it was discovered in 1596. One thing you definitely get a sense of when you open a map of Svalbard, which even in the 1920s was still full of blank spaces and unnamed points due to its harsh environment, is the history of exploration.
Tent in LH bottom corner
Citadel Camp. Probably taken between 18-20 August.
The handwriting is Sandy's, and he misspelled 'citadel'. This is a common pattern of mistake in his writing (probably he had dyslexia), he frequently wrote down the pronunciation as it is, but in the diary it is spelled correctly.
This point was also photographed by the 2016 Oxford team.
L to R Milling Frazer Odell.
This photo was probably taken at the end of the expedition, after receiving a message on 28 August saying that the Terningen was heading for Klaas Billen Bay (Adventfjorden). As they were almost certain of a safe return, they were able to relax a little about conserving fuel and food, which they had been worried about due to the risk of being stranded by bad weather.
Return
The sledging party met up with the main party at exactly the time they had promised, at midnight on the 31st of August. They were able to complete the planned route, make numerous scientific discoveries, achieve climbing records, and return Terningen safely with many memories.
The Oxford University Spitsbergen expeditions produced many papers and achieved academic results. However, when reading Sandy's diary, the things that stand out more than the academic achievements are his first-time polar landscapes - the vast glaciers, the terrifying sounds caused by the collapsing ice, the unique colours of the sky in the far north, and the events experienced with friends on a day-to-day basis. In fact, many photographs of birds and plants were taken and recorded for research during the expedition, and compared to them, the photos in this collection seem to have a somewhat leisurely or lyrical gaze.
In any case, the team returned safely to the Terningen and were celebrated in a big way, and everyone headed south towards the Norwegian mainland in high spirits.
The timing of this photo is unclear. It was probably taken in Bergen, which was the gateway to England, or Tromsø, which was the gateway to Spitsbergen, or somewhere nearby, but it is difficult to tell the time of day from the brightness of the photo because it was taken during the midnight sun.
As the coast is visible in the direction of the camera and there is no spray, it seems likely that the photo was taken from the bow of the ship as it entered port, or from the port side as it moved along the coast. Also as the weather seems calm, I guess this photo didn't take when the Terningen left Tromsø in thick fog, but I can't guess any more than that.
Sandy's next trip to the continent was during the Christmas holidays of the same year, when he went to Mürren in Switzerland to learn how to ski in preparation for the Everest expedition. Less than two months after returning to England after that, he boarded the SS California from Liverpool to India - and never returned to England.
Extra: On the way to Mt. Everest?
Straits of Babel Mandeb
And finally, this one. As the note says, it's not a picture of Spitsbergen or even the Arctic Circle, but of the Arabian Peninsula.
The handwriting is Odell's, but as this photo was in this envelope, it was probably taken by Sandy. Sandy set sail with George Mallory, Bentley Beetham and John de Vars Hazard from Liverpool on 29 February 1924, and then entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, passed through the Suez Canal, crossed the Red Sea, and headed for Bombay via the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, so it seems likely that he took this photo on the way. After meeting up with Odell in India, they must have talked about their long sea journey while showing this photo.
According to Sandy's letter, the view of the Strait of Gibraltar was a let down for him, but the Strait of Bab el Mandeb was apparently quite interesting.
＊
During the Spitsbergen journey, Sandy showed his toughness and strength, genius for mechanics and repair work, unfathomable patience, wonderful resourcefulness and tenacity that could even be regarded vindictive, and cheerful personality that maintained a good mood even in difficult situations and never forgot to be humorous and considerate.
Sandy had passed the "aptitude test", then won the recommendation of Odell and Longstaff who was a member of the 1922 Everest expedition. He also got several other recommendations, and about two months later after returning to England, he successfully won a position on the 1924 Everest expedition team.
Despite being regarded as having some insecurities, including his youth*5, Sandy fulfilled his duties to the best of his ability on Everest, giving it his all right up to the last one breath.
Sandy enjoyed both expeditions - there have been a lot of hard times, and although he tends to be careful about mentioning negative things in his diary, I sincerely hope that what he wrote down with a lot of joy is as true as possible. And if the memories he left behind in the form of photos continue to remain as the moments he wanted to remember - I would be very happy to have been able to help in some small way.
Reference
If you are interested to read about their Spitsbergen expedition with a focus on Sandy, I recommend Fearless on Everest by Julie Summers (Sandy's grandniece) above all else.
Mallory, Irvine and Everest by Robert Edwards also has diagrams of the route and other things, and there are many illustrations and photos that you won't find anywhere else, so I recommend it. There are only a limited number of books that mention the Spitsbergen expedition in the first place.
Also, the way of transcribing the diary in this book is really terrible, with sentences being modified, rewritten, replaced, and whole sections being skipped, so I don't really want to recommend it, but since it does cover the Spitsbergen expedition, I'll also introduce The Irvine Diaries by Herbert Carr. I'm working on making a much better transcription.
For the following two titles, I have only referred to the Japanese translations:
I don't think there are any Japanese people reading this article, but since I have referred to it, I will present it as a duty. A brief biography of Sandy by myself:
The online PDF and the websites refer to the following:
- SANDY IRVINE: EVEREST 1924-2024 | Merton College - Oxford
- Spitsbergen Retraced: Expedition Report
- Spitsbergen Retraced: Photo Diary - Somerville College Oxford
- Place names in Norwegian polar areas
Other information is based on materials held in the Merton College Library Sandy Irvine Archive, and various maps of the Svalbard area published by Norsk Polarinstitutt.
＊＊＊
Miscellaneous notes
I will keep these photos with me for a while, but eventually I would like to donate them to the Merton College Sandy Irvine Archive. It would be difficult to visit them unless you live in the UK or Europe, but at least it would be much easier to access than if artifacts were kept in private. I hope that people who are interested in him/them in the future will have the opportunity to get splendid experience.
I hate to sound exaggerated, but Sandy Irvine really changed my life for the better. And as a result, I was able to spend two invaluable years at Merton College, and I am especially grateful to the people at the college library for their help with my research. I would like to make a small contribution in return, and I hope that the transcriptions and translations of Sandy's diaries and letters will be one small way of doing that.
...Well, I'm really thinking honestly about this stuff, and I'm writing the main text sincerely, but the most interesting thing this collection's research was the moment when I realised that there was a high possibility that the view from the Carpet Camp was taken by a naked man (and if the weather was that good, everyone would be hanging out their clothes, so there was even a possibility of a composition of 'a naked man taking a picture of a naked man taking a landscape photo').
I'd seen a photo of Sandy sans vêtements a long time ago, but it was a photo taken from a distance and the resolution was low, so I didn't notice it at the time. I only realised it when I read about the 2016 tracing expedition last year, but I never thought there would be a continuation like this. It was discovered through a photo that looked like it was just a normal shot of the view from the campsite, and the adrenaline I felt when the dates of the two photos were confirmed was incredible... it's unexpected and exciting, isn't it?
It's quite interesting, but I'd like to point out that it's not a 100% confirmed story. There seems to be a lag of a few minutes to a few tens of minutes in terms of the shape of the clouds.
As I spent a large amount of money on this, which took a bit of courage for me, a friend told me that there was a sense of generosity and noblesse oblige in explaining and publishing this collection, and I think it would be good to add that I am very grateful to Anthony Bird's website Himalayana - Himalayana Expedition Postal History.
Even though I paid a reasonable price, it's still a happy thing to be able to hold the actual item in my hands and have the opportunity to immerse myself in it without being rushed for time. However, I can't go around showing it to everyone, and after thinking about it a lot, I decided to make this entry with images that include curves, shadows and reflections, but I think it's much better than keeping it to myself.
I hope that this will be a little bit of good for Sandy and his fellows, and that people who are interested in them will be a little happier and enjoy reading this entry. That's why I made the translation, even though my English is poor. If anyone reads this entry, I'm sorry for the poor translation, and thank you for reading it!
*1:His younger brother Dick was one of Sandy's close friends. They were sons of a steel magnate, Sandy listed Dick and Geoffrey as two of the few people he knew who had not been corrupted by money. Also, since Sandy's older sister Evelyn married Dick in June 1925, they are also brother-in-laws, even though this was after the fatal accident on Everest. Julie Summers, the author of Fearless on Everest is Evelyn and Dick's granddaughter (= Sandy's grandniece).
*2:At this point, Odell and the two rowers think they were meeting for the first time, but in fact, Sandy and Odell had met in Wales four and three years ago, without realising it. The former is a relatively well-known story: while Sandy was on an adventure crossing the Carneddau mountains in Snowdonia on his motorbike, he lost his sense of direction and happened to spot the Odells, who were enjoying a hike, and politely asked them for directions to the town. Four years later, while they were talking in their tent because of the bad weather, Odell told the story of this brave motorcycle-riding boy, and Sandy showed him a newspaper clipping of the story from his wallet, and they realised for the first time who each other was!
*3:a high-calorie preserved food made from a mixture of dried meat, animal fat, and dried fruits. In expeditions at the time, it was often carried in tins and eaten like a stew after being boiled with polar biscuits, but it does not seem to have been very tasty.
*4:I remember it was in the Oxford University blog style website, maybe. It was used as a header, but I can't find the relevant page even when using an image search.
*5:At the time, it seemed that the best age for a mountaineer attempting to climb Everest was around 30 years old. One of the issues facing the British expedition at the time was the high average age of the climbers(they were mainly in their late 30s), but they thought that 22 years old was far too young and that he would have problems with a lack of experience and perseverance in the face of adversity. The former was certainly a problem for Sandy - he had no experience of climbing in the Alps -, and at latter point, although he was able to endure well, he was seen by Mallory as he suffered more than most from the hardships he faced. He was also considered to be too heavier than the ideal 180cm/70kg physique for climbing Everest at the time. It was only natural that he was initially dubbed a 'splendid "experiment"' when he was recruited. It was an incredible achievement for him to quickly put an end to the 'experiment' and establish his position among the veteran climbers, most of whom were more than a decade older than him and almost all of whom had served in the military.
