It is now 100 years since George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final push in a bid to become the first in history to climb Everest. They disappeared into the clouds in June, 1924. Mallory’s mummified body was eventually uncovered face down in the snow, 75 years later. Irvine has never been found. Noel Odell was the last man to see them shortly before 1 pm on June 8th. His sighting sparked a century long debate that still remains a mystery to this day. Yet ‘Old Brightonian’ Odell’s eyewitness account was derided by some and his own impressive achievements have often been overlooked. KIM REVILL explores the life of Noel Ewart Odell.
The final attempt
Did Mallory and Irvine make it to the summit of Everest before suffering fatal injuries on their victorious descent or did their fall occur close to the top on the way up? Part of the mystery remained with Noel Odell, the last man to see the pair alive. A climbing veteran even at a young age, Noel ‘Noah’ Odell, was a geologist and had been a member of the elite Alpine Club since 1916. He had climbed 26,800ft (8,200m) without supplementary oxygen to support Mallory and Irvine at Base Camps V and V1. The three were part of the 14 man 1924 Everest Expedition team and at 37 years old, it was to be Mallory’s third and final attempt to reach the top of Everest. Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine, a 22-year-old Oxbridge rower was preferred over Odell for the final summit climb partly due to his athletic prowess despite lacking experience as a mountaineer. But Irvine’s engineering background and his knowledge of the oxygen sets were also criteria in Mallory’s decision to accompany him to Everest’s 29,031 (8,848m) summit.
Jubilant after finding the first fossils on Everest during this expedition, Odell, who was also appointed as oxygen officer, loyally followed the instructions of his friend and colleague, Mallory, in what was to be the final exchange between the two. Mallory wrote:
“Dear Noel, we will probably start early tomorrow (8th) to have clear weather. It won’t be too early to start looking out for us either crossing the rock under the pyramid or going up skyline at 8 pm.” (he clearly meant 8 am). “Yours ever, G Mallory.”
A tiny black spot enveloped in cloud
In his diaries shortly after the ill-fated expedition, Odell recalled he had reached a vantage point on a crag looking over the North Face. “There was a clearing in the atmosphere and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouette on a small snow crest beneath a rock step in the ridge: the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up in the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock step and shortly emerged at the top, the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more.”
This was to be the final sighting of Mallory and Irvine. Odell was convinced he had spotted them on the: ‘last step but one,’ before the final pyramid at 12.50 pm. Odell’s timings could possibly have given Mallory and Irvine sufficient hours needed to reach the top before the summer sunset at around 7 pm. If Odell was right, they were thought to have been about 800ft (240m) from the top.
Odell had excellent eyesight, as a geologist he was adept at deciphering the topography at a distance and was described as an honest, extremely loyal and truthful man whose judgement was always sound. He was certain that he spotted Irvine and Mallory on the ‘last step but one’ before the pyramid. This piece of evidence – though far from conclusive – held a vital key to unlocking the mystery: Both, or at least one of them, could have made it 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary officially became the first to make it to the top of Everest in 1953.
Scepticism and rumour
Yet in the aftermath, Odell’s testimony was met with scepticism by many members of the global climbing fraternity most of who had their own intentions on making history. Some said he could not have possibly seen them with the naked eye and had clearly mistaken black spots for rocks. Rumours were that the Chinese had their own sights set on becoming the first to reach the ultimate pinnacle and they had sent search parties in the hope that any tangible evidence of the truth might be found and surreptitiously removed. It was even suggested that Irvine’s body had been found by Chinese climbers before 1953 and they had subsequently buried his body on the mountain. However these have remained just rumours and regardless of nationality, many from the global climbing world clambered to dismiss Odell’s theories.
Odell’s eyewitness account was dealt a further blow in 1933 when Percy Wynn-Harris, a member of another British Everest expedition team, found an ice axe that was thought to have belonged to Andrew Irvine. The axe was found 66ft (230m) below the first step throwing Odell’s account into doubt as he was convinced he had spotted two people on the next step. Experts surmised that no-one in their right mind would have left behind their ice axe knowing the acute difficulty that was to follow. But Irvine may well have left it purposely for reasons known only to himself, simply forgotten it or he could have lost grip of it during the climb.
Self doubt sets in
Constant pressure to recall with ultimate precision finally prevailed and Odell began doubting himself, changing his mind on whether he actually spotted the men on the first or the second step. If he had seen them at the first step, there may not have been time to reach the summit before being forced to turn back before dark. However the memory fog – probably as a result of the mind games he endured – cleared just as the atmosphere did that day on Everest and he subsequently stuck to his original conviction with immovable clarity: he had seen them on the last step but one!
The intense inquisition and the loss of two good friends and colleagues were enough to break the resolve of many. But Odell who made two valiant lone searches at 27,000ft (8,229m) for Mallory and Irvine in the aftermath of their disappearance, remained stoic through his grief. He returned to England, modest in his heroics even after meeting King George V who invited him to a private reception shortly after returning to England.
In the years that followed, Odell went on to achieve his personal ultimate mountaineering goal. Along with Bill Tilman, he climbed to the top of Nanda Devi, in 1936. This Himalayan giant – the highest mountain in India – stands at 25,643ft (7,816m) and was once thought to be the top of the world before 1808.
A bright Brighton schoolboy
This mountaineering stalwart was quietly driven to succeed from an early age. Odell’s great potential was first spotted as a schoolboy at the reputable Brighton College. He was born on 25th December, 1890 on the Isle of Wight, to the Rev Robert, William Odell and Mary Margaret Ewart. He excelled in sport and academia with almost equal measure at Brighton and was highly regarded for his reliability and good temperament. Young Noel was soon made a school prefect after being described as a perfect role model among his fellow students.
Even after leaving Brighton College, Odell would never forget his formative school years on the South Coast as he often said he held those days with great affection. He would often write letters in the school magazine: ‘The Brightonian’ and returned a few times notably during the 1962/63 academic year presenting a lecture on scientific exploration. In his later years he would be elected a vice patron of Brighton College by the School’s council. This honour was to be bestowed upon him alongside fellow scientist and explorer, Sir Vivian Fuchs, another ‘Old Brightonian’.
Odell graduated from Brighton College and went on to read Geology at the Royal School of Mines now part of Imperial College London before his studies were interrupted with the start of World War One where he fought with the Royal Engineers while still a teenager. Despite being wounded three times during the war, just one year later he was the first to make a solo ascent of Tennis Shoe on Idwal Slabs in Snowdonia.
Post graduation, Odell joined the Anglo Persian Company working as a geologist in London before moving to Persian now modern day Iran. Just like his love for exploration his professional life proved too to be nomadic. His next move was to Canada where he worked as a Geology expert for a mining company. The elite Harvard University in the USA then beckoned and he became a lecturer in Geology. His love of mountaineering called once again during his time at Harvard and he successfully reached the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in Northeastern United States known for its perilous conditions that have claimed numerous lives due to the propensity for tornadoes and tropical cyclones. The Americans recognised this achievement by naming part of the Huntington Ravine of the mountain: Odell Gully in his honour. He continued to climb in North America’s high grounds including the Canadian Rockies, Labrador, Greenland, Yukon and in Alaska. He returned to England to take up his PhD in Geomorphology and lectured at Clare College Cambridge until the onset of World War Two. Odell was re-commissioned at the age of 50 as Lieutenant once again with the Royal Engineers but later transferred to the Indian Army with the Bengal Sappers and Miners. In 1938, at the age of 46, he joined Tilman once again for a low-key, smaller scale expedition to Everest’s North Col but early monsoons put paid to plans and the party had to abandon their quest early and return to Europe.
During World War Two Odell became the only living recipient of the Livingstone Gold Award of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his services to exploration in Canada, Greenland, Nanda Devi and Mount Everest
After the war he took a post at the University of Otago on the South Island city of Dunedin. It was here Odell was finally awarded a professorship at the age of 60. After a brief return to Cambridge, he accepted a lecturing post at the University of Peshawar in Western Pakistan. Aside from teaching, he was instrumental in firmly establishing the Geology department there . It was while he was in Pakistan that he turned once again to thoughts of his alma mater, Brighton College, and gave an open invitation for folk in The Brightonian magazine to join him and wife ‘Mona’ – or Gwladys as she was formally known – for tea at his bungalow should anyone so wish to travel out to see him.
Returning to Cambridge after finally settling for the retirement life in 1962, Odell still continued to deliver inspirational speeches and at the age of 93, he returned to the Alps, crossing a glacier for half a mile on foot to reach his final milestone: The Britannia Hut, a high vantage point in the Swiss Alps and the starting point of the famous Haute Route.
Noel Odell died aged 96 on February 21st 1987: the last man to see Mallory and Irvine alive, became the last man from the 1924 Everest Exhibition team to pass away. As a final tribute to his old school, Brighton College, he bequeathed many books to the library.
The missing piece of the puzzle
His death came 12 years before Mallory was eventually discovered on Mount Everest. Mallory was found 27,000ft (822.96m) curiously at roughly the same altitude Odell had searched for him all those years ago. The position of Mallory’s corpse did not give any further clue to the question of whether he and Irvine had made it. But the cause of death was almost certainly a fall before hypothermia set in as the rope attached to himself and Irvine had been snapped. Mallory’s largely preserved body showed an egg sized wound to the head, indicating a blow as he probably hit the jagged rocks. The camera Mallory had with him when he was reaching for the top that day, could have been the final piece of the jigsaw: it has never been found. However, clues WERE found in Mallory’s jacket. His snow goggles were discovered in his pocket strongly indicating that if Mallory had no need for them, he might well have been climbing down in the dark having jubilantly reached the top. He also carried a photo of his wife, Ruth, promising to place it at the summit should they reach it. No photo was discovered on Mallory’s body suggesting Odell was correct in his belief they might well have got there.
Thirteen years before Odell passed away, mountaineer, Harish Kapadia, met with Odell in India. The professor was in Bombay for a film premiere and Kapadia, a fan and a fellow Nandi Devi conqueror, seized the opportunity to meet his hero, reminding others just who this great man was. Kapadia wrote: “I saw a tall figure walking and there was no mistaking him. He didn’t look his age. He spoke very softly and in a typical British Style.”
During the conversation, Odell had told him that a friend who was in touch with the spirit world had said he had heard the voice of Mallory confirming he had made it to the summit. Whether Odell believed the friend or not was unclear but he still held the unshakeable belief that it was possible.
Ever the modest man, Odell – who unlike Fuchs was never knighted in spite of achieving similar sublime successes – was asked by Kapadia if he had considered writing a book about his life. He replied that he had not considered writing his memoirs as he was not a “public entertainer” and that all of his achievements were very personal to him. This quiet mountaineering academic, added, he had wanted to treasure them for himself.
Little chance of mistake
Odell’s work has continued to inspire and intrigue the climbing world to this day. Writing in his blog in August 2007, mountaineer and photographer, Jake Norton, traced what he thought were the footsteps of Noel Odell and reached what might have been the spot where Odell saw Mallory and Irvine for the last time. After zooming his camera to the same focal length of the naked eye, Norton concluded that if he had been in the exact position looking up to the North face, it was humanly possible for Odell to have seen the climbers. He observed that the intense scrutiny of the rock formations Odell and his fellow team of experts would have carried out beforehand, meant there was little chance that he (Odell) had mistaken the first step for the ‘last but one’ before the final pyramid.
It is doubtful we will ever know whether Mallory and Irvine made it to the summit but Odell’s personal achievements have left a lasting legacy. In this centenary year since the tragedy on Everest, Brighton College’s archivist, James Harrison, lamented that the school had yet to properly celebrate the life of Professor Noel Ewart Odell. Mr Harrison said: “I would like to change that and I am going to write a piece myself in this centenary year, celebrating all of Prof Odell’s many achievements. We should do that, he deserves it! ”
