I started this one immediately after The Dark Forest and completed it in a week, or maybe just under. Completing books this fast is not like me, but I had taken some time off work and I got a lot of reading done.
In 1924 two British climbers, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine climbed Mount Everest and tragically perished on the mountain. They were climbing on the China side of the mountain and were last seen by a fellow climber only 800 feet from the summit. They were still making their way up to the top when he last viewed them.
One of the survivors of the expedition claimed that the men had reached the summit but then died while trying to get down from the high altitude. The Chinese government contested the claim that the two men had reached the top.of Everest and years later sent up their own team of climbers to gain the title of being the first to summit Everest from the Chinese side.
There was no hard evidence that Mallory and Irvine did reach the top, just word of mouth from a fellow climber, but Irvines body was never actually found and it was strongly believed that he had been carrying a camera with him that may still contain photos of the two men standing at the top of the world. If found, an intact camera could show proof that the British were the first to summit.
Nearly a century later, Mark Synnott and a team of climbers sought to find Irvines body and the coveted camera that may shed some light on what truly happened back in 1924. Using drone technology, Marks team climbed Everest in 2019 in an attempt to solve the 100 year mystery. Their expedition coincided with the time that another climber named Nirmal Purja took a photo of a now famous Everest traffic jam near the summit. The photo went viral and landed the headline, "the day Everest Broke." 11 climbers died that day and their stories of survival are also weaved into the books plot.
This is a story about survival and mystery and a quest for the truth.
Mark Synnott is a great writer and this book was very well written. It was interesting reading about how he trained for the expedition, the logistics of an Everest climb, and his journalism work in researching Mallory and Irvine. How the team had to navigate the bureaucracy and politics in dealing with the Chinese government was also pretty interesting. I didn't find the book to be particularly gripping though. I was less interested in the Mallory Irvine story than the harrowing survival tales of the climbers that survived "the Day that Everest Broke," which for me was the part that made me want to keep reading. Unfortunately, that part was only a small portion of the overall book. I did enjoyed it overall, but I feel like there are many other books about mountain climbing and survival stories out there that are far more interesting and better reads. I'd probably give this one a 3.5 out 5 rating. I would say to read it if you love any books about mountain climbing or the survival genre, but also keep in mind that its more a story about journalism and history than one of survival.
