In July 2001, the Mallory artefacts, recovered by the 1999 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition, arrived at the National Mountaineering Exhibition.
It took nearly 3 years of intensive scientific analysis (including scanning electron microscopy and microphotography, spectrometry, X ray spectroscopy) and detective work, to transform the rags brought back from Everest into testable replicas.
The research revealed:
The complete set of garments was field tested on Everest, by Graham Hoyland, the great nephew of Howard Somervell, in April 2006. He confirmed that the replicated garments indeed formed a sophisticated, effective and comfortable clothing system which "was perfectly adequate for a summit bid."
On Wednesday 3rd October Graham Hoyland, the great-nephew of 1920s Everest mountaineer Howard Somervell, will give a talk at the Royal Geographical Society about the clothing worn by the 1924 expedition and what clues they give as to whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit.
More details at thebmc.co.uk/News
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