Mallory Clothing Could Have Climbed Everest

How would it feel to climb in exact replicas of the clothing used by Mallory and Irving on Everest in 1924? That's the question posed by Graham Hoyland in this week's Times.

Hoyland, the great nephew of Howard Somervell, one of the 1924 Everest expedition team, has now been to the mountain some eight times in an effort to work out whether the pair could have climbed the mountain.

The one factor he felt he hadn't considered was the effectiveness of the team's clothing and equipment, so this spring he returned using exact replicas of the clothing created by a research project and founded by the Mountain Heritage Trust - see previous articles linked below.

The 1924 clothing - pictured above, right - consisted of layers of natural fibres like silk, wool and cotton. Hoyland remarks that despite wearing eight layers of material around his waist, 'it all felt warm, light and comfortable'.

He goes on to conclude that the clothing certainly wasn't an impediment to climbing the mountain and gave him great insulation combined with excellent freedom of movement. However he speculates that while the 1924 kit is fine for active use, there's no way it would be up to an overnight emergency bivvy on the mountains and this may be how Irvine met his end.

Interesting stuff, you can find it at www.timesonline.co.uk