Access Fearless On Everest: The Quest For Sandy Irvine Author Julie Summers Shown In Hardcover

started to read this right after finishing sitelinkThe Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory, which means that after the more sophisticated style of the Mallory biography and the generally more romantic, philosophical and very complex layers of George Mallory's personality, it took me a little while to get into both Julie Summers' simpler style her endless repetitions of "I sense from this diary entry.
. . " had me picturing her as Professor Trelawney! as well as Sandy Irvine's own infinitely more practical and downtoearth character, It didn't take too long, though, before I was drawn in by the wealth of information the author Irvine's greatniece had unearthed about him, the lengths to which she'd gone to assemble as complete an account as she could, and the completely disarming force of charm of the man himself, emerging from every letter and every account of anyone who'd ever met him even just reading about him you can't help feeling a bit bowled over by the endless supply of energy and initiative and beaming good cheer!

Apart from the details about Sandy's childhood, family life, relationships and rowing career at Oxford something I struggled with a bit, having no interest in rowing, the book also discusses a bunch of interesting facts that put the Everest expedition and Sandy's suitability for it in a new light such as the details of the Spitsbergen expeditions and the actual extent of his mountaineering experience and general fitness basically a bunch of reasons why it completely made sense for Mallory to pick him over a more seasoned climber.
I also loved how well Summers brought out his character, disproving previous assertions of the uninformed that Sandy was dull or without imagination or a poor innocent lured to his death by an overobsessed Mallory.
I really liked how she stressed and backed up the fact that Sandy was every bit as eager to tackle the summit as George was, but in no way mistyeyed or clueless about it.
He knew what he was going in for and tackled it with complete practicality,

It's an engaging account of a life that was very full for all that it was so short, and of a young man who absolutely knew what he wanted and threw himself into it withcommitment and an intimidating array of mad skills seriously, that entire expedition would have been so screwed without him constantly fixing all their gadgets!, seemingly all whilst maintaining a genuine modesty, loyalty and disarming geniality well, towards anyone who didn't piss him off I did enjoy the descriptions of his outbursts of temper, lol.


As with the Mallory biography, the letters included help that much more with immersing yourself in the events of the time, They're incredibly expressive.

One thing that hit me unexpectedly was the focus on Noel Odell's perspective for those final few days on the mountain, He usually gets overlooked, and most of the other accounts I've read chose to focus on Mallory and Irvine themselves, so this was new and.
. . well, pretty damn devastating. Just one bloke, alone high up on the mountain, waiting for his friends to come back, going from good cheer to slight worry to slow despair at realising that it's not going to happen and that there's nothing he can do to help.
Gaaaaah.

The book also reinforced something

I've noticed in pretty much all publications on the subject, something I've found particularly interesting ever since reading sitelinkGhosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory amp Irvine: Most of the conclusions that it would have been various degrees of unlikely for the two of them to have reached the summit under the circumstances tend to be either based on outdated or outofcontext evidence or come from people experts or otherwise who either applied exclusively modern standards of climbing to an expedition of a different era to which such modern standards simply don't apply or, in a puzzling number of cases, from people who initially felt differently with reasonable certainty but later on began to doubt and/or change their minds in the face of the established doubts of others, historical or contemporary Odell being a prime example himself.
I find it especially telling that pretty much everyone who actually knew Mallory or Irvine firsthand especially people who lived with or climbed with them seems to have shared a very matteroffact certainty that neither of them would have turned back that being who they were, the last team to go up on literally the last day it could be done, and being strong and able and well equipped and utterly determined, they simply would not have gone back had even gone on record saying they were very well aware it might be a onetrip deal.
So much of the Mallory/Irvine research of trying to puzzle out what happened to them seems to focus on evidence only and dismiss the fact that their personalities matter, that that's evidence as well.
Humanity could never have accomplished half the things it did if it wasn't for a long string of beautifully mad people who decided to do the impossible.


Anyway. Bit of a slow read to start with but very much worth it by the end! I really liked this book, Fearless on Everest is a biography of Sandy Irvine, George Mallory's partner on the illfated Everest summit attempt of, written by Irvine's greatniece, Julie Summers.
Sandy Irvine was ayear old Oxford undergraduate when he lost his life on Everest, While much has been written about theexpedition, Irvine's role is overshadowed by that of the older and far more famous Mallory, who was the dominating force of Everest exploration in thes.
In the endless controversy over what really happened to Mallory and Irvine, some theories give the impression that a clueless Irvine was plucked out of his Oxford rowboat and sent up to Everest with no mountaineering skills of any kind or idea of the risks he was taking.
Irvine is sometimes seen as an inexperienced climber who may have caused an accident leading to his own and Mallory's deaths, or, alternatively, as almost a hapless victim of Mallory's ambition, being led on a climb he was not ready for.


This biography gives much more insight into Irvine's background and motivations, with interesting details from family recollections and papers discovered by the family in.
He certainly did not have the mountaineering experience of his older companions on the expedition, but he was a talented athlete and his background from an expedition to the Arctic Circle in, as well as some rock climbing and Alpine experience, made him not such a bizarre choice for the expedition as previously represented.
He was also mechanically gifted and made significant improvements to the oxygen apparatus as well as other equipment used on the expedition, While Irvine's determination to reach the summit of Everest may not have quite matched Mallory's nearobsession, he was highly motivated, maneuvering from the very beginning of the expedition to be considered for the summit team.
While much has been written about theEverest expedition, there is little specifically about Sandy Irvine, and this biography does an excellent job of filling in those gaps.
A highly moving and interesting biography of Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine who was George Mallory's climbing partner on their ill fated Everest summit attempt,

It was rather good to learn more about Irvine, his life and the tragic, mysterious nature of his death, In my opinion the focus is often on Mallory, perhaps because of his fame and due to his body being found,

I agree with the author that there should be no attempt to find Irvine's body, so he can remain a part of the mountain.


The author being a relative of Irvine's does for me take away some of the impartiality of his story, but this is a minor niggle.


I really enjoyed this book and would recommend this to anyone interested in Irvine's life, climbing career and death,
Includes neverbeforepublished letters and photographs
Written by an Irvine family member
Mallory and Irvine, These two names have been inextricably joined since the two climbers disappeared on Mount Everest more thanyears ago, Could they have been the first to reach the summit of the world's highest mountainssomeyears earlier than Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
Mallory's story has been well chronicled, but Irvine has always been overshadowed by his more famous climbing partner and little has been written about him.
Who was he Why was he invited by the British Everest Committee to join theexpedition despite his limited mountaineering experience And why did Mallory,years his senior, select Irvine as his partner for the final assault on the summit
Julie Summers, great niece of Sandy Irvine, has been fascinated since childhood by the story of Uncle Sandy.
In May, Julie made an astonishing discovery: a long forgotten and unopened trunk containing Irvine's letters and photographs from Everest, Drawing on these and other material, Julie writes a revealing story of a fearless young adventurer whose life and death linked him with one of the greatest mountaineering legends of all time.

Though this book at times dwells in minutiae the chapter devoted to Sandy Irvine's college rowing accomplishments I have to applaud the author's devotion and obvious love for her deceased uncle.
It is a challenge to write a biography of a man who died before he had had much time to truly live: even if he may have been the first man, along with Mallory, to summit Everest! I would not read this book for entertainment's sake, but it is an instructive and balanced account of a persistent mystery.
Did Irvine and Mallory make it to the top inWill the Kodak camera they brought up ever be retrieved This book isn't intended to answer those questions, but you will experience the humanity and indomitable spirit of these two climbers in a deeply personal way.
fascinating story but the big disappointment for me is that the author references many photographs taken during the expedition that were not reproduced in the book.
A remarkable account of the life of a very special young man,

I cant recommend this highly enough for its meticulous and studious work,

It was exciting to read never before published materials, and glimpse a further part of one of historys greatest enduring mysteries,

Meet the man, Sandy Irvine, Famous for disappearing inwith George Mallory on Everest, The mystery behind whether they made it to the top still dazzles those who seek to speculate what if Written by a direct family member of the Irvine family the biography has a family touch which makes it delightful and full of love.
Definitely recommended for mountaineering literature, Decent biography of the "other" guy who died on Everest with George "Because it's there" Mallory, Summers is a descendant which makes it a bit intimate and familial a good thing in terms of access to private papers and personal effects but a moderating point of view about a young man who lived an extraordinary life in a very short time.


Highlights of his life
, renowned oarsman, winner of the CambridgeOxford Boat Race
, accomplished engineer and inventor
, daredevil explorer Spitzbergen expedition
, bad boy had a scandalous affair with the stepmother of a college classmate
, may have made the summit of Everest but vanished on the descent, jury is still out, I was born near Liverpool and grew up first on the Wirral and then in Cheshire, Although the greater part of my childhood was spent outside pursuing any number of outdoor activities, I have always wanted to be a writer, I am passionate about writing and unembarrassed to be so, I love researching my books, especially when they involve meeting people and finding out about their lives, I have a little study in the attic of our house with one of the best views in Oxford the dreaming spires seen from Iffley.
I write in the mornings after the children have gone to school and find the problem is not sticking to the routine but tearing myself away from writing at the end of the day.
I describe myself as a biographer and historian but the most impo I was born near Liverpool and grew up first on the Wirral and then in Cheshire.
Although the greater part of my childhood was spent outside pursuing any number of outdoor activities, I have always wanted to be a writer, I am passionate about writing and unembarrassed to be so, I love researching my books, especially when they involve meeting people and finding out about their lives, I have a little study in the attic of our house with one of the best views in Oxford the dreaming spires seen from Iffley.
I write in the mornings after the children have gone to school and find the problem is not sticking to the routine but tearing myself away from writing at the end of the day.
I describe myself as a biographer and historian but the most important thing for me is to be a story teller, sitelink.