Sandy Irvine's Vest Pocket Kodak on Mount Everest may still exist.

[Mos6502]

Here's an interesting story that I recently stumbled across: https://www.salon.com/2022/04/08/the...mystery-china/

I've been familiar with the story of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine dying on Mount Everest. The mystery has always been did they make it to the summit? If so, they'd have been the first people in history to do so. Mallory's body was discovered in 1999, and it raised the possibility of a solution to the question. Mallory had taken a Vest Pocket Kodak with him, and surely, if he had made the summit of Everest, he'd have taken a photo as proof, right? But repeated searches of the area around Mallory's body turned up no cameras. Perhaps the body of Sandy Irvine could be found, and maybe he had the camera on him when he died. Despite numerous Chinese mountaineers claiming to have seen the body of a foreign climber on the north face of Everest, nobody has ever been able to locate it and confirm it is Irvine's. That is where I thought the story ended, and that's where this story picks up. If true, we'll never know if either man made the summit. It's probable the camera will never be seen by the public again. If it's not true, perhaps that VPK is still buried somewhere on Everest. Kodak expressed the idea that the film in the camera may possibly yield results if found - personally I find this extraordinarily unlikely despite the freezing temps on the mountain. If Chinese mountaineers had discovered the camera, and the film, it would pretty much be a certainty that film would be ruined from decades of exposure to the elements, and any attempt at developing it would have failed.

 

[KoNickon]

Good stuff. I've wondered about Irvine and that VPK for some time. Thanks.

 

[Joao]

Thank you for the link. Good story.
I like unanswered questions and unsolved misteries.
Best regards
Joao

 

[BillBingham2]

My father souped lots of aged film found in cameras for folks around Kodak. I'd go with the film off Everest being able to show something as much as 60 year old film from an attic or garage.

B2 (;->

 

[punkzter]

From the article, it sounds like they may have found it, tried to develop it, and messed it up

 

[Mos6502]

My father souped lots of aged film found in cameras for folks around Kodak. I'd go with the film off Everest being able to show something as much as 60 year old film from an attic or garage.

B2 (;->

Really depends on the camera, and whether or not the film was fully wound onto the take up spool. I've had rolls that were only a couple years old end up badly fogged because I left them in an old box camera for a year or two. Often even if the film is full wound, the last two or three exposures are fogged anyway after 20-30 years. The VPK Model B is a pretty flimsy camera (in comparison to the original model of VPK), and I expect if the story of the Chinese finding the camera is true, the film absolutely would have been ruined by the time they got to it. Unless maybe it was stuck in a light tight box or bag (which is not completely outside the realm of possibility).

 

[DownUnder]

I recall a similar story. Somewhere in my archival boxes in the garage I have a book, long unseen, of the lifetime photos of an Irish Catholic priest who, amongst other achievements, lived in Australia for a long time - but was also a passenger on the Titanic during the first part of its maiden voyage (which ended most tragically after the collision with an iceberg in April, 1912).

This gentleman was an avid amateur photographer, and did a fair bit of snapping on the Titanic when it sailed from Southampton to Cherbourg as the first part of its transatlantic voyage. Fortunately for him (this second class fare had been paid for by a generous parishioner), his superior telegrammed him on the ship to get off at Cherbourg and return to his parish duties, which he did. Sadly, we all know what then happened to this ship, with the loss of 1,500 lives.

The photographs he took, several of which were published in this book, are believed to be the only surviving images taken on the Titanic's one and only voyage.

If I can ever find this book, I will post more information about it. It's in one of about two dozen book boxes I have in safe storage - I have long collected odd books on unusual topics.