[Anne Elk]

Another fascinating mountaineering story from the NY Times: Ghosts on the Glacier It's amazing photo film could stay viable that long! Now if someone could only find Irvine and Mallory's camera.

[Lightning_bug]

This was such a fascinating read! Thank you for sharing!

[Eric Hansen]

Wow. Read it in one sitting.

[Gil]

One fascinating facet of that story is the camera itself. The story notes that Johnson probably got the camera, a Nikomat, in Japan. Nikomat was the name used by Nikon for that model in the domestic Japanese market -- elsewhere it was called Nikkormat. The photo of the bottom of the camera reveals a number of things. The lens is the first version of the Nikkor 43-86mm, the company's earliest consumer zoom and a notorious lens. Some copies were very soft, which gave it a bad reputation, perhaps undeserved, which bled over onto other zooms of the era. The camera's meter is set to ASA 64, meaning the film almost certainly was Kodachrome 64. The fact that camera, lens AND FILM survived 50 years of exposure is amazing, probably a testament to dry climate and coverage by ice.

[Bargainhunter]

I listened to the audio article. The murder conspiracy seems a bit overblown. Still was an intriguing and interesting article; highly recommended! I attempted the Ruta Normal solo in 1989 and can attest to how one can get awfully spacey at those altitudes. Cannot imagine an open or snow cave bivy without sleeping bags; always better to turn back and make it to your tent (or in my case, my bivysack). I bailed at 22k' near the base of the Canaleta. Plenty of people back then needed rescue because they wandered off or just sat down and fell asleep and wouldn't get back up, and couldn't stumble down the mountain on their own. Believe it or not, stray dogs followed people to the summit! Another soloist mentioned bivying with a stray dog and cuddled with it all night for warmth after getting lost at nightfall.

[Anne Elk]

[mike]

[Anne Elk]

^^^^ Thanks for clarifying that historical point, Mike. You also mentioned that they "did not have any experience with that kind of altitude and the the various types of altitude sickness. Physical fitness is important but doesn't have much bearing on whether or not you might come down with CE or PE." Was that not well understood at the time? It sounds like they were more like inexperienced tourists than a serious expedition.

[john p]

The story emphasized sensationalism over facts.

[puzzlr]

I really enjoyed the article, and kudos to the reporters attempting to track down all possible remaining participants, their relatives and heirs, and others more peripherally involved. I think the lack of expedition experience led to ignoring the risks of party separation. Many well known failures I've read about can be traced back in large part to that. They were spread all over the upper parts of that route and with no communication options. I thought the theory about stealing the money stash was nuts. This seemed to be a bare bones expedition and I assume many of the expenses would have been paid before the climbing started. From my experience on Denali via the Muldrow glacier route, confusion at higher elevations definitely happens. We still laugh about some of the things we said or did at 18,000 feet. I would be surprised if all the details of their story matched up.

[Bargainhunter]

Perhaps one of the more intriguing parts of the article was the discussion of the archival film developer in Saskatchewan. When I find Mallory's Vest Pocket Kodak, I now know where to get the film developed! For more on this topic see Mark Synnott's "The Third Pole" and the animé film "Summit of the Gods". Also, Supplemental oxygen isn't used on such low peaks as Aconcagua typically. Also the Ruta Normal is a long walk, and many on this forum could tackle it no problem. Go after it!

[HitTheTrail]

Interesting bit of mountaineering history. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Even without all the group dynamics, tragedy and intrigue, the part about finding the camera and recovering its contents would be a unique story in itself.

[zimmertr]

I have tentative plans to travel to Buenos Aires & Mendoza in 2025 and I'm definitely noodling on it. If timed correctly it's essentially a 1-2 week backpacking trip to just shy of 23,000'.

[Bargainhunter]

If you will be in Mendoza already, it's kind of a no brainer if you will be there during their summer (our winter). I had a free RT ticket from CA to Santiago, Chile given by a friend with excess frequent flyer miles, then took a bus over the border, passing the trailhead on the way to get my permit in Mendoza. I ferried my own loads and didn't use mules, so it was a very low budg trip. There was no infrastructure at basecamp at that time, lots of randoms from all over the world attempting it. A formative experience for my college-age mind.