Ghost of the Abyss

Chapter 3 - Sandy's Story

The Rongbuk Glacier ran below us and I could see the snowy surrounding mountains with clouds around them. I spotted some climbers making their way up to the North Col. I looked over at Sandy, standing on my left, gazing out at the view as well with a sad look in his blue eyes. My heart still pounded with excitement at hearing his and Mallory's story straight from the Sandy Irvine's mouth. Spirit mouth, but it was still his. According to what I believed, the body is just a shell that houses a person's spirit. Once a person dies, their spirit leaves and the body is no longer them anymore. Here, I was really talking to Sandy Irvine himself since his spirit was him. He looked so healthy as well, with rosy cheeks and not one infirmity on his face.

"So..." I began, wanting him to start his story.

"Well," he breathed, "I figured that I would start from the very beginning, starting when I was a boy in Birkenhead, England. I have always loved climbing, climbing up trees and hills with my sister Evelyn. I was a right prankster, getting into mishaps and irritating my other siblings and parents, especially my mother. That behavior never really left me when I was attending university at Merton College in Oxford. My classmates would find me on top of the roof at times just because I felt like climbing up the college wall, and I rode my motorcycle up Foel Grach, a mountain in Wales. I loved adventure and pushing myself to do things no one else would do. On that mountain in Wales, I met Noel Odell, a key person to getting me to Everest, but he didn't recognize me until much later."

"I think I read about that somewhere, like the story of you climbing up to the roof of your college. Mountaineering wasn't your first love, though, was it?"

"Indeed, it was not. I had a love of sports, particularly rowing, and participated in challenges and competitive boat races, like the Shrewsbury First VIII. Merton had never won a race in years, but when I went there and participated, we were able to win. I think it was that determination that I had to win and accepting nothing lower. It is what drove me to do my best on Everest and to do my best in preparing to leave to go there."

Another fact came to my memory. "Yeah, you went on an arctic expedition with Odell, right?"

"Yes, I did, in Spitsbergen, but that was the trip that convinced Odell to ask me if wanted to go on the 1924 Everest Expedition, and one that I returned from the fall before I left for Everest. He felt that I did well on the expedition in the northern arctic, and thought that my work there, as well as my knowledge of mechanics and oxygen apparatuses, would be beneficial. I, of course, consented gleefully and did all that I could to prepare. I went on a trip to Murren in the Alps in Switzerland to learn about mountain climbing, the properties of snow and just spending time hiking in it, just to give me a sense of what Everest may be like. What a trip that was."

It had been a while, but I remembered reading a book—a biography—of Sandy Irvine, written by his great niece Julie Summers called Fearless on Everest. She went into great detail about all aspects of his life, especially the fact that he had no previous mountaineering experience before Everest. I recalled reading about this trip to Murren. "You learned to ski."

"Indeed, and I excelled in it." He turned his head to me but looked down since I was shorter. "You seem to know quite a bit about me."

"I do. I read a full biography about your life written by your great niece. I think she's descended from your sister Evalyn."

His expression suddenly turned somber. "I see. The one thing I deeply regret is how I reacted when I found out about Evalyn's engagement to my best friend Dick shortly before I left for Everest. I was furious, and I left for Everest not fully reconciling with him or her, with whom I had such a close relationship."