NPR: Theory that low press system led Mallory to Hypoxia

Interesting! Turns out the barometer dropped the day of their summit attempt. Maybe not just the storm, but even lower than usual oxygen levels.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129036467&sc=fb&cc=fp



Brian

What amazes me is how long it took someone to examine closely the weather data that were collected by Noel Odell in base camp during the expedition in which Mallory and Irvine died. Also, the search continues for Sandy Irvine's body, which provides the last hope for finding the camera that might record whether they made the summit in 1924.

A few years ago, a similar analysis was made of weather data in Antarctica when all five on Scott's 1911 expedition to the South Pole perished on the way back to McMurdo (i.e., they also experienced an anomalously severe cold stretch that did them in).

I heard a similar theory about the 1996 disaster, that the storm pulled significant air down off the mountain. Unfortunately I can't find a reference back.