by MARK SYNNOTT, The Third Pole was shortlisted for the 2022 Sports Book Awards. 

George Mallory and Sandy Irvine were last seen in 1924, eight hundred feet shy of Everest's summit. A century later, we still don't know whether they achieved their goal of being first to reach the top, decades before Hillary and Norgay in 1953. Irvine carried a camera with him to record their attempt, but it – along with his body – had never been found. Mark Synnott made his own ascent up the infamous North Face to try and find Irvine's body and the camera but, during a season described as 'the one that broke Everest', an awful traffic jam of climbers at the summit resulted in tragic deaths. His quest became something bigger than the original mystery that drew him there – an attempt to understand the madness of the mountain and why it continues to have a magnetic draw on explorers. Exploring how science, business and politics have changed who climbs Everest, The Third Pole is a thrilling portrait of the mountain spanning a century. 

Paperback. 448 pages. 129 x 197 x 33 mm. Published by Headline Publishing Group.