George Mallory walking to his Everest death: Newly-unearthed photo of doomed expedition was taken by last man to see explorer and his colleague Edward Irvine still alive

A photo of British explorers George Mallory and Edward Irvine walking to their deaths on Mount Everest has been rediscovered after almost 100 years.

The black and white image has only been seen once before and that was during a photo exhibition 99 years ago.

Mallory and Irvine disappeared in June 1924 while attempting to become the first people to climb the world’s highest peak.

The photo shows seven members of the expedition trekking up the north side of Mount Everest.

The photo was taken by Noel Odell, the expedition’s photographer, who was the last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive. He titled the photo ‘Pilgrims to the Great Goddess Everest 1924’.

The last photo of Edward Irvine (left) and George Mallory (right) is sold at auction

Irvine (left) disappeared at the age of 22 with his climbing partner, the famous mountaineer Mallory, in June 1924

The group set off from Camp VI, 7,000 meters high, up Everest on June 8, after leaving a note for their support group saying ‘Things are looking good’.

Several hours later, Odell reached Camp VI and could see the entire peak above him.

He pointed his camera lens at it and saw Mallory and Irvine at about 25,000 feet before they disappeared into the clouds. It was the last time the couple was seen alive.

It could never be determined whether the pair reached the top and died on the way down, or whether they succumbed to circumstances that were painfully far removed from their historic goal.

Ultimately, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to conquer Everest in 1953. In 1999, Mallory’s body was discovered about 700 meters from the summit.

In September this year, a team of climbers filming a National Geographic documentary came across a preserved foot encased in a climbing boot and sock, which was later confirmed to be Irvine’s.

The photo taken by Odell is one of many he took during three separate Everest expeditions that are being offered for sale.

They have remained in the Odell family and are being sold by a direct descendant of the photographer and mountaineer, who died in 1987 at the age of 96.

One of Irvine’s feet was found hundreds of feet below where Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999

A plaque commemorating George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, placed on Mount Everest by Italian climbers. The inscription reads ‘from the glory of the peaks forever in our hearts’

George Mallory is seen with Andrew Irvine at base camp in Nepal

The statues are expected to raise a total of £8,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge of Henry Aldridge & Son, of Devizes, Wilts, said: ‘Odell is mainly remembered as the last man to see Andrew Irvine and George Mallory alive as they made persistent but delayed progress towards a possible first ascent of Mount Everest in 1924, 29 years before Hillary.

‘This is an exceptional original photograph taken by Odell. It shows members of the expedition during their trek to Everest.

“It’s a tantalizing last glimpse of Mallory and Irvine before they perished pushing the boundaries of human endeavor.”

The Odell collection also includes three original photographs he took of the south side of Everest in 1905, and an exceptional panoramic photograph from the 1938 expedition, which ended in failure.