{"id":2438483,"date":"2007-05-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/uncategorized\/international-man-mystery\/"},"modified":"2022-02-24T11:59:41","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T18:59:41","slug":"international-man-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/adventure-travel\/destinations\/asia\/international-man-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"International Man of Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\"Listen
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More with Anker<\/h3> Hear ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø<\/em>‘s full conversation with Anker<\/a>. For photos and trip updates, visit Altitude Everest Expedition 2007’s interactive site at ueverest.com<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Montana-based mountaineer Conrad Anker is no stranger to big mountain challenges. At 44, he’s made first ascents in Antarctica and the Himalayas; in May 1999, he discovered the frozen body of British climber George Mallory at 27,000 feet on Everest’s North Face. But the question remains: Did Mallory and partner Sandy Irvine reach the top before the mountain claimed them in 1924? In June, Anker and British climber Leo Houlding, 26, will re-create that fateful summit bid\u0097right down to the period gear\u0097in an expedition being filmed for A Patch of White<\/EM>, a 2008 documentary from the U.K.’s Altitude Films and U.S. distributor Rainbow Media. ANTHONY CERRETANI talked with Anker before he departed.<\/p>\n

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\nOUTSIDE: So will you really wear tweeds and hobnail boots?<\/STRONG>
\nANKER: Yes. Mallory had seven layers of silks and woolens\u0097and leather boots with nails in them, like soccer shoes with cleats.<\/p>\n

\nYou won’t exactly fit in up there.<\/STRONG>
\nI’m excited to get the clothes dirty. Everyone else will be wearing a stock-car-racer jacket full of [sponsorship] patches. It’s a very commercial scene up there.<\/p>\n

\nWhat’s the biggest challenge?<\/STRONG>
\nI want to have a go at the Second Step, a 100-foot cliff at about 28,000 feet, without using the ladder that’s now in place. That to me is the crux.<\/p>\n

\nYou’ve been intrigued for years.<\/STRONG>
\nI first knew of Mallory and Irvine when I was 15 or 16. I was fascinated by adventure stories: Shackleton, Scott, Earhart …<\/p>\n

\nDo you think you’ll learn, definitively, whether they summited? <\/STRONG>Having a sense of mystery is a healthy thing, especially in an era when we want proof for everything. But, then again, we’re not going up there just to look around. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montana-based mountaineer Conrad Anker is no stranger to big mountain challenges. At 44, he’s made first ascents in Antarctica and the Himalayas; in May 1999, he discovered the frozen body of British climber George Mallory at 27,000 feet on Everest’s North Face. But the question remains: Did Mallory and partner Sandy Irvine reach the top … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1546346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"0a26df00138e3f2666ba7e449d7ddd39","footnotes":""},"categories":[2583],"tags":[3102,2627],"byline":[17],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2438483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-mount-everest","tag-snow-sports","byline-anthony-cerretani"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"International Man of Mystery","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/adventure-travel\/destinations\/asia\/international-man-mystery\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/adventure-travel\/destinations\/asia\/international-man-mystery\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated-images_parent\/migrated-images_50\/P378482-1-1_mount-everest-nepal.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated-images_parent\/migrated-images_50\/P378482-1-1_mount-everest-nepal.jpg"},"articleSection":"Asia","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"sperkins-pom"}],"creator":["sperkins-pom"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["mount everest","snow sports"],"dateCreated":"2007-05-29T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2007-05-29T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-02-24T18:59:41Z"},"rendered":"