Eric Simonson in the shadow of Everest

It was in hopes of answering these questions that Eric Simonson, Jochen Hemmleb, and Larry Johnson formed the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition. Simonson, a 43-year-old American guide who'd participated in seven prior Everest ascents, recruited some of the world's best alpinists to retrace Mallory and Irvine's steps, guided by Hemmleb's meticulous Everest research. Few observers felt the expedition would find anything worthwhile on the windswept slopes of Everest.

But on May 1, five team members who'd been combing the snow terrace below the First Step solemnly walked into Simonson's tent at Advanced Base Camp and loaded into his laptop the digital photos they'd taken the day before. "To see those clothing tags," Simonson recalls, "to read 'G. Mallory,' sent shivers down my spine."

Simonson has since had to defend what he calls his team's "impeccable archaeology at 27,000 feet" against charges of ghoulish exploitation. And only now are the expedition leaders presenting their complete story, including startling—and previously unreported—new findings about Mallory and Irvine's final hours. "Ghosts of Everest" (page 62) is their exclusive account, adapted from the book of the same name, to be published in October by The Mountaineers Books. It's a tale that may have a sequel: The team plans to return as early as next year to search for Irvine and for Mallory's elusive Kodak Vest Pocket camera (whose film could provide definitive evidence of what happened that June day). Simonson remains cagey about where his team will look—and with good reason. "We feel nothing but awe and reverence for these men," he says. "We don't want their bodies to become tourist stops on the way to the summit."