The opinion of the Everest climbing community began to challenge the location Odell claimed to have seen the two climbers. Many thought the Second Step, if not unclimbable, was at least not climbable in the five minutes Odell says he saw one of the two surmount it. Based on their position, both Odell and Norton believed that Mallory and Irvine had made it to the summit, with Odell sharing this belief with the newspapers after the expedition. The expedition report was presented to Martin Conway, a prominent politician and mountaineer, who expressed the opinion that the summit had been reached. Conway's opinion was based on their location on the mountain and Mallory's exceptional mountaineering skill.