George Mallory, a minister's son, was born to an upper-middle class English family. A 'natural 'climber, his older sister recalled that little George "…climbed everything that was at all possible to climb. … it was fatal to tell him that any tree was impossible for him to get up." When there were no trees around, Mallory resorted to climbing buildings. He free-climbed the tower of the Abbey of Romsey and the tower of the Chamber Court of Winchester. On a trip to America he was once photographed climbing the fire escape of a New York skyscraper upside down.
A good student, Mallory was an even better athlete who excelled in gymnastics. While at Cambridge he studied literature and escaped to the mountains at every chance. At 18 he made his first trip to the Swiss Alps. Though climbing without a guide was considered reckless, Mallory paid no attention, and returned to the Alps again and again. In 1911, after summitting Mont Blanc Mallory wrote in his journal: "One must conquer, achieve, get to the top; one must know the end to be convinced that one can win the end-to know there's no dream that mustn't be dared."
In 1919, after serving in World War I, he returned home and resumed climbing. While Everest was still considered an unattained summit, two British expeditions were headed towards it. A 1921 expedition was set to explore and map the mountain and a 1922 expedition was going to attempt to summit. When the invitation came for Mallory to join the expedition he considered turning it down. Everest seemed like an enormous commitment. Each expedition would take at least six months Because he had two young daughters and a five-month-old son, he wasn't sure he wanted to be away from home that long. Regardless of these considerations, Mallory and his wife agreed that it was a chance of a lifetime and that he had to go.
So in 1921 Mallory, and the others on the team, explored, climbed minor peaks, and helped map the northern approach to Everest. He wrote that the mountain had "…the most stupendous ridges and appalling precipices that I have ever seen." Unfortunately on this particular expedition, one of the four climbers died of exhaustion on the trek in, and a second, also suffering from exhaustion, was ordered back, thus ending the expedition.
In 1922, Mallory accompanied a stronger climbing team, which approached Everest along the East Rongbuk valley. This team made it to a height of 27,000 feet, higher than anyone had climbed anywhere, but still 2,000 vertical feet short of the world's highest summit Before the expedition headed for home, Mallory decided to make one last summit attempt and set off up the slopes of the North Col Unfortunately he began his climb too soon after fresh snow had fallen, and a massive avalanche swept away nine men, killing seven of them, all Sherpa.
When plans were formulated for a third British expedition in 1924, Mallory was unsure whether he wanted to go back, but in the end he thought it would be rather hard to see others conquer the summit without him. Before heading off, he confided in an old friend, "I don't expect to come back." And so it was, on June 8, 1924, George Mallory and his expedition companion Sandy Irving vanished into the mist surrounding the summit, never to be heard from again. It is one of the mysteries of Everest whether Mallory died on his way to the summit or on his way back down.
On May 14, 1995, George Mallory's grandson, George Mallory II, summited, 71 years after the disappearance of his grandfather. Young Mallory and his climbing partner, Jeff Hall from Colorado, cut a hole in the snow and buried a picture of his grandfather at the summit of Everest. In 1999, Mallory's body was found in laying face down, 2, 000 feet below summit. It is still unknown whether George Mallory and Sandy Irvine reached the summit.
