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George Mallory
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George Mallory
George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886– 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen ascending near Everest's summit during the 1924 expedition, prompting speculation as to whether they reached it before they died.
Born in Cheshire, England, Mallory became a student at Winchester College, where a teacher recruited him for an excursion in the Alps, and he developed a strong natural climbing ability. After graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he became friends with prominent intellectuals, he taught at Charterhouse School while honing his climbing skills in the Alps and the English Lake District. He pioneered new routes and became a respected figure in the British climbing community.
His service in the First World War interrupted his climbing, but he returned with vigour after the war. Mallory's most notable contributions to mountaineering were his expeditions to Everest. Famously, when asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory purportedly replied, "Because it's there." In 1921, he participated in the first British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, which established the North Col-North Ridge as a viable route to the summit. In 1922, he took part in a second expedition to attempt the first ascent of Everest, in which his team achieved a world altitude record of 27,300 ft (8,321 m) using supplemental oxygen. They were awarded Olympic gold medals for alpinism.
During the 1924 expedition, Mallory and Irvine disappeared on Everest's Northeast Ridge. They were last seen at 800 vertical feet (240 metres) from the summit. Mallory's body, along with personal effects, was found in 1999 by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition at 26,760 feet (8,160 metres), some 688 vertical metres below the summit. The discovery, however, provided no evidence that he had reached the summit.
George Herbert Leigh Mallory was born at Newton Hall, Mobberley, Cheshire, on 18 June 1886. He was the first son and second child of Annie Beridge Leigh-Mallory and the Reverend Herbert Leigh Mallory, rector of the parish. Mallory had two sisters, Mary Henrietta and Annie Victoria (Avie), and a younger brother, Trafford, who was a Second World War Royal Air Force commander. (Herbert Mallory legally changed his surname to Leigh-Mallory in 1914; Trafford followed suit, but George remained known as Mallory.) At the end of 1891, the Mallorys moved from Newton Hall to Hobcroft House, Mobberley. The family resided there until 1904, when they moved to Birkenhead, Cheshire. Mallory exhibited an early proclivity for climbing, and at age 7 he climbed the roof of his father's church, St Wilfrid's, in Mobberley. His sister Avie recalls, "He climbed everything that it was at all possible to climb." Included in his climbing exploits were the drainpipes of Hobcroft House and the walls that divided the farmers' fields.
In 1896, Mallory was sent to Glengorse boarding school in Eastbourne on the south coast of England, after the abrupt closure of his first preparatory school in West Kirby, following the death of its headmaster. Mallory won a mathematics scholarship to Winchester College, an English public school, where he started in September 1900. At Winchester, he was proficient at sports, in addition to his academic ability. He became the best gymnast in the school, the only one capable of performing the giant swing on the horizontal bar. In July 1904, Mallory was a member of the Winchester team who won the Ashburton Shield for rifle shooting at Bisley.
In 1904, Irving was seeking new climbing companions after the accidental death of his regular climbing partner. R. L. G. Irving, the Master in College at Winchester, was a member of the Alpine Club and an accomplished mountaineer, and he recruited Mallory and fellow pupil and friend, Harry Gibson, for a trip to the Alps. It was there in early August 1904 that Mallory had his first experience with high-altitude mountaineering. In his final year at Winchester, Mallory studied history instead of mathematics. After sitting his exams, he was awarded a history scholarship, known as a sizarship, to Magdalene College, Cambridge.
"Mon dieu!—George Mallory!... My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons... he's six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face—oh incredible—the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy."
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George Mallory
George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886– 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen ascending near Everest's summit during the 1924 expedition, prompting speculation as to whether they reached it before they died.
Born in Cheshire, England, Mallory became a student at Winchester College, where a teacher recruited him for an excursion in the Alps, and he developed a strong natural climbing ability. After graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he became friends with prominent intellectuals, he taught at Charterhouse School while honing his climbing skills in the Alps and the English Lake District. He pioneered new routes and became a respected figure in the British climbing community.
His service in the First World War interrupted his climbing, but he returned with vigour after the war. Mallory's most notable contributions to mountaineering were his expeditions to Everest. Famously, when asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory purportedly replied, "Because it's there." In 1921, he participated in the first British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, which established the North Col-North Ridge as a viable route to the summit. In 1922, he took part in a second expedition to attempt the first ascent of Everest, in which his team achieved a world altitude record of 27,300 ft (8,321 m) using supplemental oxygen. They were awarded Olympic gold medals for alpinism.
During the 1924 expedition, Mallory and Irvine disappeared on Everest's Northeast Ridge. They were last seen at 800 vertical feet (240 metres) from the summit. Mallory's body, along with personal effects, was found in 1999 by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition at 26,760 feet (8,160 metres), some 688 vertical metres below the summit. The discovery, however, provided no evidence that he had reached the summit.
George Herbert Leigh Mallory was born at Newton Hall, Mobberley, Cheshire, on 18 June 1886. He was the first son and second child of Annie Beridge Leigh-Mallory and the Reverend Herbert Leigh Mallory, rector of the parish. Mallory had two sisters, Mary Henrietta and Annie Victoria (Avie), and a younger brother, Trafford, who was a Second World War Royal Air Force commander. (Herbert Mallory legally changed his surname to Leigh-Mallory in 1914; Trafford followed suit, but George remained known as Mallory.) At the end of 1891, the Mallorys moved from Newton Hall to Hobcroft House, Mobberley. The family resided there until 1904, when they moved to Birkenhead, Cheshire. Mallory exhibited an early proclivity for climbing, and at age 7 he climbed the roof of his father's church, St Wilfrid's, in Mobberley. His sister Avie recalls, "He climbed everything that it was at all possible to climb." Included in his climbing exploits were the drainpipes of Hobcroft House and the walls that divided the farmers' fields.
In 1896, Mallory was sent to Glengorse boarding school in Eastbourne on the south coast of England, after the abrupt closure of his first preparatory school in West Kirby, following the death of its headmaster. Mallory won a mathematics scholarship to Winchester College, an English public school, where he started in September 1900. At Winchester, he was proficient at sports, in addition to his academic ability. He became the best gymnast in the school, the only one capable of performing the giant swing on the horizontal bar. In July 1904, Mallory was a member of the Winchester team who won the Ashburton Shield for rifle shooting at Bisley.
In 1904, Irving was seeking new climbing companions after the accidental death of his regular climbing partner. R. L. G. Irving, the Master in College at Winchester, was a member of the Alpine Club and an accomplished mountaineer, and he recruited Mallory and fellow pupil and friend, Harry Gibson, for a trip to the Alps. It was there in early August 1904 that Mallory had his first experience with high-altitude mountaineering. In his final year at Winchester, Mallory studied history instead of mathematics. After sitting his exams, he was awarded a history scholarship, known as a sizarship, to Magdalene College, Cambridge.
"Mon dieu!—George Mallory!... My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons... he's six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face—oh incredible—the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy."
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