George Leigh Mallory - An extraordinary man!

Like most of us, I had only heard of Sir Edmund Hillary, as the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest 29,100 feet (8,848 metres). It was only after reading "Paths of Glory" a book by Jeffrey Archer based on the life of George Leigh Mallory did I find out about the real hero of Everest and thought I'd share his story with all my friends.
George Leigh Mallory born 18 June 1886 in Cheshire, England, was a man of unparalleled skills at mountain climbing. He had conquered all the highest peaks in Europe by 1913. He then had his sights on Mount Everest, his reason for wanting to climb Everest ""Because it's there".
In the words of one of his climbing partners "In watching George at work one was conscious not so much of physical strength as of suppleness and balance; so rhythmical and harmonious was his progress in any steep place ... that his movements appeared almost serpentine in their smoothness."
George Mallory led the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest.
On the first expedition in 1921, , Mallory became the first human recorded to have set foot on the actual mountain by climbing up to the saddle of the North Ridge(the North Col, 23,000-ft, 7000m).
On the second expedition in 1922,Mallory almost reached the crest of the North-East ridge with his climbing partners Howard Somervell and Edward Norton. Inspite of the thin air at that altitude, they achieved a record altitude of 26,985 ft (8,225 m) before weather conditions and the late hour forced them to retreat. Although that height was surpassed by George Finch who with Mallory led a second attempt up to, but he used bottled oxygen, which was highly criticized & discarded by all as an unacceptable aid.
On the third expedition in 1924, he led another attempt to reach the top of the world with Andrew Irvine, a fine athletic young man just 22 yrs old. Mallory himself was 37.They used oxygen, Mallory having given up his original scepticism by his failure on the initial assault and the very rapid ascent speed of Finch in 1922. The last time they were seen was by a member of his climbing team Noel Odell. His testimony:

"At 12.50, just after I had emerged from a state of jubilation at finding the first definite fossils on Everest, there was a sudden clearing of the atmosphere, and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest beneath a rock-step in the ridge; the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock-step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more."

The two never returned. Whether they ever reached the summit has been subject to constant speculation. After multiple failed search expeditions for the next 75 years , the body of George Leigh Mallory was found at 26,760 feet (8,160 m) on the north face of the mountain in 1999. The body of Andrew Irvine has yet to be found.

Mount Everest was finally conquered (complete ascent and descent)by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay ( a sherpa) in 1953 some 20 yrs later.

But what makes George Mallory and his team mates extraordinary men is the fact that they achieved such heights as 27,000 ft, without any of the professional gear(including oxygen) used by later expeditions. What they had was their sheer skill, endurance and perseverance.

In 1995, Mallory's grandson also named George Mallory reached the summit of Everest with six other climbers as part of the American Everest Expedition. He left a picture of his grandparents at the summit citing 'Unfinished business'.