You may never heard of George Mallory as I was till I read Jeffery Archer's "Paths Of Glory". He would be the most unfortunate person in Earth if he had achieved his lifetime ambition. The last sentence might sound like oxymoron though its true in Mallory's case.
Mallory is a climber whose life time ambition is climbing Chomolungma (Everest). In his time no one knows what will happen to man in 25,000 feet. Even aircraft did not touch that height at that time. Mount Everest club of Britain arranged first expedition, for that Mallory was leader. There were not a consensus on using oxygen bottles to use in high altitudes. Mallory's friend George Finch reached highest altitude 27300 feet with the help of Oxygen bottles. The first expedition failed with 7 causalities.
In the second expedition after a long patience, Mallory left the last camp(5 th camp) to the summit with his partner Andrew Irvine on 8 June 1924. Mallory and Irvine was spotted by his long time partner Guy Bullock just between last obstacle and Chomolungma summit. And it was the last time Mallory was spotted.
After 75 years Mallory body was found in Chomolungma. His belongings Wallet,Goggle and Jacket were intact in that cold environment except his wife Ruth photo that he always keeps in his wallet. He had promised his wife that he will leave her photo on the Chomolungma summit when he reached that.
"why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?" -Reporter
"because it's there" - Mallory
PS: I recommend you to read "Paths Of Glory" a inspiration story about George Mallory. At least read this Wikipedia article.
Friday, July 17, 2009
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