Was George Mallory the first to climb Mt. Everest?
After reading Jeffery Archer’s latest novel, ‘Paths of Glory’, I had thought this was just another fictional story, but not until I googled for ‘George Mallory’ and bumped myself onto the Wikipedia webpage containing the details of George Mallory!
I was really amazed to read the same sequence of events,incidents,characters pertaining to the life of George Mallory like his ambitions, his family, his school life, his marriage life, his expeditions, his cimbling crew, his conquest etc described in Wikipedia in comparison with Jeffery Archer’s ‘Paths of Glory’!!
Then I realised that ‘Paths of Glory’ is based on real life story of George Mallory!!
According to Wikipedia sources and Jeffery Archer’s novel ‘Paths of Glory’, George Mallory, an English Mountaineer, along with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine are believed to have reached the summit of Mt Everest (the highest peak in the world which is 27,000 feet) on June 24th 1924 on their third expedition to conquer Mt Everest.
This pair disappeared somewhere on the North East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent on world’s highest mountain. They were last seen by their climbing partners about few hundred meters from the summit.
George Mallory’s body was found 75 years after his expedition in 1999. There are huge amount of research,speculation,contradicting theories doing its rounds on whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had actually reached the summit of Mt Everest in 1924,before their death on Mt Everest in this expedition!
George Mallory was a passionate mountaineer who had great passion for conquering the Mt Everest.Once when some reporter asked him as to why he wanted to conquer the Everest,he is believed to have told,”Because its there”!!
Jeffery Archer’s novel ‘Paths of Glory’ sparked controversies in New Zealand with New Zealanders calling this novel an insult to Sir Edmund Hillary who is considered as the First man to set his foot on the summit of Mt Everest in 1953!
Despite all these controversies, Jeffery Archer’s ‘Paths of Glory’ is an Interesting Read!
P.S: Further details on George Mallory can be found on Wikipedia!
Swathi Pradeep,USA
Tags: DH blog, george Mallory, mountain climber, mt Everest, Readers blog, Swathi pradeep
November 24th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I’ve been researching the early era attempts on Everest for many years. While I’ve personally come to the conclusion that Mallory failed in his final bid for the summit, there are some good arguments on both sides of the fence. For anyone who wants to really dig deep into this stuff and debate with some of the foremost mountaineering historians, visit these sites. Regards, Jestor
http://forums.delphiforums.com/wwwdelphicomGEO/?
http://www.wou.edu/las/physci/poston/everest/
November 25th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
You might find this link interesting…
http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#21R2vA/classic.mountainzone.com/everest/99/north/dispatches.html/
Cheers
November 25th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
please not only Edmund Hillary climbed everest ! where is tenzing?
I heard that edmund was following tenzing’s while climbing. Tenzing was experienced and went first to summit !!
November 26th, 2009 at 5:34 am
There is substantial evidence, previously argument-based and then recently physical evidence-based after his remains were discovered, that proves Mallory did not make it to the top of the summit. Many Mt.Everest expedition leaders have agreed with this conclusion thus leaving the ultimate credit of summiting the mountain to BOTH Hillary and Tenzing. Sharma
November 26th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Mt. Everest peak is not 27,000 feet, it is about 29050 feet to be precise.
There are several debates about whether G. Mallory climbed Mount Everest first. But, according to what i have read, the debate has been settled that he might not have been summitted it.
The website given is about the wikipedia ‘into thin air’ book link. It is quoted just because this comment section makes it mandatory to mention a website.