George Mallory
1886–1924 · British (Cheshire) · Interwar Period
Known for: Pioneer Everest climber who disappeared near the summit in 1924—whether he reached the top 29 years before Hillary remains mountaineering's greatest mystery
Mallory was a schoolteacher and WWI veteran obsessed with Everest. He participated in three British expeditions. On June 8, 1924, he and Andrew Irvine were last seen 'going strong for the top' through a break in the clouds high on the Northeast Ridge. They never returned.
Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 26,760 feet, but no camera was found to prove he summited. He was handsome, charismatic, and described by Lytton Strachey as having 'the body of an athlete by Praxiteles.' His answer to 'Why climb Everest?'—'Because it's there'—defined mountaineering.
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