Climbing Everest : The Complete Writings of George Mallory

George Mallory (1886-1924), possibly the first man to summit Everest, takes us with him on his climbs in Britain and the Alps, culminating in his three expeditions to Mount Everest—the last of which cost him his life just days after the final piece in this book was written.

Mallory was one of the first climbers to explore the emotional meaning of climbing, discarding the Edwardian stiff upper lip in the face of adventure. All his writings on climbing—here collected for the first time—started out as letters to his wife Ruth, which he turned into finely-crafted pieces that can be read by climbers and armchair climbers alike.

When questioned "Why climb Everest?" he crafted the gnomic climbing phrase "Because it is there." His body was dramatically found on Everest in 2007. One day, his lost camera may yet provide the answer to the question of whether he was the first human to summit Everest.