Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Leigh Mallory

Compelling pieces.' Stephen Venables, Mail on Sunday 'Invaluable... [a] surprise it has taken so long to see the light of day.' National Geographic 'Expressive and emotionally literate.' Scottish Mountaineer In Climbing Everest, George Mallory (18 June 1886 - 8/9 June 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 (a few days after the final piece in this book). 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. He turned them into finely-crafted pieces read by climbers as well as arm-chair climbers.