In March 1923, when British mountaineer George Leigh Mallory was touring the United States to raise money for an expedition to Mount Everest planned for the following year, a journalist asked why he wanted to climb Everest. He famously replied, “Because it’s there.”
The question, which seemed odd to an adventurer like Mallory, was perfectly reasonable to ordinary people. Why would anybody want to risk their life to climb a piece of rock? Mallory explained: “Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and no man has reached its summit. Its existence is a challenge. The answer is instinctive—a part, I suppose, of man’s desire to conquer the universe.”
Mallory’s desire to conquer Everest cost the lives of seven Tibetan Sherpa porters, who were killed in an avalanche. Two years later, it cost Mallory his own life.
Mount Everest’s peak rises in the backdrop of Rongbuk monastery in Tibet. Credit: Göran Höglund
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