In May 1999, a search team searched for a corpse on the north slope of Mount Everest at 8,000 meters, and not far away, a marble-like shining thing attracted everyone's attention, and stepped forward to find that it was indeed a corpse.
The bodies were well preserved due to the low temperatures, and the broken old cashmere warm suits told them that this was the man they were looking for, the Englishman, George Mallory.
Born into a family of shepherds, Mallory grew up in Northern England, loved to climb from an early age, and constantly challenged the Alps with his classmates when he was studying in Cambridge.
At the beginning of the 19th century, it was the golden age in the history of human exploration, and the few polar regions on the earth were constantly discovered. As the Antarctic and The North Pole were conquered, an agitated Mallory set his sights on the third pole of the earth, Mount Everest.
99% of people don't climb Everest because human nature has an innate fear of extreme mountains, but Mallory is different in that he is born with no fear of heights. In 1921, Mallory led the team to climb Everest for the first time, but they basically spent their time looking for a route.
In 1922 Mallory once again challenged Mount Everest from the north slope, they even climbed to an altitude of 8200 meters, and photographers also captured the spectacular scenery of Mount Everest for the first time, but surprisingly, they encountered the monsoon again and had to withdraw.
Instead of stepping on someone else's route to the top, create a route yourself, which is the highest honor of being a climber. Before deciding to climb Everest for the third time, Mallory promised his wife that he would put her picture at the top of Everest, at the age of 37, and he knew it was his last chance.
In June 1924, Mallory and his assistant Owen made a third attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They were last seen 240 meters from the summit, the famous second step of the north slope.
At an altitude of 8,600 meters, this abrupt cliff is like a step, and before the Chinese mountaineers put the ladder up in 1975, it was a natural ghost gate, and Mallory and Owen were the first pair of people in human history to break through the barrier. They didn't have any auxiliary safety equipment, they couldn't even find any experience to learn from, they relied only on rudimentary oxygen tubes to survive, tied each other with a cotton rope, and carried out freehand rock climbing, but then the figures of the two disappeared into the clouds, and no one saw them again.
(Mallory and Sherpas guides)
On June 8, the two disappeared and were confirmed dead. When the British learned of Mallory's death, the bell rang throughout the country, and people held a memorial service at St. Paul's Church to praise Mallory as a legend, and many people believed that he reached the summit of Mount Everest. The controversy over whether the two had reached the summit before their deaths has also become a famous "Maou mystery" in the history of mountaineering. If it can be proved that the two people did reach the summit before their lives, it will change the history of Mount Everest, and this climb will also become the first conquest of Mount Everest in human history.
After finding Mallory's relics, the search team did not find a picture of his wife among his relics, so it was inferred that Mallory's last attempt, most likely to reach the top, was to complete his promise to his wife. To confirm this inference, in 1999, climber Conrad simulated Mallory's Everest climbing according to Mallory's climbing route, carrying equipment from the time. At the second step, Conrad climbed the 5-meter cliff with his bare hands, leaving only 200 yards from the summit, which also proved that Mallory climbed Everest completely possible.
(Mallory Tombstone under Everest)
After 75 years, this history, which was covered by heavy snow, gradually dissipated.
Whether Mallory is the first person to climb Everest or not, however, as a climber, he left his wildest dream in Everest. In an interview with the media in the United States, the reporter asked him why he climbed Mount Everest, and he replied: Because, he is there ("Because it's there!"). ）。