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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Robin McKie Science editor

Heroism, sacrifice, defeat? The enduring mystery of George Mallory’s final Everest attempt

George Mallory Everest Sandy Irvine Tenzing Norgay Edmund Hillary George Finch RGS Wade Davis
Retouched image of the members of the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition, with Sandy Irvine and George Mallory in the back row.
The 1924 Everest expedition. Back, from left: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory, Edward Norton, Noel Odell and John Macdonald. Front, from left: Edward Shebbeare, Geoffrey Bruce, Howard Somervell and Bentley Beetham. Photograph: Royal Geographical Society/Getty Images

On the morning of 6 June, 1924, George Mallory – one of the world’s greatest mountaineers – set off with his companion, Sandy Irvine, from a camp on the slopes of Mount Everest and headed for its summit.

A veteran of three British Everest expeditions, Mallory knew the world’s highest mountain better than any other climber at the time. He had come close to death there on three occasions.

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