Mallory on Everest

George Mallory (upper left) on his Everest expedition, 1922
(image published by The Guardian)

Andras Laszlo brought this on his Facebook page: a review in The Guardian for a book about Mallory (Into The Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis).

It was the constant danger of sudden death that gave climbing its piquancy. Having painted one-quarter of the world imperial red by the end of the 19th century, the Edwardian adventurer looking for his next expansive frontier was obliged to look upwards rather than outwards. The average climber's career was a three-act drama, beginning on the nursery slopes of Snowdonia; progressing to the snowy peaks of the Alps, and finally – but only for the seriously dedicated – expanding to the vast and deadly ranges of the Himalayas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/07/silence-mallory-everest-wade-davis-review?INTCMP=SRCH

(A Life in Books)