George Mallory

George Mallory (1886 to 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early to mid 1920s. Born in Cheshire, he studied at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, taught at Charterhouse School and honed his skills in the Alps and the Lake District, pioneering new routes. He joined the 1921 reconnaissance that established the North Col and North Ridge as a viable route, and the 1922 expedition reached a world altitude record of 27,300 feet using supplemental oxygen. In 1924 he and his partner Andrew Irvine were last seen climbing near the summit on the northeast ridge, and whether they reached it before they died remains debated. He is remembered for the reply, reported by a journalist, that he wanted to climb Everest because it is there.