Books about George Mallory

The story of George Mallory is one of obsession. When talking of him people often bring out his famous line about climbing Everest "Because its there", which was probably a throwaway comment to some journalist. It is mildly flippant and does not seem to justify the kind of single-minded focus he had on this tallest of mountains. Unless by "there" he meant lodged in his mind, because Everest was there and remained there until he died alongside Sandy Irvine, not too far below the summit, in 1924.

• If you would like to retrace his footsteps, challenge yourself to climb the highest mountain in the world or simply discover more about this most compelling individual then here we have a list of key books and guides.
• Wherever possible the book links below should lead to pages giving the option of Hardcover / Paperback / Kindle Edition

Between 1921 and 1924 George Leigh Mallory visited Everest three times; in itself no mean feat, in the days of 'slow travel'. Now the route to Kathmandu is considerably easier and from there commercial expeditions will guide you (they won't do the walking for you) up Mount Everest. In his day it was very much a case of reconnaissance and mapping uncharted territory prior to attempting a route up, with what would appear now as relatively rudimentary equipment, although in the later expedition it did include oxygen.

There have been many books written about the man and the expeditions he took part in. His body was found 80 years later but his sotry still continues to fascinate people.