La seconda morte di Mallory

by Reinhold Messner, Orsetta Barbero Lenti (Translator)

Nel 1924, lo scalatore inglese George Mallory, insieme al compagno Andrew Irvine, tentò la prima conquista dell’Everest. Entrambi morirono nell’impresa – era il terzo tentativo – ma nessuno ha mai saputo dire con certezza se prima o dopo aver raggiunto la cima. Di sicuro, entrambi furono avvistati a circa 250 metri dalla vetta, prima di scomparire per sempre dietro alle nubi.
Poi, nel 1999, il ritrovamento del corpo perfettamente conservato di Mallory ha riproposto questa storia leggendaria. Purtroppo Mallory non aveva con sé la macchina fotografica che avrebbe potuto confermare o meno il compimento dell’impresa. E non fu mai ritrovata tra le sue cose neppure la foto della moglie che Mallory si dice intendesse lasciare sulla cima a testimonianza della sua conquista.
Reinhold Messner, il più grande scalatore vivente – celebre tra l’altro per aver compiuto la prima ascensione dell’Everest senza ossigeno e in solitaria proprio sulla parete tentata da Mallory sessant’anni prima – affronta l’enigma della fine del suo predecessore, George L. Mallory, e ci offre una ricostruzione insieme documentata e romanzesca. Attraverso la vicenda pionieristica di Mallory, riletta alla luce della propria esperienza e ricostruita al di là del mito, l’autore di questo racconto appassionante accompagna il lettore sulla scena himalayana, quando era ancora sede d’imprese eroiche, prima di diventare meta turistica per comitive. E fornisce, forse, la soluzione dell’enigma.

Genres: Mountaineering, Nonfiction, Adventure, Climbing, Travel, Sports

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Reinhold Messner (born September 17, 1944) is an Italian mountaineer and explorer from South Tyrol, often cited as the greatest mountain climber of all time. He is renowned for making the first solo ascents of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and for being the first climber to ascend all fourteen "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level). He is the author of at least 63 books (in German, 1970–2006), many of which have been translated into other languages.

Reviews

[Aaron Brewer]

Interesting read. World class mountaineer bemoans the dying spirit of climbing for the thrill and sense of discovery (though it can certainly be argued Messner has profited quite well from the commercialization of Everest and other mountains).

[Wendelle]

""There was no mistaking the two great peaks in the West: that to the left must be Makalu, grey severe and yet distinctly graceful, and the other way to the right, who could doubt its identity? It was a prodigious white fang excrescent from the jaw of the world. We saw Mount Everest not quite sharply defined on account of a slight haze in the discretion; this circumstance added a touch of mystery and grandeur; we were satisfied that the highest of mountains would not disappoint us.""-- George Mallory

As a bit of prologue, before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, there was George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, two British who tried to scale the summit of Mount Everest in the 1920s and undoubtedly reached the 8300- mark of the difficult North face of the mountain before succumbing unfortunately to the challenges of their attempt. Their bodies were recovered around the 8100 meter-high ridge. Mystery has shrouded the question of whether they were actually the first ones at the top and simply perished in the descent.

Now for what this book is. It's authored by the legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner who's climbed Everest, K2, Makalu, all the rest of the eight-thousanders, walked Antarctica and Greenland. This book is basically Messner's annotation of Mallory's diary during his own quest. Messner admires Mallory and laments the loss of the mountaineering spirit that animated Mallory, the kind of quest for the unknown, the persistence and stoicism to summit the mountain because it is there. His aesthetic and philosophical preference is for this kind of adventure and he's explicit about looking down on current Everest conquests wherein travelers pursue already trampled paths and laid-down ladders on Everest routes. Mallory's diary is quite revealing and moving, he speaks poetically of the experience of the mountain, as well as practically of the logistics concerned and the revealing decisions taken. Messner's annotations are more, interesting. For one, Messner attempts to write in the inner voice of Mallory. In the italicized portions, he tries to write in Mallory's POV of how Mallory is feeling. This channeled voice does not seem to match Mallory's diary's voice, it's more emotional and reactive and given to exclamation points. Nevertheless, it is an interesting exercise and probably a very valid one as well. After all, if there is anyone alive who can claim to know the inner thoughts of the bygone mountaineer, the bets would be on the current greatest living mountaineer who has replicated his experienced toils and hardships in the harshness of the Himalayas.

[Andi]

This relatively brief book is quite interesting...giving very succinct accounts of the Everest expeditions that included George Mallory, plus the expeditions after Mallory's death that in some way related to it, such as the Chinese attempt during which the ice axe was found and the expedition formed to attempt to locate the bodies of Mallory and /or Irvine. I have read other books about all of these expeditions and the controvery surrounding whether or not Mallory and Irvine did in fact make it to the summit of Everest, but this book bring in a different angle. For the early expeditions, Messner draws on Mallory's journals and accounts from other expedition members to recreate the scenes. But the truly interesting part is the scenes that take place when Mallory and Irvine go missing and when the expedition locates Mallory's body. Messner inserts thoughts that Mallory might have had, as if Mallory were looking down and commenting on the scenes as they were happening. What a unique perspective! Of course, it is all the author's conceptualization, but very thoughtfully executed.

[Samantha]

I really enjoyed the way that this book was written with a blend of Mallory's writings, as well as some speculative portions. Everything was well blended and made me feel as if I were along for each expedition.

[David]

For the first half I was disappointed at how much of it is fictionalized. Then I accepted it for what it is: a fictionalized account of Mallory's expeditions and fate imagined by Reinhold Messner, one of the greatest mountaineers ever. He knows a thing or two about mountains ... In the end it's a pretty good read.

[Sarah (Presto agitato)]

Reinhold Messner may be a mountaineering legend, but his account of Mallory's Everest expeditions of the 1920s misses the mark. He interweaves Mallory's letters and writings with fictional narration from Mallory's . . . ghost (?) commenting on controversies in modern climbing in a literary device that is jarring and at times even confusing. The real Mallory was far more eloquent than his spirit apparently is (perhaps his knack for catchy turns of phrase faded in the afterlife). This book is short, a quick read for those who want a brief synopsis of the expeditions, but there are many better books out there for those interested in this topic.

[Linandara]

The reason I have picked this book was the quote fromMy Life at the Limit , the previous book by Reinhold Messner I've been reading:

"You say that you see Mallory as a kind of soul mate." "That's right, there's a spiritual kinship. I only have to read what he wrote." "Why is that?" "I don't know. It's just a feeling."

I know almost nothing about the history of alpinism, but interested in this unexplainable feeling of kinship, people's lives and personalities. I really enjoyed reading the book although it took me a while to get used to it and I would prefer if the text from original letters and diaries was more clearly marked and separated from the rest. It took me quite a few pages to figure out that the italic text was as if from the ghost of George Mallory. This is an original literary device and shows how much the author felt connected to the person he recreated. I feel I would like to know at least a little bit about Mallory's wife, who's letter was found on his dead body, and also about his life at home, between the expeditions.

I feel I learned quite a lot on the subject and had a good time reading. Will read more books by Reinhold Messner.

[Charit]

Short book but brings Mallory’s voice to life and the challenge it must have been nearly a 100 years ago trying to climb Everest w/o any serious modern gear.

[David]

Saggio

[Liz Cymanski]

👎

[Jake]

These days, there is nothing like a quick 200-page adventure book to fill up a quiet weekend and motivate me to get outside more. This is my fourth Mt. Everest book, a subgenre that has captivated me in recent weeks. This is also my least favorite.

When reading about Mt Everest, you quickly notice that one ghost has risen to preeminence: George S. Mallory. He is to mountain climbing what Amelia Earhart is to aviation, an early pioneer who vanished in pursuit of a lofty goal, and whose fame only increased with time and rumor. Author, and legendary climber, Reinhold Messner, dedicates this book to reconsidering Mallory’s legend in the context of modern climbing. His thesis remains that Mallory’s unsuccessful climb, in spite of his demise, remains the greatest feat ever accomplished on Everest.

For me, the best part of this book is the first section, which details the 1921 British reconnaissance expedition to Everest. This was long before establishment of well-tested routes that climbers follow today. And Messner wisely lets Mallory’s personal correspondence do the talking. We meet the mountain as Mallory did--a vast, towering and as yet unexplored mystery.

However, the longer the book goes, the hastier it feels. Messner employs fictional narration to imagine what Mallory might say if he spoke to us from beyond the grave. Some of these fictional interjections are thought-provoking, others amount to redundancy and overstatement of material provided from other sources. Still, it adds up to a great introduction to one of Everest’s most mythical figures, the man who said he was going to climb Everest “because it is there.”

[Mike]

I've been intrigued by George Mallory's story since I was a kid. I liked the viewpoint of Messner, who is a world-class mountaineer himself, and I liked how Mallory's own letters & journal entries were infused into the story, but I found some of the style confusing and unnecessary. Mainly where Messner fabricates what Mallory should have or would have said. Another reviewer on here asked if these "quotes" came from Mallory's Ghost. Maybe these thoughts had been channeled to Messner...

At any rate, not the best work on Mallory and his three Everest expeditions, but still a good read on "What had been a symbol of the impossible into a mere matter of the affordable." Messner makes a case that "Scaling Mount Everest has now become the ultimate extreme vacation for adventure seekers... everyone knows the price of the highest peak in the world, and no one knows its value."

[Diane]

A bit of a recap of Mallory’s attempts on Everest. I was attracted to Messner’s thesis- that it is misguided to focus on the question of did Mallory reach the summit. What Mallory gave the world was not the summit but the enthusiasm and idealism of the amateur adventurer. Messner says the “glorious solitude of Everest has been compromised by climbers catering to the immediate gratification…we may have found Mallory’s body…but we have killed off his spirit.” I agree totally with this premise. However, the book does not really deliver what is promised. Still worth reading if you are a climbing book addict but it does not have deep discussion of the ethics.

[Luca Cresta]

Appassionante come un romanzo.
Originale la cronaca di Messner dell'avventura mitica di Mallory, lo scalatore inglese entrato nella leggenda dopo la sua morte sull'Everst negli anni 20. Una lettura immancabile per gli appassionati.

[Giulio]

Sadly this book has been out dated since it was written before Malory's body was found.

[Randy Smith]

good book

[Lynn Diane]

Interesting factual account of finding George Mallory's body on Mount Everest some 70 years after he perished there.

[Carole]

read to long ago to remember much.

[Vicki Christensen]

Really interesting account of George Mallory's quest to reach the top of Mt. Everest.

[Bhushan Shet]

It's not a book, but a day wise account of Mallory's expedition. And fails to connect happened and unhappened things. Good read to know some shocking facts of a different era of mountaineering. But as a book it fails.