Fallen: George Mallory and the Tragic 1924 Everest Expedition

by Mick Conefrey

On 6 June, 1924 George Mallory donned an oxygen set and set off for the summit of Everest with his young partner Andrew Irvine. Two days later they were glimpsed through clouds heading upwards, but after that they were never seen again. Whether they died on the way up or on the way down no one knows. In the years following his disappearance, Mallory was elevated into an all-British hero. Dubbed by his friends the 'Galahad' of Everest, he was lionised in the press as the greatest mountaineer of his generation who had died while taking on the ultimate challenge. Handsome, charismatic, daring, he was a skilled public speaker, an athletic and technically gifted climber, a committed Socialist and a supremely attractive figure to both men and women. His friends ranged from the gay artists and writers of the Bloomsbury group to the best mountaineers of his era. But that was only one side to him. Mallory was also a risk taker who according to his friend and biographer David Pye, could never get behind the wheel of a car without overtaking the vehicle in front, a climber who pushed himself and those around him to the limits, a chaotic technophobe who was forever losing equipment or mishandling it, the man who led his porters to their deaths in 1922 and his young partner to his uncertain end in 1924. So who was the real Mallory and what were the forces that made him and ultimately destroyed him? Why did the man who denounced oxygen sets as 'damnable heresy' in 1922 perish on an oxygen-powered summit attempt two years later? And above all, what made him go back to Everest for the third time? Based on diaries, letters, memoirs and thousands of contemporary documents, Fallen is both a forensic account of Mallory's last expedition to Everest in 1924 and an attempt to get under his skin and separate the man from the myth.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Mountaineering

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 2024

About the author

Mick Conefrey is the author of the award-winning Adventurer’s Handbook and How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt. An internationally recognised filmmaker, he has produced several BBC documentaries on mountaineering and exploration, including The Race for Everest. He lives in north Oxford with his family.

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t play ab my cold weather adventures and this one was so good 😍😍

[Victoria Wiedrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tremendous read about George Mallory and his ill-fated 1924 Everest climb. Like Vincent Van Gogh, there are different theories as to what happened to Mallory and Sandy Irvine on their summit attempt. Even if they fell short of the summit, it is incredible how far they made it without the advanced equipment climbers use today. There was much written about the use of oxygen, and how Sandy Irvine was the most knowledgeable on the team of how to use it. This was information that I had not previously read in other books on this subject. The book captured my interest from page one. The mystery of whether or not Mallory and Irvine made it to the summit will never be solved, since the camera has not been found. But Mallory’s desire and skill to be the first to do so is evident in this book. He is deserving of this detailed look at his life full of passion, endurance, leadership, and risk. This is a must read.

[Sarah Bowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irvines spirit said, ‘came drowsiness and peace; and after that freedom, but some call it death.’

Such a fabulous read, incredibly well researched and told.

[Peter Vargovčík · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars!!!

[Matthew Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having devoured Conefrey's previous work concerning Everest and, more specifically, George Mallory, "Everest 1922: The Epic Story of the First Attempt on the World's Highest Mountain", I knew that I had to read this.

The first third of the book devotes a significant portion of its time towards acting as a modern day Mallory biography. Additional background is given to the events between 1922 and 1924, with our intrepid George travelling across a limited number of American cities in order to garner attention and, ultimately funds for the 1924 expedition. It was during these talks and subsequent interviews that his infamous quote originated. Mallory is a fascinating historical figure, obviously somewhat troubled under the surface of stoicism and a highly motivated individual which likely contributed towards his untimely and unfortunate demise.

The middle third focuses upon the events of the expedition itself, and highlights the terrible luck that they experienced (again) in trying to summit the highest mountain in the world. Three separate summit attempts where made, two of them by Mallory and one by Edward Norton and Howard Summervell. All of the preparation, and the lessons learned from 2 years earlier don't count for much when you are hanging 8,000m up in the air at -21 degrees Celsius (-5.8 freedom units) with half your team stricken by altitude sickness, severe wind chill, snow blindness and in the case of Edward Norton, your throat literally disassembling itself. The relevant background as to why George Finch, a central figure of the 1922 expedition was excluded from the 1924 attempt also made for very interesting reading. Whilst it is impossible to say that they would have succeeded had he been there, it is obvious that his handiwork and knowledge of the mountain was sorely missed.

When I was reading this middle portion I decided to look at some of the official expedition photos taken by John B. L. Noel and was astounded at what I saw. Not only do the black and white photographs give the mountain an eerie, ghostly and alien character, but in the majority of photos, the members of the expedition look like they are dressed up for an autumnal summit of Ben Nevis. Anyone who has worn leather boots in truly cold weather will attest as to just how insufficient they actually are.

The final third of the book focuses on the events on Everest post 1924, only loosely maintaining a focus upon Mallory and Sandy Irvine. Culminating in the eventual discovery of Mallory in 1999 at 8,156 m and speculating as to whether he actually reached the summit, the conclusions drawn are inconclusive and a little unsatisfying. Whilst the pragmatist in me realises that the duo likely did not reach the summit, I cannot help but wish they did. Ultimately, we will likely never know, with the sole hope now seemingly resting on the discovery of Sandy Irvine's alleged camera. Nothing on Mallory's body (now mysteriously absent from the mountain) provides a satisfactory explanation of events, and whilst Irvine's boot and foot emerged from the icy slopes in late 2024, his camera remains missing. Who knows that the next 100 years will bring...

7.5/10, rounded up.

[Neil Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in the centenary of George Mallory’s final expedition to Everest and his disappearance on the mountain, Mick Conefrey’s excellent Fallen poses 2 fundamental questions : who was Mallory and what happened on Everest that fateful June day in 1924, in particular could Mallory and his young climbing companion Sandy Irvine have reached the summit ? To this day the later question remains perhaps the greatest of unanswered questions in the history of exploration.

What emerges is a portrait of a complex personality - somewhat narcissistic yet thoughtful and caring; bohemian and progressive; driven, obsessed, reckless, impulsive, competitive and ambitious yet hesitant and reluctant. Ever idealistic, over time the myth has superseded the man.

Inevitably comparisons will be made with Wade Davis’ Into the silence. Whilst the 2 accounts overlap, Davis spends far more time on the geography of Everest itself and on the earlier reconnaissance and expeditions of 1921-22, and how the fearlessness and mindset of Mallory and his companions were shaped by their traumatic experiences on the western front in World War 1. Conefrey skips perfunctorily over Mallory’s earlier life and formative experiences, and focuses much more than Davis on the subsequent expeditions to Everest and the unfolding attempts to discover what happened to Mallory and Irvine. Conefrey’s account meticulously extracts the historical records, writings and correspondence of those who knew Mallory, using original documents and archives with the skill of a seasoned documentary maker.

Mallory’s heroic feat and ultimate tragedy reside in the pantheon of glorious expeditionary disasters alongside Scott, Franklin and Livingstone. He will always be remembered for his quip ‘because it’s there’ when quizzed during a lecture tour on the motivation for climbing Everest.

The question of whether Mallory and Irvine, last glimpsed by Odell as pushing hard for the summit, actually reached it and subsequently perished on their descent remains one of the most enduring intrigues not just in mountaineering but in all of exploration, and is a subject of fierce debate. The forensic evidence leaves the debate open, whilst most modern mountaineers feel the technical ability to ascend the second step just below the summit cone would have been beyond the capabilities of the 2 men given the far more primitive equipment they possessed at the time. At the same time modern science believes that the ancient Egyptians couldn’t possibly have built the pyramids given the rudimentary engineering techniques of the ancient world. And yet they did. For one, I’ll go with the romantic notion that Mallory did make it. He was carrying a photo of his wife Ruth carefully packed inside his clothing on the fateful day he set out for the summit, having promised family members to leave it at the summit. No photo was found among his possessions when his body and belongings were recovered in 1999. But ultimately it’s not whether he reached the summit or not that really matters; it’s his indomitable spirit and the values that he personified that make him such a heroic figure.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is now the third Conefrey work I've read about various Everest expeditions (first the tragic 1922 trek, when 7 Sherpas died in an avalanche on a third and ill-advised final go at the peak, second the rather more successful 1953 attempt). This trip, 1924, is of course known for the mysterious death of George Mallory of "because it's there" fame in explaining why we attempted the summit, whose body was not discovered until 1999, when it was found on a trip expressly for that purpose, searched for clues, buried, dug up again to search for more clues(!), then reburied where it lay on the side of Everest. Nearly half the book is dedicated to events after Mallory's death.

Mallory is a classic example of the tragic hero. He had bundles of essential qualities for someone to make such an effort, in addition to the others that may or may not have led to his death. Conefrey fills in the story quite well of his background, his lovely marriage, his seeming contentedness not to have another go after 1922, his leadershipt, his conflicting thoughts about the use of oxygen while mountaineering, and more.

Conefrey is an even writer. He is not flat, but neither does he attempt to soar to heights equal to that of his subject (made mostly of marble and limestone, if you wanted to know). He is quite fair to his subjects, not hiding his affection but not ignoring faults either. He is easy to read--which is helped by his endlessly fascinating subject. I'm about ready to make a try myself.

[Zack Herhold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good detailed account of George Mallory’s life and his fatal last climb in 1924. For years, I’ve asked the questions many others have, “did Mallory make it?” The author here does a good job of distinguishing between the myth of the man and the man himself. I left believing strongly that Mallory did not make it to the summit in 1924. Perhaps the summit from the Tibetan side was not technically feasible at all! It would take years even after the summit had been conquered for climbers to take on the 2nd step. The myth of the man is probably greater in death than perhaps in life. But you can’t help but walk away impressed by Mallory. Why climb Everest? Because it is there.

[Stephen King · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography of George Mallory, who died on Everest in 1924 and whose body was discovered in 1999 close to the Summit. The question of whether he and Sandy Irvine, his young co-climber, reached the summit remains unanswered and has preoccupied historians and mountaineers ever since. Mick Conefrey is an accomplished mountaineer and writer who writes sensitively and sensibly about the pros and cons of this argument and conveys the heroics and resilience of these early climbers. A stirring, romantic account of extraordinary bravery and single minded commitment.

[JoJo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot about mountain climbing and those involved and found this to be one of the clearest, most objective and enjoyable discussion of what is a man and a subject shrouded in so much mystery and conjecture. I would like to thank the author for pulling this all together and encourage others with an interest in George Mallory and Everest climbing overall to read this book.

[julianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all I read a lot about Mountaineering, I know surprisingly little about the 1924 Everest Expedition. This book by one of my favourite authors changes that and made me rethink what I thought I knew.

Full review to follow when I've had a day or so to really think about it.

[Geoff Easterbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable story of the famous and ill fated 1924 Everest expedition with George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. It covers the subsequent of Mallory's body on Everest 75 years later. The mystery as to whether they reached the summit remains.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's exhaustively researched and I learned a great deal about Mallory and the expeditions of 1920's but for such a thrilling subject matter it all came across as extremely dry. I'm in the minority on this one given the 4 and a half star rating but it just wasn't for me.

[Nicholas Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Splendid Book

Mallory, Scott and Campbell, all attempting to illustrate something very British which, I think shows that for these failure, if we cannot succeed, must be glorious. A good read.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting read about George Mallory and now makes me rethink if he and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine reached the summit of Mount Everest. This was obviously published prior to Irvine's boot being found which now adds more to the mystery of what happened to him.

[Tara Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and very well written. The story is engaging and powerful told with humanity which is always important when dealing with a subject who has passed into legendary status particularly when it is their death which draws most people to them rather than their life.

[peter lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done

The facts of the Mallory Irvine climb have never been presented as well as this book. A fascinating story that is timeless.

[Randy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite..my fault-thought it would be more about the climb and less about his gender preferences and other climbers. Loved the climb a story and the evidence needed to confirm them first!

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

WPR Chapter a Day selection. Interesting story.

[Janette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little wordy at times, but overall a good read.

[Van Reese · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about a chapter of Everest history I knew little about.

[Jane Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliantly researched, fascinating subject, but not very readable storytelling

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

detailed accounting of a far-flung 1924 expedition

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

really really good I hope they find out what happened to him

[Warren Maynard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed but didn’t go overboard, easy to read

[Ben Luebbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s like the author expects me to believe they made the summit right after giving loads of evidence that the odds are slim. Still a fun read and cool history lesson. I hope they someday find Irvine’s body and puts this mystery to bed.

Best part of the book was when asked why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory simply answered “because it’s there”