Letters from Mallory

:: George and Ruth Mallory

There was a time when people both wrote letters and kept letters. This is about one such time, and this is about one mountain...

"My dearest Ruth...."

"It's all on the knees of Gods, and they are bare cold knees...."

"... I'll tell you about Everest in my next letter. Suffice it to say that it has the most steep ridges and appalling precipices that I have ever seen, and that all the talk of an easy snow slope is a myth"

"And then suddenly we were on the summit. As the wind blew rifts in the snow I had glimpses of what I wanted to see, glimpses only, but enough to suggest a high snow cwm under this North-east Face of Everest, finding its outlet somehow to the north. It is this outlet that we have now to find -the way in and the way up. We are going back to the valley junction, the glacier stream we left, with the idea that at the head of one of its branches we shall find the glacier we want"

"As it is we have established the way to the summit for anyone who cares to try the highest adventure.."

"We will stomp to the top with the wind in our teeth"

"The highest of the world's mountains, it seems, has to make but a single gesture of magnificence to be the lord of all, vast in unchallenged and isolated supremacy..."

"I feel strong for the battle, but I know every ounce of strength will be wanted"

"My darling, this is a thrilling business altogether. I cannot tell you how it possesses me, and what a prospect it is. And the beauty of it all!"

"At dawn almost everything was covered, but not by heavy clouds. Like guilty creatures of darkness surprised by the light, they went scattering away as we came up, and the whole scene opened out. The North Ridge of Everest was clear and bright even before sunrise..."

"My first thought on coming down was that the world was green again...To see things grow again as though they liked growing, enjoying rain and sun -that has been the real joy..."

"....that, in short, other men, less wise, might attempt this way if they would, but emphatically, it was not for us...."

"...one must know the end to be convinced that one can win the end - to know there's no dream that mustn't be dared"

".... Sunrises and sunsets and clouds and thunder are not incidental to mountaineering, but a vital and inseparable part of it; they are not ornamental, but structural"

"I don't expect to come back"....1924

"I suppose we go to Mount Everest, granted the opportunity, because, in a word, we can't help it"

And what Ruth had to say...
"I know George did not mean to be killed; he meant not to be so hard.... I don't think I do feel that his death makes me the least more proud of him. It is his life that I loved and love. I know so absolutely that he could not have failed in courage or self-sacrifice. Whether he got to the top of the mountain or did not, whether he lived or died, makes no difference to my admiration for him."

-- Compiled by Sandeep Chopra, 9 September, 2003