Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory [Hardcover]

David Breashears (Author), Audrey Salkeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

From renowned Everest mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears and historian Audrey Salkeld, this is the first illustrated account of the ill-fated 1924 attempt by Englishmen George Mallory and Andrew Irvine to be the first to summit Everest.'

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The issue will shortly be decided. The third time we walk up East Rongbuk Glacier will be the last, for better or worse.

George Mallory wrote those words in May 1924, just days before he and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine made their final attempt to summit Mount Everest. They disappeared on June 8, 1924, and mystery has swirled around them ever since. Did they reach the summit, 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary?

The recovery of Mallory's body in May 1999 provoked more questions than it answered. Clearly Mallory fell and then died of exposure. But was he on his way up or down? David Breashears (of IMAX Everest fame) and mountaineering historian Audrey Salkeld devote a thoughtful chapter to the discovery, examining the clues found with Mallory and speculating on his experiences on that fateful day. As is to be expected, however, Breashears and Salkeld leave it to others (including Conrad Anker and Jochen Hemmleb) to make conclusions; their book is about much more than Mallory's disappearance. Last Climb is an affectionate biography of Mallory, his fellow climbers, and their three Everest expeditions. Diaries and letters written by expedition members bring their voices into the present, while the authors' considerable Everest expertise ensures historical accuracy. Dozens of vintage photographs taken by Mallory and the other expedition members illustrate the text, revealing a time when "gentlemen mountaineers climbed in leather boots and tweeds"--their gear better suited to a bright day in the Scottish highlands than the slopes of Everest.

The morbid-minded may be disappointed that the only photograph of Mallory's remains is of his hobnailed boot, but others may see this as a mark of respect for the great climber. Beautifully presented and carefully written, Last Climb is easily the classiest book on the Mallory mystery. --Sunny Delaney

From Publishers Weekly

Completing the trio of new books on George Mallory (see Ghosts of Everest and Lost on Everest, above), this breathtakingly illustrated volume unfolds as a vivid, engaging pictorial documentary, offering an incredible armchair adventure on the roof of the world. Spectacular color and black-and-white photographs from Mallory's expeditions and from the 1999 search distinguish this volume, capturing the grandeur and almost unearthly beauty of the Himalayan heights. When Mallory and Andrew Irvine vanished at the top of the world in 1924, team member Noel Odell, the last person to see the two men alive, reported that they were ascending the Second Step, an escarpment just 800 feet from the summit. Odell later suggested that the duo might have been on the much lower First Step, and historians have debated the question ever since. IMAX filmmaker and Everest veteran Breashears (High Exposure, Forecasts, Apr. 26) and mountaineering historian Salkeld (Climbing Mount Everest, etc.) believe it's unlikely that Mallory and Irvine reached the Second Step and concur with the authors of the other two books that the question of whether the duo reached the summit remains unresolved. The spectacular photographs are accompanied by a perceptive probe of Mallory the man, an Edwardian idealist who threw off the shackles of Victorian restraint yet remained torn between fatherly duty (he left his wife and three children for long periods) and his sense of mission as "a child of Empire... conscious of what England expected." Included also are a poignant introduction by John Mallory, the explorer's son, who pays tribute to the father he hardly knew, as well as a brief essay by George Mallory II (John's son), who reached Everest's summit in 1995, symbolically completing his grandfather's quest. BOMC selection. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic; First Edition edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792275381
• ISBN-13: 978-0792275381
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1.2 x 12.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,181,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > History > Asia > Nepal

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An attractive book that could use more substance., November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory (Hardcover)

While this book is a nice coffee table photo album, the content and text leave me wanting for more words, insights, and revelations, with fewer photos. The photos are nice, the overall book a little lacking in true substance. Nothing new seems to have been presented to the reader besides the photos, and the discussions about the discovery of Mallory's remains in 1999 reflect the fact that Breashears and Salkeld, while well known in their fields, played no role in the 1999 expedition and have no special insights from it to share with the reader. Not bad if you want the background on the earlier 1920's climbs, but Salkeld's other book, The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine (recently released in a new edition in the UK) does a much better job of filling the reader in on the topic than her treatment of the subject in this picture book.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT INTRODUCTION, December 9, 1999

By 

M. Gibbens "rrunyett" (Glendora, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory (Hardcover)

I had some limited knowledge of the Mallory expeditions prior to reading this but not much. This book was a great read for me as a novice climber/historian due to my limited knowledge. Although someone who is very familiar with the subject matter may not appreciate the book, I found it to be an excellent source of information and extremely interesting to read. The photos are incredible and let you get a feel for what the author is talking about. If you are looking for the actual photos of Mallory's body clinging to the slope however, they are not here. Just what I found to be an honest, up front, and informative read regarding the whole Mallory and Irvine riddle.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The book from the people who failed to find Mallory, June 21, 2001

By 

jaydro (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory (Hardcover)

For those of you who read "Into Thin Air" and were somewhat fascinated by the story of George Mallory's attempts to climb Everest in the 1920's and the later rumor of the discovery of his body by a Chinese climber in 1975, then this book will only heighten your interest.

I had thought about buying this book, but I came across it at the public library and checked it out. I'm kinda glad I didn't buy it, because the text isn't that well written--people are referred to by their last name and then formally introduced several pages later, some details are left out, other details are repeated, etc.--but the photographs from the 1920's expeditions and of the items recovered from Mallory's body are absolutely captivating. It just fascinates me to no end to think about these guys making the first attempts to climb Everest, experimenting with oxygen tanks, and reaching a height on Everest not surpassed until the 1950's.

I think the main problem with the book is this: the authors had made two expeditions to find Mallory's body in 1986 and 1995. They were unsuccessful. Another team was successful in 1999; this was documented in a PBS/NOVA documentary and they have their own book, which deals more with the discovery of the body. It seems like the authors of this book pulled out the material they had been working on and wrapped it up somewhat hurriedly to capitalize on the publicity (as another reviewer has also noted). So they don't talk much about their own attempts to find Mallory, and they don't talk enough about the successful team's discovery of his body (because they weren't there).