A Mountain To Climb Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mobberley, Cheshire, England

Mallory was born in the village of Mobberley, just south of Manchester, in the north-west of England. His father was a clergyman and he had two sisters, and a younger brother. He attended a boarding school in East Sussex and won a mathematics scholarship to Winchester College.

It was from this time that he grew interested in mountaineering, and became a member of a climbing group called Winchester Ice Club. At 18 years old, he attempted to climb the 1,632m high Bourg-St-Pierre in Switzerland but succumbed to altitude sickness.

He then went on to study history at Cambridge University and became part of their rowing team.

Answer: Charterhouse

Once Mallory left Cambridge University, he started teaching at Charterhouse School in Surrey as an assistant master. It was here that he deeply fell in love with an architect's daughter, Ruth Turner, and they got married in 1914. Together they had two daughters, Frances and Beridge, and one son, John. Charterhouse School was founded in 1611 as a hospital and also a school for boys. Pupils at the school are called Carthusians as the school's founder, Thomas Sutton, was buried in the chapel at a Carthusian monastery in London.

The school holds the largest war memorial in England inside the consecrated chapel - a memorial to almost 700 pupils who fell in World War I and 350 pupils who fell in World War II.

Answer: Mont Blanc

It is believed that Frenchmen Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard were the first to climb the 4,810 high Mont Blanc in 1786. The mountain is the highest in the Alps and is situated on the French and Italian border. George Mallory visited the Alps several times before the outbreak of World War I, perfecting his mountaineering skills and doing what he loved the most.

Answer: Royal Garrison Artillery

Mallory was reluctant to join up as it would take him away from the two loves of his life, mountaineering and his family. Teachers were still needed at home to educate the young and Mallory continued to do this until he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1915 as a 2nd lieutenant. The regiment was responsible for manning heavy gun batteries along the coastline and behind the front line. He participated at the Battle of the Somme but his time helping the war effort was short lived as he suffered with an old ankle fracture which made him unfit to return to his duties.

Answer: True

In 1921, George Mallory joined the first British reconnaissance expedition to Mount Everest to explore routes up through the North Col, a glacier pass on the edge of the mountain. This was mostly unsuccessful as the team were under-equipped and suffered with horrendous weather conditions.

It was the following year when the team returned and attempted to climb the mountain via the north-east ridge. Weather conditions again drove them back and a second unsuccessful attempt was also made. The third attempt was made just before the weather deteriorated any further, but it was a poor judgement as they were pulled back by an avalanche which killed seven Sherpas in their party.

Answer: "Because it is there"

George Mallory often wrote or gave interviews relating to his mountaineering experience, especially for the magazine, "National Geographic". He was once asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest and his response was, "Because it is there". This quote even reached the headlines in a 1923 issue of the "New York Times".

Another thought provoking quote made by George Mallory was "So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."

Answer: Andrew Irvine

George Mallory and Andrew (Sandy) Irvine both perished while attempting to climb the north face of Mount Everest. Irvine was an experience, 22-year-old mountaineer from Cheshire in England, an accomplished engineer and sportsman, being part of the winning crew in the 1922 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

He was always tinkering with devices carried throughout the 1924 expedition, making improvements to the oxygen tanks and cooking stoves and cameras. George Mallory was 38 years old. Fellow climber Noel Odell last saw them alive on the North East Ridge at 12.30pm on June 8th 1924.

His last account has been picked apart by historians ever since that fateful day. "At 12.50, just after I had emerged from a state of jubilation at finding the first definite fossils on Everest, there was a sudden clearing of the atmosphere, and the entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest beneath a rock-step in the ridge; the black spot moved.

Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest. The first then approached the great rock-step and shortly emerged at the top; the second did likewise. Then the whole fascinating vision vanished, enveloped in cloud once more."

Answer: Conrad Anker

American mountaineer, Conrad Anker, organised an international search team to locate the body of George Mallory, Andrew Irvine and his camera. Unsupported sightings of Mallory and Irvine's bodies had been made 20 years previously by the Chinese, but no attempt had been made to recover them.

The team led by Anker were also interested in finding the Kodak camera in the hope the film of their last climb could be developed. On May 1st 1999, seventy five years after he went missing, the face down body of George Mallory was found, largely preserved due to the ice cold conditions.

He had a fractured right leg and a puncture wound to his head, possibly inflicted by his ice axe when he fell. Neither Andrew Irvine or the camera were found.

Answer: His wife's photograph

Scientists and theorists have debated whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit of Everest, and there are many supporting factors. Mallory's unbroken snow-goggles were found in his pocket, suggesting that he and Irvine had made a push for the summit and were descending after sunset.

A note was found in his pocket with his oxygen bottle usage. The amount used indicated that he may have reached the summit and was on his way down. Most importantly to his family, he kept a photograph of his wife on him and always promised her he would leave the photo at the top of Everest.

The photo was not found on his body. So, did he ever reach the summit? Unfortunately, he took this secret to the grave with him.

Answer: Sierra Nevada, California

Two peaks in Sierra Nevada, California, were named after the mountaineers who were lost on Mount Everest in 1924. Mount Mallory and Mount Irvine (4,202m) were named in their memory. Both are situated south-east of Mount Whitney, the highest summit in the Sierra Nevada. Norman Clyde (1885-1972) was an American mountaineer who frequently climbed in the Sierra Nevada region.

He was the first to climb Mount Mallory and Mount Irvine in 1925 and named them after the British climbers - a fitting tribute to two men who lost their lives while attempting to be the first to climb the top of the highest mountain on earth.