Seeking purpose
“Have we vanquished an enemy?” the legendary English mountaineer George Mallory once asked about his perilous, and finally fatal, expeditions. “None but ourselves.”
“Have we gained success? That word means nothing here. Have we won a kingdom? No… and yes. We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction… fulfilled a destiny… To struggle and to understand – never this last without the other; such is the law.”
In the summer of 1924, Mallory – fit, handsome and, in his late 30s, young – embarked on his last voyage. Ascending Mount Everest, he and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine mysteriously disappeared near the summit. Mallory’s body was finally discovered in 1999: face
