The Morthouse

This is George Mallory. Alive, in 1912.

Usually when I do my “This is So and So” posts, I show you a picture of them dead. That’s not the case here (though Dead George is a sight to behold): I like Alive George much, much better.

Mallory disappeared in 1924, on his third expedition to Mount Everest, along with his climbing partner, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine. It wasn’t until 75 years later, however, that Mallory’s body was discovered. On May 1, 1999, mountaineer Conrad Anker found Mallory’s frozen (and pretty much perfectly preserved) body on Everest. Here’s a video about it. It’s re-enact-y and overly dramatic, but it gives you an idea of how he was found.

From Wikipedia:

Within hours of beginning the search on 1 May, a frozen body was found by Conrad Anker at 26,760 feet (8,160 m) on the north face of the mountain. As the body was below where Irvine’s axe was found in 1933, the team expected the body to be Irvine’s, and were hoping to recover the camera that he had reportedly carried with him. They were surprised to find that name tags on the body’s clothing bore the name of “G. Mallory.” The body was remarkably well preserved, due to the mountain’s climate. The team could not locate the camera. Experts from Kodak have said that if a camera is ever found, there is some chance that its film could be developed to produce printable images, if extraordinary measures are taken.

Anker’s team held an Anglican service for Mallory and covered his body with a cairn. 

Image: George Mallory photographed at 38 Brunswick Square, London, age 25 or 26. Via Front Free Endpaper, whose post on Mallory is super, though NSFW (if you consider a very attractive man’s full back-al nudity NSFW).

A young boy studying the human skull. Nina Leen, 1948. Source: LIFE Photo Archive, hosted by Google.

Syrian bishop’s remains (funeral). Corpse seated in church. Matson Photo Service, [between 1940 and 1946]. Source: Library of Congress.

Baby with Mother and Mother’s Twin by The Post Mortem Archive & Research on Flickr.

[Post-mortem portrait of Eloise Channing Cook], ca. 1855. Source: Zelda Mackay pictorial collection/Hoff, Cook, and Bunce Families; Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Via Calisphere.

Label (typewritten): Corpse of Eloise Channing Cook / daughter of Elisha and Willie / Cook of San Francisco. Age 3. / An ambrotype. / (handwritten): famous gold rush lawyer [referring to Elisha].