“The highest of mountains is capable of severity, a severity so awful and so fatal that the wiser sort of men do well to think and tremble even on the threshold of their high endeavour.”

-George Mallory, English Mountaineer, 1886-1924.

This quote is from the book Climbing Everest, which collects the personal writings of George Mallory, a legendary mountaineer known for his attempts at climbing Mount Everest. In this quote, he’s describing the luck it takes to reach the highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest, which is his subject here. The larger quote follows:

In all it may be said that one factor beyond all others is required for success. Too many chances are against the climbers; too many contingencies may turn against them. Anything like a breakdown of the transport will be fatal; soft snow on the mountain will be an impregnable defense; a big wind will send back the strongest; even so small a matter as a boot fitting a shade too tight may endanger one man’s foot and involve the whole party in retreat. The climbers must have above all things, if they are to win through, good fortune, and the greatest good fortune of all for mountaineers, some constant spirit of kindness in Mount Everest itself, the forgetfulness for long enough of its more cruel moods; for we must remember that the highest of mountains is capable of severity, a severity so awful and so fatal that the wiser sort of men do well to think and tremble even on the threshold of their high endeavor.

Check out other posts that mention George Mallory here.


Quote taken from Mallory, George. Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Mallory. London: Gibson Square, 2012. 203.