“Because it’s there.” These famous words were spoken in 1922 by George Leigh Mallory, the greatest British mountain climber of his generation.

Mallory made the first serious attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mount Qomolangma in the Himalayas, in 1922. This expedition failed but when Mallory returned to England he was determined to return to the mountain and try again. So he went on a lecture tour to try to raise money for the next attempt. Everywhere he went Mallory was asked the same questions: Was it cold? Where was Qomolangma? Why would you want to climb Qomolangma anyway? In answer to this last question Mallory replied quickly and impatiently, “Because it’s there.”

Mallory returned to Qomolangma in 1924 to lead a new expedition to try to conquer the world’s highest peak. Mallory went with a large team of climbers and local guides, called “sherpas”. They made their way slowly and carefully up the mountain until they reached a camp just a few hundred metres below the summit.

The next day, 8 June 1924 George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine set off along the north-east ridge to make for the top. The morning weather was clear and their colleagues could see them making good progress. However when the two men were just 300 metres below the summit, clouds came over the mountain and they were lost to sight. They were never seen again.

The disappearance of Mallory and Irvine in 1924 has led to a mystery that remains unsolved till today. Did they reach the summit, 30 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, and then die on the descent?

Some clues were later found. In 1933, a British expedition discovered Irvine’s ice axe at a point high up on the north-east ridge. But had it been dropped there or fallen from higher up? No bodies were found there nor was there any sign of a camera, which might offer proof of the ascent.

Then in 1975 a Chinese climber found a body, which he described as “old English dead”. However, he himself died before he could reveal the exact location of the body.

In 1999, an American team led by veteran climber and Qomolangma conquerer, Eric Simonson, set out to find more evidence of Mallory and Irvine. They wanted to discover once and for all the true fate of the climbers who had disappeared 75 years before.

Simonson saw the expedition as a homage to great courage and leadership. “The achievement of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine is not fully appreciated.  To get within a few hundred  meters of the summit in 1924, wearing tweed clothing and using extremely heavy and primitive oxygen gear, was incredible.”

Joining Simonson on his team were historians, physicists and photographers as well as other climbers. They wanted to record what they discovered. In the spring of 1999 they set up camp on Qomolangma and began the climb towards the north-east ridge.

On 1 May they discovered a shiny white object lying on the rocks at just over 8,000 metres up the mountain.  On closer inspection they discovered it to be the body of a man, with his skin bleached white by the sun and the wind. He was still wearing a few old clothes. The body’s head was missing. The team looked at the clothes and found a name still written there. They opened the pockets. They found letters, tobacco, matches and maps. They had discovered George Mallory’s body.

After a few hours of searching the area for other items, the American team said a few words of farewell and buried Mallory’s body.

“This discovery is a huge achievement,” declared Simonson. “It is hard to convey our excitement over this discovery.” Unfortunately, the camera they found on Mallory’s body was empty and there was no other proof that he had reached the summit. However, his sunglasses were in his breast pocket and so it would appear that Mallory was coming down when he fell, with the sun behind him. But we will never know if he died after reaching the top or not. Of Irvine, no sign was found.

The heroic effort by the early mountaineers to climb Qomolangma exemplifies the human will to meet any challenge, however remote and however difficult. It shows that people are prepared  to risk and suffer death to achieve what was previously seen as impossible.

Our thirst for knowledge is shown in the exploration of the deepest oceans and our landing on the Moon. We seek to understand the outer reaches of the universe and to unlock the secrets of the human genome. It is our human nature to want to learn more and do more than has ever been done before. Why? “Because it’s there.”

So in the end it does not really matter whether or not Mallory and Irvine climbed to the top of Qomolangma and died on the way down, or whether they tripped and fell before reaching the summit. Their achievement lies in gra sping the glorious challenge of the mountain and in risking all to tackle it. Mallory’s body, lying exposed for 75 years on the mountain and now buried on its slopes, is proof that the human spirit will never be defeated.

“因为它在那儿”。这句名言是1922年，乔治·利·马洛里所说的，他是同代人中最伟大的英国登山运动员。

马洛里第一次认真的尝试攀登世界最高峰——喜马拉雅山的珠穆朗玛峰，是在1922年。那次探险失败了，但当马洛里回到英国时，他下定决心一定要回去再次尝试。因此他开始巡回演讲，以筹集再次攀登的资金。每到一处，都有人问马洛里同样的问题：那儿冷吗？珠穆朗玛峰在哪儿？你到底为什么要攀登珠穆朗玛峰？对于最后一个问题，马洛里回答得很快、很不耐烦，“因为它在那儿。”

马洛里于1924年带领新的探险队重返珠穆朗玛峰，试图征服这世界上最高的山峰。与马洛里一同前往的是由登山者和当地称作“夏尔巴人”的向导组成的大队人马。他们缓慢而小心地向上攀登，直到离山顶只有几百米的露营地。

第二天，即1924年6月8日，乔治·马洛里和他的同伴安德鲁·欧文沿着东北部山脊向山顶进发。那天早上天气晴朗，队友们能看见他们进展顺利。但当两人来到距山顶仅300米处时，云层覆盖了山峰，他们从人们的视线中消失了，从此没人再见过他们。

1924年马洛里和欧文的失踪成了至今仍然悬而未解的一个谜。他们是否早在埃德蒙·希拉里和滕琴·诺盖前30年就到达了山顶，而后在下山途中遇难了呢？

后来曾发现过一些线索。1933年一支英国探险队在东北山脊某高点发现了欧文的冰斧。但它是遗失在那儿还是从更高处掉下来的呢？那儿没有发现尸体，也没有照相机的痕迹以提供那次攀登的证据。

后来在197 5年，一位中国登山者发现了一具尸体，他将其描述为“很多年前的英国人尸体”。但是，他还没能说出尸体的具体所在自己就死了。

1999年，资深登山运动员、珠穆朗玛峰的征服者埃里克·西蒙森带领一支美国登山队出发找寻更多的有关马洛里和欧文的证据。他们想彻底弄清75年前失踪的登山者遭遇了什么样的命运。

西蒙森把那次探险看作是对非凡的勇气和领导才能的朝圣。乔治·马洛里和安德鲁·欧文的成就还没有得到充分的赏识。在1924年，身穿斜纹软呢服、使用极为沉重的原始氧气装置登上距离峰顶几百米的高度是令人难以置信的。

参加西蒙森队伍的有历史学家、物理学家、摄影师，以及其他登山者。他们想记录下所发现的东西。1999年春，他们在珠穆朗玛峰上建起宿营地，开始朝着东北山脊攀登。

5月1日，他们在山上8000多米高处发现了一件闪闪发亮的白色物体。靠近检查后，他们发现那是一具男人的尸体，皮肤被阳光和风漂白了。身上的旧衣服还在。尸体的头部失踪了。登山队看着那衣服，发现上面还写着一个名字。他们打开口袋，发现有信、烟草、火柴和地图。他们发现了乔治·马洛里的遗体。

他们在这一区域搜索了几个钟头，试图找寻其他物品。随后，美国探险队向马洛里的遗体作了简短的告别，并将其掩埋。

“这是个伟大的成就，”西蒙森宣称。“很难表达这一发现带给我们的激动。”不幸的是，他们在马洛里的尸体上找到的相机是空的，也没有其他的证据可证明他曾经到达山顶。但是，太阳镜塞在他胸前的口袋里，因此马洛里看来是在下山时摔倒的，太阳在他背后。但我们 永远无法知道他是否是在到达山顶后才遇难的。关于欧文，没有发现任何痕迹。

早期的登山者们攀登珠穆朗玛峰的英雄行为是人类迎接挑战的例证，不论那是多么遥远、困难的挑战。它表明人类甘冒生命危险完成先前被认为是不可能的事情。

我们对于知识的渴望体现在深海探索和登陆月球上。我们设法了解宇宙的浩瀚，破解人类基因的奥秘。学到更多的知识，做更多的前所未有的事情是我们人类的天性。为什么？“因为它就在那里。”

所以，说到底，马洛里和欧文是已登上珠穆朗玛峰顶而在下山时遇难，还是在没到达山顶之前就摔了下来并不重要。他们的成就在于迎接了那座珠峰所提出的挑战，并不惜一切地去征服它。马洛里的遗体暴露在山上75年，如今掩埋在斜坡上，这正是人类精神不可战胜的明证。