In the footsteps of a hero on pilgrimage to Everest
FREJA Mallory has spent a lifetime being fascinated by the mysterious death of her great-grandfather, revered mountaineer George Mallory.
He disappeared tantalisingly close to the summit of Mount Everest 100 years ago, with some believing he might have been the first person to conquer the world’s highest mountain.
Mallory’s body was found 75 years later, frozen in the ice a mere 800m from the top.
And now Freja is planning to retrace his steps for the centenary of his mystery death .
Herself an aspiring mountaineer, the 26-year-old wants to lay flowers at Base Camp to mark her great-grandfather’s sacrifice for Britain’s endeavours to climb Everest first.
Freja, from Totnes, Devon, is now crowdfunding to carry out the trek from Kathmandu, Nepal, starting on May 30 and arriving at the foot of the mountain on June 7.
She says: “I have been looking forward to this trip my whole life. My grandfather was talked about a lot growing up. I believe I have inherited the adventurous spirit he had, all I want to do is explore.
“I don’t like having many possessions and I feel much more free and at peace with less. I guess I treasure freedom above all else.”
When Mallory set his sights on Everest in 1924, the 29,000ft mountain was seen as the final frontier of earth exploration.
He and his climbing partner Andrew “Sandy” Irvine were last seen alive on June 8, 1924, when they had set off to Camp VI, and the final summit push.
Geologist and climber Noel Odell, who was part of the support team, said he spotted them a few hundred metres from the top before their tiny figures were enveloped in swirling clouds.
He noted in his diary: “Saw M
& I on the ridge, nearing base of final pyramid,” before returning to camp believing they had conquered the world’s highest peak and would soon be making their descent.
When they didn’t return, Odell led a search party to find them, but could not find any trace of the pair, returning to base camp without them three days later.
For 75 years their fate remained unknown until, in 1999,
I have been looking forward to this trip my whole life
FREJA HOLLOW ON HER MISSION TO MT EVEREST
I am hoping to talk to some of the people climbing about him
Mallory’s body was found partially buried.
He was still in his climbing gear and with a rope fixed around his waist on the mountain’s north-east ridge. From visible injuries it appeared the 37-year-old had fallen as he had suffered a broken leg, fractured elbow and head wounds. Irvine, who was just 22, has never been found.
Many believe the pair were actually the first to summit Everest, beating official title holders Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s 1953 record by almost 30 years. But because there is no proof, the claim remains shrouded in mystery.
Freja’s mission is being backed by her mother Beridge Mallory, 60, the daughter of John Mallory, the youngest of the mountaineer’s three children.
Freja needs to raise £8,000 after a van she was planning to sell to fund the trip was stolen.
The trip will be even tougher for her as she was discovered to have the BRCA1 gene and decided to have a preventative double mastectomy with reconstruction in October 2022.
But she is determined to go and hopes she may win support from the world’s climbing community.
She says: “I want to do something for him at Base Camp. I would like to take some dried flowers to lay there.
“We will be at Base Camp around the time people summit so I’m hoping to be able to talk to some of the people who are climbing about my great-grandad but also just to meet them. Maybe I can get a few people to join in with laying the flowers as I think it would make a pretty special moment.”
Freja’s employer, Riverford Organic Farmers, has given her a six-month sabbatical and are also helping her fundraise.
FREJA MALLORY ON HER PLANS FOR BASE CAMP