Jeffrey Archer - Paths of Glory

review by Brian Lowen on show 5th April
This is a novel written around the true story of George Mallory and his attempt to climb Mount Everest back in the early twenties.

We follow Mallory’s early life as a student at Cambridge University when he first gets interested in serious mountain climbing. When he first arrives at the university college for his entry interview he finds the doors to the college shut and he is refused entry because he is late. Unperturbed, he scales the walls of the college to get to his interview much to the amazement of his tutor.

As a member of the college climbing club he gains mountaineering experience in Scotland and the Alps where he proves to be an accomplished climber. After he gets an average degree in history he manages to get a teaching job, only to fall in love with one of the daughters of the school governor. He fails to get her on her own to tell her of his love and ends up following the family to their holiday hotel in Venice. When he “bumps” into them in St Mark’s Square he tries to impress Ruth by scaling the exterior of the famous Basilica tower, only to land himself in trouble with the police. Ruth helps him escape and so starts their romance, leading to marriage and three children.

The first expedition to conquer Everest was organised by the Royal Geographical Society in 1921 and Mallory was included in the team and appointed to make the final push to the top from camp VI, but this expedition failed due to stormy weather setting in, preventing them making the final ascent from 27000 feet to the top at 29000 feet. There is only a small window of good weather in May to June when calm conditions are more likely, before the monsoon rains, or at this height, snows, set in.

The next expedition was promoted by the RGS in 1924 and this time it is Mallory who was appointed head of the climbing team.
We learn of the tremendous amount of organisation involved in this venture, with dozens of sherpas and donkeys being hired to carry all the equipment needed to get the expedition from Darjeeling in India, across the border into Tibet and then on to the lower slopes of the mountain. Six separate camps were set up at various heights on the mountain so the climb could be done in stages. All the equipment and clothing they had was very basic compared to that of modern day climbers.

Was Mallory the first man to stand on the top of the world? That is something we will never know as he fell to his death in the attempt. It seems extremely likely if we can believe Jeffrey Archer’s account. One good clue is that he promised to leave Ruth’s photo on the top of Everest and when his frozen body was subsequently discovered in 1999, Ruth’s photo was not in his wallet.

Another good, easy to read story from the pen of J.A. Recommended.