Because it is there!

Making it to the top!
by Charlie Leck

George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were preparing to climb Mount Everest in August of 1924. Mallory was asked why he wanted to make the climb.

“Because it’s there!” Mallory bluntly answered.

The two climbers disappeared on their way to the mountain top. The expression of grief around the world was intense and enormous and “marked the beginning of Everest’s allure and attraction.” [Larry Gormley]

The challenge to make it to the top never seems to recede in the souls of men, women and children. They continue to climb mountains around the world, simply because they are there.

Ann Rose Deiters and Caroline Jean Deiters,
grandchildren of the author,
are the climbers used to illustrate this blog.