Chapter 5 Chapter 3 Hungry Wolf

The British Empire, the United Kingdom, sent its first expedition in 1921 in order to set foot on the summit of Notre Dame. The captain was Colonel Howard Barry. A group of people first entered Tibet from India and tried to climb to the top from Tibet. At that time, they reached the North Ridge at a height of 7,900 meters. Thirty-five-year-old George Ray Mallory was also among the first members. The first expedition did not reach the summit.The second British expedition was sent in the following year, 1922. The captain at this time was Charles Granville Bruce. Charles Granville Bruce was a hero of the British Empire.He is a big figure that Britain will definitely mention when describing the history of exploration in India and Central Asia.

At that time, we also camped at the end of the Rongbuk Glacier on the Tibet side.The altitude is about 5,400 meters.Oxygen here is only half of the level. Thirty-six-year-old Mallory was also on the expedition. The team reached the summit for the first time and reached a height of 8,225 meters, and the second summit reached 8,326 meters.This is of course the height of human experience for the first time. The expedition also failed to reach the summit, and the team returned to England. The third time the British sent Everest expedition to this land was in 1924. However, this expedition also failed.

Mallory and Irving, who were going to attack the summit, were gone forever. As a result, after 29 years, it was not until 1953 that he finally set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. The British team members - Hilary from New Zealand and Tenzing from Sherpa - set foot on the summit of the world's highest mountain. In the process, although there was a period of political emptiness, speaking, this feat of reaching the top is the result of 32 years of hard work. However-- Therein lies a puzzle. Maybe in June of 1924, Mallory and Irving put their feet on the summit of Notre Dame. There is a reason for this.

Finally, when I confirmed the figures of the two people in action with the naked eye, they were almost directly below the peak. It is true that Mallory and Irving set off to attack the summit and never came back after encountering some kind of accident, but when did that accident happen? Is it before the summit? Or after reaching the summit? However, that is a mystery that no one can know. However, there is only one way left to solve the puzzle. Norton and Somerwell's first attack on the top team was exhausted and returned without success on June 4th. On June 4th, the members of the second summit team were selected.One of the two slots has been decided on Mallory.The other was chosen from the team by Mallory himself.

Mallory chose Irving. Andrew Irwin was twenty-two at the time.Compared with other outstanding players headed by Mallory, Irving's experience is slightly inferior, but in 1923, the year before this expedition, he was elected as the East Spitsbergen of Oxford University. members of the expedition.The Spitsbergen archipelago has peaks and glaciers in its interior and is an archipelago connected to the Arctic Sea.There, Irving crossed the glacier on skis and stepped on several peaks. Among them, some mountains were even named Irwin.His qualities as an explorer were impeccable, both physically and mentally.

In addition, Irving is good at operating equipment such as oxygen respirators, and this is the main reason why Mallory chose Irving as his partner. At the start of the expedition, Mallory had reservations about using oxygen.But for this summit attempt, he decided to use oxygen. The use of oxygen when climbing the Himalayas is common knowledge these days.But at the time, there were still many dubious opinions about the use of oxygen. One is how effective is oxygen?Indeed, in high mountains with low oxygen content, if there is oxygen supply, it will be easier to move, which is reasonable in terms of knowledge.However, some people think that if you are fully acclimatized, do you not need to use oxygen?

The limit of altitude that humans can adapt to is about 6,500 meters.Once higher than this altitude, no matter how much you can adapt to the altitude, you will get altitude sickness.Just lying still quietly will gradually accumulate fatigue, and sooner or later you will die. However, if you can acclimatize well, you will not die immediately.Even at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters, it is possible to move without oxygen for a period of time.Therefore, the people of the anaerobic school think: as long as you don’t rely on oxygen to climb to the top of the peak and then turn back during that period of time, it’s fine.

At present, the aluminum alloy oxygen cylinder made by the French company Gerzat has reduced the weight from 4 liters to 5.7 kilograms, and can pack about 920 liters of oxygen into a gas cylinder at 230 pressure.In 1924, however, one cylinder—the cylinder—weighed almost fourteen kilograms.Also, the oxygen capacity of a gas cylinder is far less than it is today.At 120 air pressure, only 535 liters of oxygen can be loaded.So Mallory and Irwin each carried two oxygen tanks when they set out from the Fourth Battalion.Coupled with general mountaineering equipment, these excess weights will become a great burden on the shoulders of climbers when climbing the Himalayas.

By the way, the oxygen breathing system at that time was extremely prone to failure, and it often had to be repaired whether it was moving in groups or when operating at heights.There are not a few cases where the specially brought system cannot be used. The opponent argues that even if the system is working smoothly, the energy expended by carrying the extra weight will probably cancel out the energy provided by the oxygen. Mallory also stood in the position of not supporting the use of oxygen. During the second expedition to Mount Everest in 1922, Mallory wrote a letter to David Pai on the ship bound for India, which read as follows:

The chances of being able to climb that mountain are very rare - but I think it's really unpleasant to go to Everest like this again when there are other worthwhile things in life.Not to mention, the thought of climbing a mountain with four oxygen tanks on your back and a mask on your face — oops, this thing loses all its charm. Also, very British thinking, does not allow the use of oxygen when climbing the Himalayas. Because using oxygen to set foot on Everest is cheating. This idea also exists in the minds of mountaineers who tolerate the use of oxygen. Even if it's cheating, if you can't reach the summit of Everest without using the oxygen breathing system, you should use oxygen.

The Utilization school argues that the use of oxygen should be acceptable as a necessary evil. However-- Basically, why did Mallory, who was hesitant to use oxygen, change his mind? There are two possible reasons. One is Captain Bruce's heart pain caused by the thin air.Bruce and Mallory, working together, devoted themselves to setting up the Fifth Battalion from June 1st.Bruce's heart was weakened by the exhausting work without oxygen, so Bruce and Mallory descended from the Fifth Battalion. Another reason is that Norton and Somerwell, who were on the top team for the first time, also retreated because they did not use oxygen. It is probably because of these two reasons that Mallory made up his mind to use oxygen. At 8:40 am on June 6th, Mallory and Irving each carried two oxygen tanks and set off from the Fourth Battalion. Both of them ate only a little of the breakfast that O'Dell and the others cooked. Mallory and Irving entered the Fifth Battalion that day. The Fifth Battalion was windless and expected to move on. This letter was sent to the Fourth Battalion by the porter. On June 7, O'Dell entered the Fifth Battalion, and Mallory and Irwin entered the Sixth Battalion—the final camp.From there onwards, there are no longer any camps.From the 6th Battalion it was necessary to move towards the summit and back there.This has to be done in one day. Back then, it was not like there are down jackets for alpine use now.All of them are wearing different costumes. Camping at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters meant death in terms of clothing at the time. There is a photo. It was taken at base camp during this expedition in 1924.In the photo are Mallory, Irwin, Norton, O'Dell, Somerwell, Bruce and other nine team members. They wear various clothes: some wear old tweed check tops, and some only wear wool around their coats. scarf. By the way, for the first Mount Everest expedition, the equipment of the members is roughly as follows: A well-worn tweed check top. Great coat. wool scarf. sweater. Woven socks. Alpine hiking boots. Unlike today, there are lightweight cold-proof clothing and supplies. By the way, Colonel Howard Barry, the captain of this first expedition team, participated in this expedition in a lozenge jacket, top check tweed shorts, and cashmere leggings. Mallory's outfit for the last time he set off for the summit was a riding suit and scarf.Looking at the photos of him leaving the 4th Battalion, he should be wearing leggings and hiking boots. If you wear this kind of light clothing today, you may not even be able to climb the mountains in winter in Japan. June 8th. O'Dell started from the fifth battalion and walked towards the sixth battalion. Mallory and Irwin should have left the Sixth Battalion, depending on the situation, and maybe climbing the final wall of Everest, O'Dell thought. The clouds covered the top, and O'Dell climbed the rocky eaves of the Himalayas alone. On the way, O'Dell picked up a fossil that should be the first to be seen on Mount Everest. Not long after, O'Dell saw a historic scene. As O'Dell climbed the hundred or so feet of rock and stood on it, part of the cloud cover suddenly parted, revealing the summit of Everest and the ledge connecting it. O'Dell found two figures on a part of the eaves - called the second step. They are Mallory and Irving. The leading figure moved across the snowy slope and reached the rocky steps above.Another figure moved afterward, and joined the leading figure at the rock steps. O'Dell saw this so far. Because the clouds flowed again, covering the summit and eaves of Mount Everest. That was the last time Mallory and Irving were seen. Mallory and Irving set their sights on the summit of Everest, never to return. However-- If the two started from the Sixth Battalion according to the scheduled itinerary, the figures of the two should be at a higher place. Mallory sent two letters to Knoll and O'Dell through porters from the Sixth Battalion. The letter to Knoll mentioned that Mallory set out early in the morning and wrote that he would cross the rock belt under the summit cone or the skyline of the ridge by 8 am at the latest. The height of the sixth battalion is 8,156 meters. The first step is 8,500 meters.The height of the second step where the two figures are seen is 8,600 meters.Leaving aside the horizontal distance, if the vertical distance is calculated, the two climbed 444 meters at that time.There are still more than 200 meters left from the peak. It was twelve fifty at that time—assuming that the two of them set off around six in the morning according to the scheduled itinerary, six hours and fifty minutes had passed.It took more than six hours to climb only 444 meters high. Even at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters, if the two people's previous footsteps, weather and mountain terrain were taken into consideration, It can't be that slow. Did any accident happen on the way?There is a problem with the breathing system connected to the oxygen tank. Are you spending time fixing it?Encountered a difficult rock field, wasted time there? ——These are the only situations I can think of. Only one thing is certain.That is-- The two men set their sights on the highest mountain in the world that no one has ever climbed before, and they are gone forever. The two disappeared without a trace at an altitude of 8,600 meters—the place closest to the sky in the world, cutting off all communication with the world. The clues about the news of the two were discovered in 1933. This year, Britain's fourth Mount Everest expedition was formed, and the British Empire challenged the world's highest peak four times. Nine years have passed since the last expedition where Mallory and Irwin never returned. The sixth battalion, the final camp, was set up at a height of 8,350 meters at that time. This expedition also ended in failure, but on May 30th, Harris and Wagner, who set off for the first summit attack, marched for about an hour after setting off from the sixth battalion. At the place where the steps are—near the 8,380 meters, an ice stick was found. The ice stick was on the rock face on the way to the first step. It was thought at the time that it might have been either Mallory's or Irving's ice stick, but it was later determined to be Irving's. This ice stick poses a puzzle. Irwin lost the ice stick, was he on the way up or down the mountain? Seeing the figures of the two on the second step, if O'Dell's testimony is true, it is natural to think that Irwin lost it when he went down the mountain.Because, if you lose your ice stick during the climb, you probably won't move on.The second step is closer to the summit than where the ice stick was dropped.It was because they didn't throw away the ice stick that the two were able to get there. They may have encountered some kind of accident here.The accident probably happened on the way down the mountain.And it was an accident that he couldn't pick up that ice stick later.An accident that endangered the lives of the victims occurred there.What's more, the body is not there, which means that the body of the victim fell from there. Mallory or Irwin probably slipped on the way down the hill.At this time, the two were probably tied to each other with climbing ropes.If there is a climbing rope, when Mallory or Irwin slips here, it will drag the other person, and the two will fall from here together.If it is at a lower place, one party should be able to use the climbing rope to support the partner who fell first, but when an accident occurs at this height, it is really impossible to take the correct response in an instant. Anyway, the accident happened there, and the ice stick stayed there. The question is, did an accident happen here and was it just Irving or Mallory who died?Or did both die together? Today, this answer does not exist in this world. In short, most people would naturally think that Mallory and Irving died together because of the accident on the way down the mountain. However, that didn't solve another, bigger mystery either. The big puzzle is: Did Mallory and Irving ever reach the summit of Everest? At that time, did they conquer the highest peak in the world? The two started to descend the mountain, after reaching the peak?Or before setting foot on the summit? I found that the ice stick also failed to answer this question. The researcher on this issue, the American Tom Holtz, developed complex inferences in "The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine". Tom Holtz mentions that Mallory and Irwin may go their separate ways after climbing the second step. The two were wasting time and running out of oxygen before climbing the second step.So Irwin gave up his oxygen to Mallory, and Mallory made her way to the summit alone. Mallory climbed towards the summit, while Irwin descended from there to the Sixth Battalion.Irwin may have slipped and slipped when going down the first step while acting alone, leaving his ice stick there. On the other hand, Mallory made it to the top of the peak by himself, but slipped down due to an accident on the way back down the mountain, or did not return to the sixth camp before dark, and was forced to camp behind a certain rock. freeze to death-- Tom Holtz reasoned this way, however, this statement relies too much on the imagination.Especially the big thing about whether Mallory made it to the summit was only so far as possible. The fact that a mountaineer reaches the point where the vertical distance from the peak is nearly two hundred meters away does not make the mountaineer's imagination of setting foot on the peak come true.No matter how easy the journey from there to the summit was, it was impossible for the mountaineer. result-- The United Kingdom sent the fifth, sixth, and seventh expeditions. From 1921 to 1938, it continued to send expeditions to Mount Everest for 17 years, but they repeatedly returned without success.Officially set foot on the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 after the Second World War. Since the first expedition in 1921, on May 29, 32 years later, Hilary and Tenzing of the British team finally stepped on the summit of Mount Everest. However, the puzzle remains unsolved. Many believe: Mallory and Irving reached the summit of Notre Dame in 1924.O'Dell, who finally witnessed the two people, also thought so. Did they reach the summit at that time? Actually, there is a way to answer this question. When he reached the summit in 1924, Mallory borrowed a Kodak folding camera from team member Somerwell. "BEST POCKET AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK SPECIAL". This Kodak camera, which used 120mm film, was the latest model launched in 1924, when the expedition was launched. One thing can definitely be said here. If Mallory had been on the summit of Everest, he would have taken pictures with this camera.There is no doubt about it. No matter where Mallory's body is on Mount Everest, the Kodak camera is in the backpack carried by the dead body.Moreover, the negatives loaded in that camera can now be developed. To Tom Holtz's question, manufacturer Kodak replied: Even after fifty years, negatives can still be processed. Minus thirty to minus sixty degrees - as far as storage of negatives is concerned, there are few places on earth as suitable as the snowy mountains of Mount Everest. In other words, there was no way to know if Mallory had reached the summit of Everest except to find Mallory's body.When Mallory's body was found, the camera was taken out of his backpack, and the negatives in the camera were developed-if there was an image of Mallory or Irwin standing on the summit of the roll of negatives, it would be completely destroyed. Rewrite the history of climbing the Himalayas. Regarding the biggest mystery in the history of Himalaya mountaineering, another event that shocked the world happened on October 11, 1979. On May 3, 1980, the Japanese mountaineering team climbed Mount Everest, Mount Everest, from the Tibetan side. He reached the summit at 8:55 p.m. following almost the same route that Mallory and the others had taken in 1924.Yasuo Kato stayed on the peak for ten minutes and began to descend at 9:50.The sun had already set, and Yasuo Kato was forced to camp on the way.Camping at the pole at more than 8,600 meters. Fifty-six years ago, Mallory might have camped in the same spot.Yasuo Kato survived that death camp. During this expedition, Takashi Ozaki's team also completed the world's first ascent from the north wall of Mount Everest. Before this expedition, Japan sent a Mount Everest reconnaissance team there a year ago (1979). At that time, player Hasegawa Yoshinori learned from Chinese player Wang Hongbao: "At 8,100 meters, the body of the Westerner was found." October 11, 1979—— Yoshinori Hasegawa's Northeast Ridge defended the East Rongbuk Glacier, trying to set up the third battalion at 6,500 meters.When that work came to an end, Wang Hongbao told Hasegawa about it. The relevant content was recorded in detail in the "Yomiuri Shimbun" on January 1, 1980, and "Standing on Mount Everest" published by the Yomiuri Shimbun on June 25 of the same year. "Is that true?" "It must be true." The two did not communicate through an interpreter, but had a conversation in fragmented Chinese, but Hasegawa intuitively understood what Wang Hongbao meant. The two squatted there, using ice sticks to write on the hard snow surface, and had a written conversation. "Is it really a Westerner?" Wang Hongbao wrote on the snow with the tip of his ice stick: "British, 8100." Then, impatiently, he wrote down a few Chinese characters, and then continued: "The appearance of a Westerner. When climbing the mountain in 1975. The man hid behind the rocks and slept. A large rock shed. When I pulled his clothes, it shattered. When I pinched it and blew, the pieces of clothes flew away. He It looked so cold, so I piled snow on him and buried him." Amazing content. Wang Hongbao was the first summit climber of the Chinese Mount Everest climbing team in 1975.However, the ascent to the summit at that time ended in failure... Facing Hasegawa, he said "English" several times with a lisp.He seemed convinced—only the British would die at such heights. When he found traces of the British team camping near the first battalion (5,500 meters), Wang Hongbao also said "English" while pointing his fingers.He knows almost no English at all.However, he definitely knew that "English" meant British people. ——"Standing on Mount Everest", Yomiuri Shimbun That's supposed to be Mallory or Irwin—? It is said that Hasegawa thought so when he heard about it. If it had been the Englishman's body at that height, there could have been no one else but Mallory or Irwin. At that time, the partner asked Wang Hongbao for something and interrupted the conversation. but-- Why didn't the Chinese side announce that fact before that? Speaking of 1975, it was the period of the Cultural Revolution. Mountain climbing is also an expression of "respect and love for Chairman Mao" and an act of "promoting the prestige of the country".At that time, overseas ideas, concepts, no, even foreigners themselves, were completely targeted and rejected. It was a time of xenophobia.Therefore, the Chinese may even consider it an unforgivable blasphemy to store the corpse of a foreigner on the height of China's sacred highest mountain, Mount Everest, the mother of the earth. It is mentioned in "Standing on Mount Everest" that Hasegawa Yoshinori thinks so. Hasegawa intends to further ask Wang Hongbao for details and determine the location. However, Wang Hongbao died before the details were asked. The next day, October 12th— Six team members, including Hasegawa and Wang Hongbao, left the third battalion to climb the ice wall connecting the North Ridge in order to develop a climbing route. While moving down a slope with a huge ice crevasse below, an avalanche suddenly occurred above the six people's heads. The snow and ice over fifty meters wide turned into a torrent, attacking the six people. Including Hasegawa and Wang Hongbao, four people were swallowed by the avalanche.The four of them were rushed towards the crevasse together with the ice cubes. Hasegawa miraculously stopped at the edge of the ice crevasse, but the other three fell into the ice crevasse together with the avalanche. The two team members who survived rescued Hasegawa and searched for the other three, but the huge ice crevasse was buried by ice and snow, and it was impossible to dig out the bodies. In this way, the important testimony about Mallory and Irving, along with Wang Hongbao's body, sank forever at the bottom of the glacier. But was that body really Mallory or Irwin? So apart from these two people, are there any Westerners who have reached the height of Mount Everest at 8,000 meters and their whereabouts are unknown? Only the British team attacked from the north seven times (1921-1938), the Soviet team in 1952, and the Sino-Soviet joint team in 1958.In addition, there are illegal solo operations, but these people have not even reached the North Ridge. The Soviet team and the Sino-Soviet joint team failed completely.Due to national character (?), China and the Soviet Union did not make any official reports on such failures, so it is impossible to confirm.However, there is information that several members of the Soviet team disappeared at 8,200 meters.However, the Chinese mountaineer who joined the reconnaissance team last fall categorically denied this information. "Neither the Soviet team nor the Sino-Soviet joint team reached 6,800 meters, and they failed completely. Therefore, the remains cannot be Soviet." The Chinese mountaineer made a clear conclusion. In this way, there is only one conclusion, the body that Wang Hongbao saw was either Mallory or Irving. ——"Standing on Mount Everest", Yomiuri Shimbun Even if the body was very likely to be Mallory or Irwin, it would be next to impossible to find that body on the vast slopes of Everest. In 1986, Tom Holtz personally went to Mount Everest to search for the remains of the two, but the weather was bad and no new discoveries were made. Fukamachi sighed in the cramped business hotel room. He lay on his back on the bed. Breathless room. After laying out the bed, there was only barely room for walking on the side.There was a small TV on the pitifully small low table, but it couldn't broadcast a clear picture.The TV almost took up the entire surface of the low table. In the slightly vacant space, there are telephones and hotel guidebooks, and there is no room for other things. It's been a week since I came back from Nepal. I've only met Kayoko twice. Go to Jinggang and Funaoshima's house to offer incense and meet Kudo.Although I have contacted with other team members by phone, except for Kudo, I have not met anyone else. Today, I will hand over the developed negatives to Miyagawa of Yueyou Agency.It was a photo taken by Fukamachi during this expedition.The book could not be published due to the failure of the expedition, but several negatives had to be handed over to Miyagawa for use in the magazine. During the three days of staying in this hotel, Fukamachi spent most of the time lying on the bed and reading. All about Everest or Mallory. Fukamachi also reread the Japanese edition of Tom Holtz's book and photocopied the report on Mallory that appeared in the mountain magazine in Oyake Bunko.Earlier, Fukamachi had just finished reading all these materials. If you need further information, you must go to the information room of the Yueyou Agency, or contact the Mountain Club in London. Now, the snow-covered white peak of Mount Everest floated in Fukamachi's mind. He had dreamed several times. It was a scene he was very familiar with. From the area around the 4th Battalion on the north ridge, we can see the cone of Mount Everest. The northeast ridge can be seen on the left. After the first step and the second step, there is a ridge line connected to the unique place on the earth. Fukamachi knows. I've seen that scene several times in photos.However, Everest has never been seen from this angle, it can only be seen from the Tibetan side.Fukamachi saw Mount Everest from Khumbu—that is, from the side of Nepal. Why does this image come to mind? This phenomenon has appeared since I stayed in this hotel and started reading books about Mallory. That 80% is Mount Everest that O'Dell looked up. However, what O'Dell saw was Mount Everest in the daytime, but the image that came to Fukamachi's mind was Mount Everest at night. Countless stars shone in the velvet-black night sky.Every star twinkled blindingly, but the light had no warmth nor color, just cold, lifeless light. The starry sky is dizzying, as if the universe is in it. The summit of Everest pierces that starry sky. That mountaintop seemed to belong to the sky.It looks like Everest rests its summit among the stars. All is silent, and the thrilling cosmic silence descends on the ground. In that silence, a man walked on the edge of the snow. What I saw from Fukamachi's perspective was his back. The man's back dragged heavy steps, just walking silently. Is he Mallory?Irving?Or someone else? Fukamachi didn't know.All he knew was that he was watching the scene without moving. Fukamachi stared at the back of the man who climbed to the top of Mount Everest alone with a depressed mood. Because I was abandoned by that man. The man left, and he stayed there. don't leave me- Fukamachi tried to step forward, but his feet didn't budge. From Fukamachi's point of view, rather than saying that the man wanted to climb to the top of the mountain, it was better to say that he wanted to return to the starry sky. Fukamachi woke up before finding out if the man had reached the top of the mountain. After waking up, Fukamachi still couldn't figure out why he had that dream. It must be, he thought, because the Mallory thing had taken over his head. A few words that Mallory said or wrote stayed in the corner of my mind. Fukamachi lay on his back on the bed, trying to remember those words. Because the mountains are there. Fukamachi remembered such a sentence. He had heard it since he was a teenager, only to learn later that it was left behind by a man named George Mallory who disappeared on Mount Everest. This sentence appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, March 18, 1923. Mallory has already made two expeditions to Everest and is one of the best-known climbers in the field. During his speaking tour, Mallory stopped briefly in New York and was interviewed by a newspaper. In the process, the reporter asked the following questions: "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" To this question, Mallory replied: "Because it's there." It refers to the highest peak in the world, the unique place in this world - the summit of Notre Dame. This sentence became "because the mountain is there" and was remembered by the world. A beautiful day in the Alps is like a beautiful symphony. This is a line from Mallory's collection of essays "Climbers Can Be Artists" written in 1914 at the age of twenty-eight. The artist with a hidden passion fit Mallory better than the rugged mountaineer.Mallory's eyes were languid, and there was a peculiar air of solitude about him. In order to be a nude painting model for his friend Duncan Grant, he also showed himself nude in front of friends. There was even a gay quality about Mallory. Leaving aside Mallory herself, the famous social satirist Benson does have a same-sex crush on Mallory. Mallory is a feel-good guy.He is the most outspoken and pure of heart man I know.What's more, his appearance is very handsome, and his figure is fine and slender. It is very pleasing to the eye just to see his gestures. Benson mentioned this in his diary. Or it should be said that it is the spirit of mountaineers in the West—Fukamachi has felt from the past that the meaning of "conquering nature" cannot be escaped from the British mountaineering behavior.Regardless of what level the sentiment touched, there was nothing strongly British in Mallory's way of climbing. From Mallory's climbing method, one can feel a kind of oriental beauty.From Mallory, it can even be seen that he sees mountaineering as a way to become one with nature. In the summer of 1901, Mallory, Owen, who taught him mountaineering, and Tindle, a mountain friend, went to climb Magic Mountain together. Regarding the events at that time, Mallory submitted the following article to the "Mountain Journal". Is this the most memorable peak of the day?How calm we are!We're not getting carried away with joy.But still joyful, and at the same time scared... have we conquered the enemy?No, it is not the enemy that conquers, but ourselves.Have we made it?Here, that kind of talk doesn't make sense.Have we captured the city yet?That's not the case...but, maybe it's true... In Fukamachi's opinion, there is of course a European style behind this article, but it is obviously mixed with oriental thinking. However, it must not be forgotten that from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Britain—or it should be said that Europe dominated the trend of the times that swept the world. In the world at that time, powers such as Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan were trying to fill in the blank parts of the earth's surface on the map and draw the world on land. Europe sent, Japan sent, one after another went to explore the blank areas on the map of Central Asia.In addition, Russia, Britain, Germany, the United States, the Qing Dynasty, and Japan competed with each other. To a certain extent, Central Asia, including Tibet, can be said to have become the central axis of global attention. During the period from the first challenge to Mount Everest to the summit, the world has experienced two major wars. It cannot be ignored that when Mallory climbed to the top of the world, there was such an atmosphere of the times behind it. The mountain clubs and Mallory in England were arguably in the mood of the times. Which country will be the first to reach the top of the world—? Fukamachi believes that this competition changed from 1953 and after setting foot on the summit of Notre Dame to a competition between the two major powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, to see who would send humans to the moon first. Fukamachi understood that the Apollo program was actually a massive mountaineering. The Moon is the last remaining tallest mountain on Earth. Set up the base camp in Houston, let the spaceship that serves as the first battalion fly into space from there, follow the orbit of the moon, use it as the second battalion, let the final camp land on the surface of the moon, and then let people Footsteps set foot on the moon. Due to the thin air, astronauts will put on space suits, carry oxygen tanks, and land on the surface of the moon, just like climbing the Himalayas to prepare oxygen and masks. Landing on the moon is an act most similar to climbing the Himalayas. Fukamachi's thoughts became wild. The screeching sound of the air conditioner filled the room. Miyagawa should be coming soon. Just when Fukamachi thought so—— The phone beside the pillow rang. Fukamachi lay on his back and picked up the phone. "Hello, it's me." Miyagawa's voice came from next to his ear. Miyagawa often works with Fukamachi.He is the editor of Yueyou Agency and the deputy editor-in-chief of the outdoor magazine "Horizon Conference". "I'm downstairs at the teahouse. Can you come down now?" "I'll go right away." After speaking, Fukamachi put down the microphone and stood up. "By the way, about Hanyu Joji—" Miyagawa said after looking through the photos prepared by Fukamachi. Miyagawa carefully put the photos after reading into his purse, and ordered another cup of coffee.Before the coffee was delivered, Miyagawa said Hanyu Joji's name. "Know what?" "No, I don't know. I tried to contact a few people who might know what Hanyu is doing, but no one seems to know what he is doing now." "why?" "I don't know. He was a bit of a maverick. Few people care what the guy is doing now—" "Yes--" "Hey, hey. Let me tell you, are you really looking for Hanyu's whereabouts? If yes, there's no need to give up. After all, I only asked a few people what Hanyu was doing, and I haven't taken the trouble to ask around." Miyagawa said while taking out a new envelope from his purse. “这是答应你的羽生的照片。” 宫川将拿出来的信封放在桌上。 “在大乔拉斯峰发生意外时的照片，和远征圣母峰时的照片。这是我们家杂志刊登过的照片影本，这种就可以了吗？” “谢谢。感激不尽。” 深町伸手拿信封，从中抽出两张影印纸。 “不过话说回来，你为什么要调查羽生的事？” “哎呀，没什么大不了的。” 深町说着，把拿出来的两张影印纸放在桌上。 他几乎是心不在焉地听着宫川说话。 因为两张影印纸上的照片，夺走了他的注意力。 第一张照片中，是一名头上缠着绷带，左手臂也以绷带吊在肩上的青年。年纪约莫三十五、六岁吧。 他瞪着相机镜头的凶狠目光，和在加德满都遇见的那个男人的眼神类似。 第二张照片是羽生丈二四十多岁的脸。目光的凶狠程度比起三十多岁时有过之而无不及。眼神中显然带着不满和愤怒。 看起来像是——掩不住自己内心的浓厚情感，而将这份情感放进瞪着相机的视线中。 脸颊覆盖着胡子。 那张照片中的脸肯定是四十多岁男人的表情，但表情却带着点十四、五岁少年的稚气。 单枪匹马地把自己身边的所有事物都视为敌人，有时候甚至把自己都视为敌人奋战的那种少年——那个表情中具备了那种少年特有的、说不上是成熟或稚气的剽悍。 照片里中年男子内心里的少年，对着相机说：我不相信任何人。相对地，谁也不必相信我。 我自己一个人—— 在自己心中如此下定决心的少年，栖息在那张照片里的男人心中。 那张照片甚至令人感到一阵心痛。 因为是影印自印刷的照片，所以黑白对比强烈，反而使得那照片里的男人深藏在心中的秘密，看起来变得鲜明。 是这个男人—— Fukamachi thought so. 在加德满都遇见的那个日本人——那个男人和照片里的这个男人是同一个人。 如果如同在加德满都所想，那个男人是羽生丈二。

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