George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was a British mountaineer who took part in the first three expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, disappeared high on the northeast ridge during the final summit attempt of the 1924 expedition. The last sighting of the pair was about 800 vertical feet from the summit. Mallory's fate was unknown for 75 years until a research expedition discovered his body on 1 May 1999. Whether they made it to the summit or not remains a mystery.