EVERYONE was stunned last year when an American expedition discovered the body of climber George Leigh Mallory who, with Sandy Irvine, disappeared in 1924 while on a summit attempt of Everest.

Since then, there has been speculation that they had reached the top of the world's highest mountain -- 29 years before the conquest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing.

The pictures of Mallory's bleached body, surrounded by the remnants of his tattered tweed climbing clothes, filled newspapers around the world and now the full story has been told in The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest, by Conrad Anker and David Roberts (Constable, £7.99).

In spite the exciting subject, it's a slightly odd book and takes a long time to get going. There is only one picture of that remarkable body and the chapters alternate between the expedition story (written by climber Anker, who found Mallory) and the history of Mallory and the expeditions that eventually led to his death (written by mountaineering writer Roberts).

Much is made of the information technology used to get the story instantaneously to the outside world after the body was found and a summit attempt by Anker at the end of the book just adds to the general confusion.

Despite that, it's a tale well told and Anker's conclusion as to whether Mallory and Irvine made the summit will bring nothing but admiration for this honest and intelligent climber.

Review by John Griffiths