Your story on last spring's discovery of the late Everest climber George Mallory ("Ghosts of Everest," October) was excellent, and the photo on the cover was worth a thousand words. This is what it said to me: Most of us are too scared to attempt
to climb Mount Everest. A scattered few, when the sun warms the mountain's face, get lucky and actually make the summit. And then there are the rest, like Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who end up partly buried on a scree slope—arms outstretched, knees bent, countenance down—in eternal supplication to a mountain that knows no forgiveness.
Elle Hayla Smith
Shreveport, Louisiana
If I die on a mountain, I hope no one takes a picture of my body and plasters it on the cover of a magazine. I thought adventurers, and the members of the media who cover them, all stuck together as if we were family, remembering the ones who led the way, and were grateful for their bravery and dedication because of the doors they opened for us. When one
of our own dies—it does't matter if it was 75 days ago or 75 years—it affects the whole community. Why print pictures of one of our own?
Jonathan M. Rider
Reston, Virginia
My former opinion of Outside was that it targeted the "softer" side of outdoor pursuits, but no longer. Jon Krakauer's story on the 1996 Everest expedition ("Into Thin Air," September 1996) and now Hemmleb, Johnson, and Simonson's "Ghosts of Everest"
have changed my mind. The writing is superb, and the stories are unforgettable. The photo of George Mallory on the cover of the October issue is haunting and somehow very profound.
Kim Green
Alexandria, Virginia
What does the image of the nearly naked corpse of George Mallory reveal about the expedition's awareness of the ethical issues surrounding its stated mission? In order to answer an abstract question of no particular significance—whether Mallory and Irvine were first to the top of Everest—the expedition inevitably ran the risk of reducing
these bygone mountaineers to the status of quarry in the hunt for clues. Moreover, the way an image is used can be as important as its content. The photograph on your recent cover suggests, perhaps unwittingly, some pictorial memento of a big-game hunter standing over a kill. George Leigh Mallory was somebody's son, husband, and father. He is not an object
and certainly not a trophy.
David H. Wrinn
North Haven, Connecticut
The editors reply: We received a large volume of letters about our October cover, many of them critical. A number of correspondents wrote that we had done a disservice to the memory of George Mallory by publishing a photograph of his 75-year-old remains and that our motives in doing so were suspect. For us, this shot is one
of the most remarkable and arresting instances of photojournalism in this century and an unforgettable tribute to dogged courage. In fact, we believe that honest reporting is itself a form of tribute—to reality, to our hunger to know how things really are, to history. Mallory belongs to history now, and we honor him as a pioneer and hero.
Looking Down the Barrel
Outside has run lots of stories about amazing courage, but I've never seen anyone braver in your pages than Chuck and Judy Hartwig, who risked their livelihood to help stop Ray Hillsman's orgy of bear-killing in western Oregon ("The Hunting of the
Poacher King," October; see update on page 32 of this issue). They understood the unpleasantness they'd face by doing the right thing, and they did it anyway. They have my admiration and thanks.
Pete Rose
Port Angeles, Washington
As a hunter who understands the need to balance the right to hunt with good conservation practices, I was disgusted by Ray Hillsman's slaughter of Oregon's black bears. But while I applaud the use of the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to nail big-time poachers, I think still more needs to be done. Oregon should ban the hunting of
black bears in the state, or at least in Douglas County, for a couple of years to let the bears recover. We can't let crooks like Hillsman single-handedly destroy our resources.
Thomas P. Alpin
Costa Mesa, California
Blow Hard
I have invented a device to help athletes and mountain climbers develop increased lung capacity, similar to the one described in "Heavy Breathing" (Dispatches, September). It's small, portable, and simple to use, and the price is a dream. Here's how it works: Make a fist,
apply it to the mouth, and try to suck through the hole created by the hand. Thirty sucks daily through this device will probably strengthen the breathing muscles as effectively as its $80 counterpart. For a tougher workout, make a tighter fist.
Russell Bradley, M.D.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Correspondence may be sent by e-mail (letters@outsidemag.com) or addressed to the Letters Editor, Outside, 400 Market St., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Please include your full name and address.
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