To find out Anker returned to Everest, with death-defying young ‘rock star’ of climbing Leo Houlding as his partner. Kitted out in period clothing, they set off to replicate the unaided climb. Mallory’s fate was a chilling reminder of the mountain’s might. But they knew that to solve Everest’s greatest mystery they must push their very limits.
It's not a spoiler to say that Conrad and Leo free climbed the Second Step and did not touch the Chinese aluminum ladder that is always there. It was hard 5th class, 5.9, and it's hard to say if Mallory could have done it free, but we now know that some Italian, Austrian and German rock climbers were rock climbing free in the 1920s and 1930s at difficulties that were not even named until the 1960s. And Mallory has the reputation of being one of the best British climbers of his day.
