As a child, Reinhold Messner's mother read him stories about George Mallory and a fellow climber Andrew Irvine; their heroic and tragic attempt to scale the world's tallest peak in 1924 inspired his own unequalled exploits in the Himalayas. To Messner, Mallory was a climber of the purest order, and his final ascent a work of genius, beauty and unparalleled courage. Mallory's disappearance haunted and inspired the imagination. Though Mallory's remains were discovered in 1999, the question of whether or not he made it to the top of Everest remains unanswered. Moreover, believes Messner, though we have found Mallory's bones, we have lost or destroyed the spirit of amateur adventure that pushed him inexorably higher. Today, climbing Everest has become a mundane media event involving sophisticated equipment and corporate funding. The Second Death of George Mallory is both an investigation into his death and a deeply felt homage - to a mountain, to the spirit of an age and to the man who inspired those who followed in his footsteps.