Letter: In Brief

Sir: George Mallory, whose body has been found on Everest, and Alison Hargreaves were both mountaineers who aspired to conquer peaks which had defied all other climbers. Both were married with young children when they met their deaths. None of the articles about Mallory question whether a father had the right to take such risks. Many of those published after Hargreaves' death concentrated on the mother, rather than the mountaineer, and many cast judgement upon her. What should we conclude? Fathers can be heroes but mothers cannot be heroines.

MADELEINE HEANY

Northampton