"Rob Hall breaks up on the satellite phone
Near the highest point on Earth
His life will soon be over,
He knows now what it's worth

To the woman who carries his unborn child,
He speaks with the softest touch
"I love you Sleep well, my sweetheart
Please don't worry too much"

The life he loves more than his own
Has a voice he will never hear
It's midnight now on the mountain,
Very cold, and clear

Shortly before time slips away,
In a fade of reverie,
Climbs a shadow from out of the mist
It is George Leigh Mallory

There are many, who will follow
The paths where once we went
Some of them too will falter
Ghosts of the ascent

We have left our lives behind us
To cling to our mother's breast
Here at the height of ice and snow
They call Mount Everest

Why did we brave this dangerous plain,
Most will never dare?
Mallory's voice, a chrystaline chime,
Replies, "Because it's there"

We all step upon the summit
When half our climb is through
With a maddened exhilaration,
Known to precious few

Of love and courage, much is said
But it's wisdom here that saves
And all who have forgotten
Rest in lonely, icy graves

Gone, where all the others,
In their desperate plummets went
Embraced by Chomolungma,
Ghosts of the ascent

Ghosts of the ascent

The greed of conquest,
Is the most dangerous drug of all
It leads us to imaigined heights,
From which we can only fall

Rob Hall thinks of his unborn child,
Right before the end
As Mallory reaches out his hand,
"You're one of us now, my friend"

And the idea that they failed,
I fear is one they would resent
Climbing ever towards Heaven,
Ghosts of the ascent

Ghosts of the ascent

Oh, God is the greatest magician,
With a magic so perfectly rare
As to pluck us out of infinity
And to vanish us into thin air