What makes a man contemplate bad food, no sleep, pain, danger, fractures, falls, frostbite, hypothermia, altitude-related injuries or possible brain damage, asks Alex Grech in his interview with Greg Attard, Marco Cremona and Robert Gatt, three men who plan to be the first Maltese to climb Mount Everest.

What motivates the three adventurers is the challenge, the trial of pushing themselves to the point where they never thought it was possible to be, mentally and physically.

In M magazine, out tomorrow with The Times, it is not just physical mountains that give men sore feet but a soaring spirit. Moira Mizzi meets Alfred Galea Cumbo who, a few years ago, went from feeling short of breath to being diagnosed with heart problems. He not only survived his coronary bypass graft operation - an operation so risky that it claims 10 per cent of its patients - but is nowadays more in love with life than ever before. A mountain that stands in the way of marital bliss is the mother-in-law. There has probably never existed one such female in the history of the planet that has been as maligned and feared as the mother-in-law, or monster-in-law to some. Yet, this is not always the case. Giselle Scicluna goes beyond the myth and the one-liners and interviews Winter Moods frontman Ivan Grech, writer Ġużè Stagno and their respective mothers-in-law.

M also investigates illegal car races and freemasonry in Malta; sees corrective surgery from a male perspective, browses through Lou Bondì's photo album and follows the connection between men and tattoos.

M is designed by MediaMaker Ltd and printed by Progress Press Ltd, both members of the Allied group of companies. The magazine's editor is Stanley Borg.