“Because it’s there.”
Ever since my parents took us camping in the Lake District – just before WW2 broke out - and we climbed Helvellyn, I’ve been dotty about mountains, so watching The Wildest Dream last night was a no-brainer. It is a documentary in which climber Conrad Anker, an American, follows in the footsteps of George Mallory the British climber. The object of the expedition was to ascertain whether Mallory reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1924 before Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing Norgay in 1953.
In 1999 Anker discovered the body of Mallory 75 years after the fatal expedition. The question was did Mallory climb the dreaded Second Step and thus be the first to conquer Everest?
All of his belongings were found intact except for a photograph of Ruth, which he had promised to leave 'on top of the world' if he succeeded. The absence of the picture has led to speculation that he might, after all, have reached the summit, and that he and Irvine - whose body has never been found - fell on their descent.
Anker and Leo Houlding replicated the dress, hob-nailed boots and equipment that Mallory had used.
Mallory met and fell in love with Ruth at Charterhouse. They married in 1914 six days before WW1 broke out. He served in France and they had three children.
In 1921 Mallory joined an expedition to Everest to explore routes up to the North Col. He discovered the Rongbuk Glacier – the route now most often used by climbers.
On another expedition in 1922 they were forced back at 26,985’ and later an avalanche killed seven Sherpas. Mallory was torn between the blind ambition to be the first on the highest mountain in the world and the distress it brought to his wife and children.
In 1924 he knew this would be his last chance to achieve his ambition and promised Ruth he would leave her photo on the summit. The fact that the photo was nowhere to be found, although the rest of his belongings were intact, makes his reaching the summit a possibility. Doubt was cast as to whether Mallory had the climbing skills to conquer the Second Step but eventually Anker thought it possible.
The programme is narrated by Liam Neeson and the letters from Ruth were read most movingly by his wife Natasha Richardson. Only later did I discover it was the last film she did before her tragic death in a skiing accident.
Another moving moment was when Anker’s wife said she knew what it was like to be married to a climber who didn’t come back. Her late husband had climbed with Anker and was tragically killed. When Anker was trying on the ancient climbing clothes of the twenties his wife asked her young son if he would wear those clothes, he said no because he wouldn’t climb Everest.
Altogether I found it a moving and inspirational film. See photos below.
