Posted: 08/12/2010

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest

(2010)

by Shannon Huebscher

This documentary is a fascinating tale of two parallel storylines - one is the story of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine who infamously attempted to climb Mount Everest in 1924 and mysteriously disappeared, and the other is about Conrad Anker, one of the most well-respected mountain climbers who tries to repeat Mallory and Irvine’s climb to gain more insight into their journey.

We get to see beautiful panoramic shots of Mount Everest and her surrounding peaks and valleys, and actually watch Anker re-enact the infamous Mallory/Irvine climb - I will fully admit that my palms were sweaty watching these scenes, which are both breathtaking and mind-numbingly frightening.

Anker first became obsessed with reenacting this historic climb after he was the one that actually discovered Mallory’s frozen entombed body on part of his own climb of Everest, which surprisingly still rests there today. His aim is to prove that although Mallory’s body was found beneath the summit, that he could have and likely did reach the summit before having an accident on his way down, even with his archaic equipment and climbing expertise from that era.

Narrated by the likes of Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, the late Natasha Richardson and Alan Rickman, The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest is a must-watch film for the adventurous and non-adventurous alike.

Shannon Huebscher is a freelance writer living in Minneapolis.

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