In the steps of Everest climber George Mallory
Jeffrey P. Mayor, staff writer
Anyone who climbs Mount Everest puts his life on the line. Conrad Anker did so in 2007, for the sake of a movie. He, with climbing partner Leo Houlding, battled the elements in ascending the 29,035-foot summit in hopes of answering questions lingering since George Mallory and Sandy Irvine died attempting the climb in 1924.
During portions of the climb, Anker wore replica climbing gear similar to the garb worn by Mallory. Anker also attempted to free climb the Second Step, a 90-foot rock face at 28,140 feet.
Those efforts were filmed as part of the National Geographic movie “The Wildest Dream: The Conquest Of Everest” now showing at the Pacific Science Center.
Anker wanted to know if Mallory and Irvine could have been the first to the summit, well before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the roof of the world in 1953. Mallory and Irvine were last seen after having climbed the Second Step and heading toward the summit. No evidence has been found indicating that they made it to the summit and they were never seen alive again.
“To have done that in 1924 would have been exceptional,” Anker said in an interview earlier this year.
Anker’s connection to Mallory began in 1999, when he joined a team on Mount Everest to look for the bodies of Mallory and Irvine. It was Anker who discovered Mallory’s body.
“At the time in 1999, I felt the connection as a climber. He was someone who had dedicated himself to climbing,” Anker said. “It was my goal to revisit the story after the 1999 trip.”
The connection grew as the project unfolded. “In the making of the movie, I found there was a parallel to my and (wife) Jenny’s life to George and Ruth, there is a love story as well as the climbing,” he said.
Already facing the challenge of climbing Everest, Anker said they raised the ante by donning the replica clothing. “The difference is pretty profound. The footwear is a world of difference,” he said.
Mallory and Irvine wore single-layer leather boots with a cork insole for some additional insulation. “As long as they were moving, they were all right, but once they stopped moving, cold set in rapidly,” Anker said.
Wearing seven layers of clothes limited the climbers’ mobility. Today’s synthetic materials make movement and heat retention easier.
The biggest challenge was the Second Step, the final obstacle for those seeking the summit. Since 1975, climbers have used a ladder a Chinese team installed.
Anker tried climbing it without any aids in 1999, but he touched one rung of the ladder on the way up.
“I wanted to see what it was like for Mallory and Irvine. They didn’t have the ladder. If they reached the top, they would have had to climb it,” Anker said.
He rated the climb a 5.10 on the Yosemite Decimal System. A class one is walking on an even surface. Class 5 is considered true rock climbing, and requires skill and rope to proceed safely. An unroped fall could result in a fatal injury.
That’s almost what happened to Anker. Shortly after be began his ascent, he lost his grip and fell backwards. But he was able to stop his fall and gathered himself before continuing.
Anker said he hopes the film “is a fitting and lasting tribute to Mallory, who he was and what he stood for. He was curious, he was an intellectual.”
He cites Mallory’s famed response to the question of why climb Everest: “Because it’s there.”
“Was that a quip to get a journalist off his back or a deep philosophical thought,”Anker said. “I think it was the latter. We’ve always gone to the crest of the ridge to see what is on the other side. Collectively it is what drives humanity forward.”
During our talk, I sensed that Anker mirrors that philosophical side of Mallory.
I asked him if he felt, having done it himself, Mallory and Irvine reached the summit. “It’s possible they could have. I don’t have a stance one way or another. I just wanted to create a greater appreciation of what they want,” he said.
Anker said he relished the mystery of it all.
“To answer it unequivocally is not my job. If they did make it, that’s amazing. I think the best part of the story of Mallory and Irvine is not whether they made it or not, but appreciate what they went through and the times they lived in.”
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
IF YOU GO
What: The Wildest Dream: The Conquest Of Everest
When: Now being shown through Sept. 6. Show times are 2:45, 5;15 and 7:30 p.m. daily.
Where: Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Ave. N., Seattle
Of note: The film was first shown as part of the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.
Information: www.
pacsci.org/imax
