The Wildest Dream: In the Footsteps of Mallory and Irvine by Mark MacKenzie, Hachette, $39.99
Everest was, to George Mallory, "the wildest dream". This gentleman adventurer was obsessed with taming the unconquered peak. But on June 8, 1924, he and climbing partner Sandy Irvine disappeared into the clouds encircling the peak.Could they have reached the summit before their tragedy? It is mountaineering's greatest mystery.
Seventy-five years later, Conrad Anker made an extraordinary discovery. He spotted "a patch of white" on Everest's North Face. It was Mallory's frozen body. Artefacts found on Mallory's body implied that he might have made it to the top. But that route has never since been climbed without modern equipment.
To find out whether it was possible, Anker returns to Everest, with Leo Houlding as his partner.
Kitted out in period clothing, they set off to replicate the unaided climb. Dying on Everest is an ultimate outcome reserved for those who just had to have a last go at the top when most of us would be deterred by the likelihood of disaster.
Mallory and Irvine vanished after being spotted 245m from the peak, leaving unanswered mountaineering's most enduring question: before perishing, had they become the first men to conquer the world's highest mountain? Alker returns to try to find out what really happened up there. The unattractiveness of the approaches to the mountain and the crowded litter-strewn base camp of today contrast with some of Mallory's imagery: "We're just about to walk off the map", "Mountains ... like the wildest creation of a dream ... A preposterous triangular lump rose out of the depths ... a black serrated crest was hanging in the sky ... "
Evocative archive photos of the handsome doomed youth compare well with the costume drama ones of Anker and Houlding.
They are seen struggling up the slopes in their period clothing - surprisingly warm and protective, contrary to the look and perceptions of those laddish English gents togged up as if for a jaunt in the Lake District. I won't spoil the ending for you but I can't wait to see the movie ...
