The Wildest Dream - Mallory

[smurfchops]

Watching the programme about Mallory on Everest and at the beginning it showed someone discovering the body of Mallory. Was this a reconstruction or the actual film of the discovery ?

[Philtaz]

Not sure to be honest as some of the footage looked very similar to a programme I saw a year or two back which centred solely on the search for his body.

From what I could make out it was actual footage of the body with the guy who discovered him super-imposed to create a sort of re-construction.

[BagPussAA]

Mallory's body has never been discovered which is why they do not know whether he reached the summit. Wildest dream was about the journey to find the body to try and prove that Mallory beat Hillary to the summit.

[BagPussAA]

My apologies... His body was discovered in 1999. I was under the impression that it had never been discovered for some reason

[queencharlotte]

Mallory`s body was thoroughly photographed and documented when it was found (but not at that time filmed as far as I know). Did he reach the top? I think he did. His camera wasn`t found, but then neither was a photo of his adored wife and children that he promised he would leave at the summit. It is hardly surprising that when the summit was reached officially in 1953 it was not found, nor when searching subsequently. I have 50 books about Everest and often "climb it" to drop off to sleep.

[Philtaz]

Have to disagree there queencharlotte.

In the programme I saw, possibly 6-7 years ago his body was most certainly filmed. The programme was called Lost On Everest. The team were fearful of giving away the identity of who they'd found and the location to other teams on the mountain.

Actual footage taken at the time shows Mallory's body at 2.10 and 2.45:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFr1KdY6aiw

[DTCwordfan]

the body is known to be facing head down the mountain, (found by a Chinese climber in was it 1999?); the key thing is M's camera and whether the film shows shots of them on top of the beast.

The documentary had the body with its head up the slope and therefore is "symbolic" of the accident

[DTCwordfan]

(Radio 4 with a Mallory niece and various climbers commentating on him - think it was a week yesterday?)

[Philtaz]

Have to disagree with you too DT!

Pictures taken of Mallory show him facing UP the slope, as he is in the video. Why change the angle of a climbers body? Their angle/body position mean nothing after a fall, surely?

I'm sure out of respect he would have been left in situ, as he appears to have been when they covered his remains with rocks and had a brief service for him.

Have you actually watched the youtube clip?

[smurfchops]

Interesting youtube clip, slightly different from Wildest Dream so now I think I have my answer. Thanks folks.