Adventurer Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and local guide Sherpa Tenzing Norgay at top of Mount Everest / File Source: Herald Sun
The Wildest Dream concludes that 1920s English adventurer George Mallory could be the first man to reach the top of the world's highest peak - decades before Sir Edmund Hillary, Sky News reports.
The feature documentary looks at the mystery surrounding Mallory, who risked everything in pursuit of his dream, using primitive gear and wearing gabardine and hobnailed boots.
He was last seen alive in 1924 with climbing partner Andrew Irvine, just 244m below the mountain's peak, before the clouds closed in.
In 1999, mountaineer Conrad Anker discovered Mallory’s frozen body high in the mountain's so-called death zone, where many others also perished. Almost all of the adventurer's belongings were found intact on his body, apart from a photograph of his wife, Ruth, which he promised to place on the summit if he succeeded.
The photograph was never found, fuelling ongoing speculation.
Anker remained so haunted by the story that he returned to Everest with fellow climber Leo Houlding in a bid to work out whether Mallory could have reached the summit.
"I am glad that we don't know for sure - that would spoil the whole mystery, perhaps lessen this amazing story," Houlding said.
The British Film Institute's IMAX theatre will host the charity premier of The Wildest Dream in memory of British actress Natasha Richardson, who died of a head injury after a skiing accident just weeks after she narrated some of the film as the voice of Mallory's wife.
Read more on this story at Sky News.
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