FILM FESTIVAL HONOURS LOST CLIMBER

The 21st Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival opened this month screening of “Last Expedition,” a film directed by Eliza Kubarska that pays homage to the legendary Himalayan mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz. The famed mountaineer just disappeared in the Himalayas during the peak of climbing and has not been found yet -dead or alive.

 “Last Expedition” delves into the remarkable journey of Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first Polish woman (and third woman) to conquer Mount Everest. Director Eliza Kubarska embarks on a captivating exploration of Rutkiewicz’s life and legacy, utilizing archival materials and intimate interviews with renowned climbers like Reinhold Messner and Krzysztof Wielicki. 

Rutkiewicz’s mysterious disappearance in the Himalayas three decades ago remains an enigma, adding depth to the narrative as the film navigates through her untold story. While climbing Kangchenjunga, 49-year- old Rutkiewicz was last seen alive by Mexican climber Carlos Carsolio. She was sheltering at high altitude on the north- west face, during her attempted ascent of what would have been her ninth eight- thousander.

Despite being physically weakened she decided against descending.

Carsolio said he did not have the mental strength to convince her to descend because he was weakened as well. But she was not found dead or alive thereafter.

It was thought that her body had been found on the south-west face of the mountain in 1995 by Fausto de Stefani, Marco Galezzi and Silvio Mondinelli, both mountaineers suggesting that she had climbed up the north-west ridge to a point very close to the summit before falling down the south-west side. However, more detailed analysis of the findings by the Italian climbers, such as colour of clothing and presence of Bulgarian- made tablets with the body, indicate that it was probably the body of Bulgarian climber Yordanka Dimitrova, who was killed by an avalanche on the south-west face of Kangchenjunga in October 1994.

It is unknown if Rutkiewicz reached the summit of Kangchenjunga.If she did so, she would have been the first woman to reach the top of the world’s three highest mountains. Besides this enigmatic film 12 others movies will vie for top honour.

Rutkiewicz is considered the best female mountaineer in the world, an icon of an independent, strong-willed woman, ruthlessly pursuing her goal, who changed the male-cantered order of the climbing world. Her rise and fall, and how she opened the way to the Himalayas for the next generation of female climbers is the main theme of the film.

On 16 October 2019, Rutkiewicz was the subject of the daily Google Doodle on the forty-first anniversary of her ascent of Mount Everest.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle