Sat Feb 29, 2020 – 12:00 pm | Domenico’s
Wheeler’s Everest
Directed by Martin de Valk
Documentary Feature
Canada | 78 min | 2019
A century ago on March 18,1921 the first expedition to Everest departed from Darjeeling, India to Tibet on a 360 mile trek to find a route to the world’s highest mountain. On this all-British Expedition was a lone Canadian: WWI veteran, surveyor and climber Major Oliver Wheeler.
Now put yourself in Jeff Wheeler’s hiking boots… What happens when you realize you are the great grandson of one of the most courageous and intriguing Canadians that few people have heard of? And, what if, one of today’s most heralded explorers, Wade Davis, could open a door into a world that history has overlooked? What would you do?
WHEELER’S EVEREST is a rich, multi-layered story – part history, part biography, but mostly, it is a personal and intimate journey taking Jeff Wheeler, Oliver’s great grandson, on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that will reveal a forgotten part of history, highlighting the brave man behind the discovery of the ‘doorway’ to Everest in 1921 and the first mapping of the mountain and the surrounding Himalayan massif.
Join Jeff and world famous author Wade Davis as they travel in Oliver Wheeler’s footsteps from the halls of London’s storied Royal Geographical Society to the French battlefields of WWI, to the green mountains of Darjeeling, India and, even higher, to a climactic trek through Tibet’s legendary Rongbuk Valley. There, retracing that first Everest expedition of a century ago, they will rediscover a brave but almost forgotten Canadian’s incredible adventures and achievements
Director Statement
WHEELER’S EVEREST is a cinematic adventure; a film of physical and emotional discovery; a film that undertakes a journey to unlock a forgotten piece of history and connect the bloodline from our present day adventurer, Jeff Wheeler, to his great grandfather Major Oliver Wheeler, who found and mapped the ‘doorway’ to Everest on the first expedition to Everest in 1921. Anthropologist, author and explorer, Wade Davis leads the way through Tibet to the North Face of Everest where Wheeler’s discovery showed the way for renowned British climber George Mallory’s next two Everest expeditions and is still in use today, yet few know the man who has always been in Mallory’s shadow. Oliver Wheeler has remained a footnote in history until now.
Martin de Valk
Director
Martin is an award winning filmmaker, who has Produced, Directed and Edited over seventy programs for Broadcast in Canada.
Martin, President of Chiaro Production, is interested in presenting insightful, accessible, and profound stories that are told with humour, intelligence and compassion.
