More news from Everest today, as you would expect this time of year, courtesy of MountEverest.net. I imagine we'll be getting updates and stories nearly every day between now and the end of the month, as teams are now preparing for their summit bids and we'll be hearing about various attempts as long as the weather holds out.
The biggest news today is probably that the Olympic Torch has made it to the summit! As most of you probably know, the Chinese sent a large team to the North side this season to practice taking the torch to the summit for next year when the Olympics will actually be held in Beijing. The team of 17 Chinese climbers who summitted on Wednesday had several torches with them and confirmed that it burned brightly while on the highest point on Earth. Apparently the Chinese burned brightly on the way down however, as they were observed to have been smoking cigarettes on the descent.
David Tait has moved up to ABC and intends to make a summit bid, along with Phurba Sherpa sometime in the next few days, weather permitting. David is reported to be ahead of the other teams and will rest in ABC for a few days before proceeding up to C1 on Sunday, C2 on Tuesday, and C3 on Wednesday. From there he'll assess the situation and then make his push. David is going after the historic Double Traverse and plans to descend into Nepal after climbing on the North side. After a rest there, weather and health permitting, he'll go back up the mountain and come down on the Tibetan side, ending up where he started.
On the South side all eyes are on the weather forcast. There has been a report of a team making a summit push, but having to turn back due to the high winds. But it seems everyone is returning to BC and ABC in anticipation of things improving soon. The Mountain Madness Team was suppose to leave on the 9th, but now intend to move up on the 12th, so we can expect the action to really get going over the weekend and into the early part of next week.
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