Conrad Anker's Altitude Everest Team, the last on the mountain for the Spring season, has begun their summit push, moving up to C2 to rest tonight. MountEverest.net is reporting that five climbers and cameramen, along with 15 Sherpas set off to begin their bid this morning.
I reported that the the summit attempt was going to begin last week, but over the weekend Alan Arnette posted that the team came down with a stomach virus and postponed their climb until after they had recovered and regained some of their strength. The plan now is for the team to go up with an eye on topping out on the 14th.
The Altitude Everest Team, as you'll recall, is climbing in vintage climbing gear, circa 1924, and are recreating the legendary climb made by George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. All if it will be filmed with the intent of turning it into a documentary film on Mallory, the famous climber who lost his life trying to climb Everest because "it's there". The team will even go so far as to remove the ladder at the Second Step, to make the conditions resemble the Mallory climb in every way possible.
The weather looks like it should hold out into the weekend, and it should be fun to watch if these guys can pull off the climb in this gear. They're hoping to prove that Mallory and Irvine could have reached the summit with the gear they had back 1924. If they make it, it'll only deepen the mystery of what happened to them.
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