Everest 2009 News!

Alan Arnette has been doing his usual outstanding job of keeping track of all the news relating to the upcoming Everest season this spring. He has an entire page dedicated to following events on the tallest mountain on the planet, which has had some interesting developments over the past few days.

First up, Alan noticed that Eugene Constant has mentioned in his blog that he'll be climbing with the Himex Team this year on the South Side, and that their expedition will be filmed by Discovery Channel for what appears to be the return of Everest: Beyond the Limit. This is interesting news for several reasons. First, it means the return of a very popular Discovery show, which will have a different spin coming from the South Side, and secondly, it means Russell Brice is on the South Side of Everest!! Brice was the top dog on the North Side when operating there, and he'll be in slightly different territory on the South. Should make for some interesting dynamics, and it's good to see Himex returning to the mountain this year after getting shut out by the Chinese last year.

The next story of interest coming from Alan's page is that David Tait appears to be heading back to Everest as well, after swearing off the mountain back in 2007 when he made a traverse from the North to the South side. Seems like David can't get Everest out of his system, and as in the past, he'll be climbing to raise funds to combat child abuse.

Finally, Alan is also speculating that China may yet open the North Side for climbers this year. He points to the fact that Project Himalaya is accepting applications from a select, small group of independent climbers, that they will support, but not guide on the mountain. This may mean that there will be limited access to the North Side this year, but as Alan says, it's only January. Things can change rapidly and we have until April before we'll know for sure.

Stay tuned. We're still three months away from the Everest season, but it's already starting to get interesting. Thanks for the updates Alan!