Fans of the television show Everest: Beyond the Limit from the Discovery Channel are probably happy to hear that the show will return later this year, but it looks like it probably won't feature Russell Brice and his Himex Team. Instead, it seems that Discovery has elected to go with IMG (International Mountain Guides) who will have a whopping 50 clients going up the mountain this year. According to a post on the IMG Blog the Discovery Team will be joining their climbers and trekkers in just a few weeks time.
I suppose it is possible that Discovery will follow both teams, but doubtful. The resources and personal to film on the mountain are quite scarce, and the logistics of trying to handle two different teams would be challenging to say the least. I'm guessing they decided they wanted a change of pace for the third season of Beyond the Limit, and IMG has a lot more experience on the South Side of Everest than Himex does.
For their part, climbers who have signed up with Himex are in for a bit longer days on the Everest. The team has staked out a campsite that is about an hour below the typical base camp location, and on those long days of climbing up to C1 and back down, an extra hour of trekking at the beginning and the end are going to be grueling.
Thanks to Alan Arnette for the news on IMG. Alan's Everest 2009 page has nearly daily updates with all kinds of great stories on the looming season, the climbers, and more. Bookmark it immediately!
Update: Forget what I said about two camera crews. I guess Discovery has deep enough pockets and resources that they can indeed handle two teams covering both IMG and Himex on the mountain. In the comments below, Alan confirms that both teams will be featured on Beyond the Limit. He also says that IMG will have 24 climbers not 50 as initially reported. Still a good size team though, but much more manageable.
Looks like we're going to get a double dose of Everest this year on Discovery.
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