Everest 2009: Discovery’s “Everest: Beyond The Limit” Returns to Everest, David Tait Going with No O2
January 17, 2009
We still have a few months before the spring Everest season kicks off, but already some big news is starting to circulate about the upcoming season. Russell Brice will be making his Everest return after sitting out 2008. Brice, who is the lead guide for HIMEX, decided against going up from Everest’s South Side last year, after the north was closed off by China’s attempt to take the Olympic torch to the top of the world. Brice’s return to Everest will add in a new twist. His expedition company will be taking things to the South Side for the first time and be filmed by the Discovery Channel for a documentary. Many of you will recognize Brice and the HIMEX team for their successful television series “Everest: Beyond the Limit”. This series was a big success in 2006 and 2007. It is still not a definite whether this new documentary will in fact be the return of “Everest: Beyond the Limit”, but hopes are high that Discovery may be relaunching the series and offering us a vantage point from the most dangerous side of Everest. The South Side includes the famed Khumbu Icefall and the Hillary Step.
From Alan Arnette’s fantastic Everest website:
The filming will be a bit different since there is no clear view of the summit on the Nepal side like there is from the North Col on the Tibet side. So while we will not see Brice spotting the climbers through a telescope as they make their way to the summit, we will probably see some amazing shots of the Khumbu Icefall, Lhotse Face, South Col, Balcony, South Summit and Hillary Step through Sherpa Cams, all in HD!
Alan is also reporting that David Tait, whom I have come to know quite well over the past two years, will be making a return to Everest. David attempted to make a double-traverse on Everest (going North to South, the back again) in 2007. In 2008, David had to be rescued after falling victim to a non-climbing related medical problem. With all of that now settled, David will be returning to take on the South (Nepal) Side of Everest, this time without the use of supplemental oxygen. David is a very strong climber. In 2007, he was the first non-Sherpa climber to summit. He then crossed over to the South Side, broke trail down to camp, and single-handedly opened up the South to climbers going from that route. The no O2 bit should be challenging, but my bets are that David will be successful on this venture. I had the opportunity to interview David in 2007 and will be working on getting another one for 2009.
Alan Arnette, whom I mentioned above, was busy making his own Everest attempt last season. Thankfully, in 2009, he will be back with his great Everest reports. He is already way ahead of the rest of us and offers up some more information that I will be covering in the days ahead. Thanks for the tip-off on the latest two, Alan.
You can catch my updates from the 2007 and 2008 Everest Climbing seasons by clicking the following. Be sure to stop back in for all of you latest Mt. Everest news and updates throughout the 2009 Everest climbing season.
Everest 2007
Everest 2008
Everest 2009
Did you like this? If so, please bookmark it,From The Adventurist Vault:
Written by Jason A. Hendricks · Filed Under Everest 2009 |
Keep it up.
You say that Tait “broke trail” single handed in 2007 down the South side…..But I just watched the 2007 Season of Beyond the Limit on Netflix and it is pretty obvious that the sherpa with him Ptumba (sorry about spelling) is the one who actually did this dragging David with him. On the show you can see David is too lost to change his own oxygen, switch his own hook when rope changes are made…etc…. It is OBVIOUS he would have been lost and died own his own.