The Agreement

There is an agreement that the South side teams will not summit before 10th May, to allow the Chinese time to do their Olympic torch thing. This doesn’t stop anyone with permits climbing the mountain on the south side - it's just they can't summit before the 10th. However on the North side the Chinese are not allowing anyone in until after the 10th May to avoid any congestion, which is obviously way too late to acclimatise and climb within the usual safer weather periods. MB

It's Now The South Side

NEWS: This morning, China announced it is restricting world mountaineers from climbing Everest and Cho Oyu. Only Chinese climbers will be allowed, carrying the Olympic torch to the summit in a supposed celebration of sportsmanship and Olympic ideals. The Chinese have revoked all team permits from climbing Everest, Cho Oyu, Lhakpa Ri & North Col for this year. The official line: "concern of heavy climbing activities, crowded climbing routes and increasing environmental pressures will cause potential safety problems in Qomolangma areas (included Mt. Cho-Oyu) in this Spring season, the limited capacity of reception in addition, we are not ability to accept your expedition, so please postpone your climbing project to after 10th May. For this please accept our deeply regret." So we're going to see if we can climb the South Side, like everyone else.
MB

The Climb

Mark will be attempting to climb Everest (also called Chomolungma) to it's summit at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) via the North Ridge in Spring 2008. The route begins from the north side of Everest in Tibet. Expeditions trek to the Rongbuk Glacier, setting up Base Camp at (5800m) on a gravel plain just below the glacier. An intermediate base camp (6400m)is used during acclimatisation. Camp 1 (7010m) North Col provides the springboard for the remainder of the ascent. Camp 2 (7500m) situated at the top of the North Ridge snowslopes. Camp 3 (7800m) high up on the North Ridge. Camp 4 (8300m) established below the first step and the start of the more technically challenging section of the ridge. Climbers must first make their way through three rock bands known as First, Second and Third Steps. Once above these steps, the final summit slopes (50 to 60 degrees) lead to the top.