More Everest News this morning. The summits don't seem to be coming as fast and furiously as they have been the past two days, but Day 3 of the Summit Push has seen more climbers reach the top, including Nives Meroi who along with her husband Romano Benet reached the summit at 10 A.M. local time. This is Nives' ninth 8000m peak, giving her the same number of summits as Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, and marking them both as the premiere female high altitude mountaineers.
There is some sad news to report from Everest today as well, as Oh Hee-Joon and Lee Hyun-Jo, two very experienced Korean climbers have fallen to their deaths on the South West Face while making their summit bids. Oh Hee-joon in particular has summited eight of the 8000m peaks and had also visited both Poles. He had also topped out on Everest in the past, so his credentials are impressive to say the least. It's always hard having to report on these kinds of incidences, but they are also a part of the danger that we all face when we head out into the mountains. Still, our thoughts are with their friends and familes, as they are with everyone who has lost someone on Everest this season.
In other news, Alan Arnette is reporting that David Tait has canceled his return traverse to the North side. David notes that fatigue and timing both played into his descision to not go for the second traverse. Great work none the less David, and a great example of good judgement. There will be other summits to climb.
Once again, be sure to read Alan's Everest 2007 Page, along with The Adventurist, and ExWeb for all the breaking Everest news throughout the day.
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