Everest 2009: Season Coming to an End?

Saturday marked another round of summits on Everest, with Dave Hahn and the rest of his First Ascent Team successfully reaching the top of the mountain. For Dave, it was his 11th time up Everest, extending hisrecord for most summits by a non-Sherpa to 11.

First Ascent wasn't the only team to summit however, as Himex and IMG put climbers on top as well, including Billi Bierling, who has yet to update her blog to fill us in on the action.

Reports coming in now say that the weather window that has allowed more than 300 climbers to successfully summit, is slamming shut fast. Rain is headed to the area, and it's beginning to look like the Spring climbing season is now coming to a close. Most teams are reporting that they are on their way back down the Khumbu Valley, where they'll catch a flight out of Lukla back to Kathmandu. Alan Arnette is reporting that the weather may actually delay many of those flights however.

Speaking of Alan, he has updated his Everest 2009 page with a recap of the season this is a good read to review everything that went down over the past two months. Definitely a must read and it'll remind you of a few things you may have forgotten or have missed amongst all the news.

Not everything is done on Everest however, as the Lhotse-Everest Traverse team is back up on the mountain, and trying desperately to complete their mission before coming home. They report that it is cloudy and warm on the mountain, with low winds for now, but as I noted above, the weather window is expected to close soon. I'll post updates as they come in.

Finally, check out the video below of the second First Ascent team arriving back in BC. It recaps the season in video as well, and Peter Whittaker sums up nicely, saying "It's time to go home!"