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US climber plans millennium celebration on Everest

A United States climber plans to start scaling Mount Everest later this week in the hope of greeting the new millennium at the top of the world's highest mountain.

Robert Anderson, 41, a writer from New York, arrived in Kathmandu earlier this week and plans to leave Kathmandu on November 17 or 20, arriving at his base camp three days later.

Asked on what date he hoped to reach the top, he quickly replied: ''January first.''

He, however, said that this would depend on the weather, saying it would be ''stupid'' to waste a period of good weather waiting for the end of the month.

''If I am at the base camp and the weather is good, I'll go on December 20th, and if it is no good, I'll climb sometime in January,'' he said.

Anderson arrived in Kathmandu shortly after Bradford Washburn of the Boston Museum of Science announced a new altitude for Everest in Washington on Friday.

Washburn said new and exhaustive studies had shown Everest's summit stands at 8,850 metres or 29,035 feet above sea level. Its previously accepted altitude was 8,848 metres or 29,028 feet.

Anderson was travelling from the US when the announcement was made and was unaware of the new figure.

''You mean I have to climb two metres more?'' he said in mock horror.

Reuters

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