diff --git a/ci-conda.Dockerfile b/ci-conda.Dockerfile
index d97460a..d396f15 100644
--- a/ci-conda.Dockerfile
+++ b/ci-conda.Dockerfile
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ RUN chmod g+ws /opt/conda
 RUN <<EOF
 # Ensure new files/dirs have group write permissions
 umask 002
+# update everything before other environment changes, to ensure mixing
+# an older conda with newer packages still works well
+conda update --all -y -n base
 # install expected Python version
 conda install -y -n base "python~=${PYTHON_VERSION}.0=*_cpython"
 conda update --all -y -n base
diff --git a/matrix.yaml b/matrix.yaml
index faa1461..eb0d503 100644
--- a/matrix.yaml
+++ b/matrix.yaml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ CUDA_VER:
   - "12.2.2"
   - "12.5.1"
 PYTHON_VER:
+  - "3.9"
   - "3.10"
   - "3.11"
   - "3.12"
diff --git a/versions.yaml b/versions.yaml
index ba6860c..fbc5c68 100644
--- a/versions.yaml
+++ b/versions.yaml
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 # prefer sticking with a stable version until a specific reason to update arises.
 SCCACHE_VER: 0.7.7
 # renovate: datasource=github-releases depName=cli/cli
-GH_CLI_VER: 2.54.0
+GH_CLI_VER: 2.55.0
 # renovate: datasource=pypi depName=codecov-cli
-CODECOV_VER: 0.7.3
+CODECOV_VER: 0.7.4
 # renovate: datasource=docker depName=mikefarah/yq versioning=docker
 YQ_VER: 4.44.3
 # renovate: datasource=docker depName=amazon/aws-cli versioning=docker
-AWS_CLI_VER: 2.17.20
+AWS_CLI_VER: 2.17.44