Olympic torch relayed on Mt. Qomolangma for first time in history

The Olympic flame made its first trip to Mount Qomolangma as Chinese mountaineers brought it to the top of the world at 9:12 a.m. Beijing time (0112 GMT) on Thursday.

The torch was lit at about one hundred meters away from the summit and then relayed upwards by five torchbearers.

The last bearer Tsering Wangmo, an ethnic Tibetan and one of the two female climbers on the final assault team, carried the torch to the peak.

The unprecedented relay lasted about six minutes.

"The successful ascent does not only belong to the Chinese Mountaineering Team, but also to our country," said Hu Jiayan, deputy director of the General State Administration of Sports.

Having promised to take the torch relay to Mt. Qomolangma in their bidding campaign, the Beijing organizers gathered a team of 36 climbers. Among them 19 were picked for the final assault starting from the 8,300-meter-high camp in early hours of Thursday.

The final team, dressed in red parkas emblazoned with Olympic logos, should have reached the top earlier. But in order to get better sunlight and hence clear-cut live footage for the TV audience, the climbers slowed down and finally topped the 8844.43-meter (29,035-foot) peak a little more than six hours later.

The 19-member final assault team consists of both ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese, including university students and female climbers. They were spearheaded by ethnic Tibetan Nima Tsering and deputy head Luo Shen who is Han Chinese.

About 30 climbers, including the mountaineering team and the cameramen, scaled Mt. Qomolangma in gusty winds and freezing temperature.

The first four torchbearers are Gigi (female, ethnic Tibetan), Wang Yongfeng (male, Han Chinese), team captain Nima Tsering (male, ethnic Tibetan) and Huang Chungui (male, Han Chinese).

The climbers unfurled the Chinese and Olympic flags at the summit. Some took off their oxygen masks while topping the peak.

"I feel so good as the torchbearer. I know every climber wants to be a torchbearer," Gigi, a two-time Qomolangma climber, told the China Central Television (CCTV) ahead of the ascent.

The Olympic flame was kept in a specially-designed metal canister during the ascent. As the team neared the top, the 28-year-old Norbu Zhamdul, a three-time Qomolangma climber who carried the lantern on his back, opened the lantern, ignited the torch and then passed it to the 39-year-old Gigi.

The torch stayed alight and bright against strong winds, as all the torch, lighter and lantern used for the Qomolangma expedition are high-tech items capable of withstanding gale-force winds, low temperatures and the oxygen-thin air atop Mt. Qomolangma.

"We had planned to take the torch to the top in late April, but strong winds and heavy snow had delayed us again and again. This week we had the first period of good weather," said Li Zhixin, chief of the Base Camp Headquarters of the Torch Relay Qomolangma Leg.

"It is a strong team. Everyone is excellent and I feel so proud of them. We kept our promise and have made our own contribution to the promotion of the Olympic spirit," added Li, a well-known climber himself.

The Olympic flame's first Qomolangma trip was live televised by the CCTV.

Tsering Daintar, a younger brother of the last torchbearer Wangmo, scaled the summit as a CCTV cameraman.

Daintar is a student of the Tibetan Mountaineering School, whose principal Nima Tsering led Thursday's ascent.

The Beijing Olympic torch relay is the longest and most ambitious one, traveling 137,000 kilometers across five continents in 130 days. The torch returned to the Chinese mainland at the beginning of May and is touring South China's boomtown Shenzhen on Thursday.

Olympic flame atop world's highest summit

Chinese mountaineers carried the Olympic flame to the peak of the world's highest mountain at around 9:10 a.m. (0110 GMT) on May 8, fulfilling the promise Beijing made in its Olympic bid.

The scaling of 8,844.43 meter Mt. Qomolangma, known as Mt. Everest in the West, which straddles Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region, added to what has already been a historic Olympic Torch Relay and bonded mountaineering to the Olympics for the first time since its birth as a sport in 1786.

A collective triumph of mountaineers and technicians from various Chinese ethnic groups, the Mt. Qomolangma leg of the Torch Relay gave new meaning to the word "higher" in the Olympic motto and to Beijing's concept of a "High-tech Olympics."

Led by 45-year-old veteran alpinist and head coach Wang Yongfeng, the squad was composed of 36 members, including three females, some students and five coaches. The average age of the group was 30.2 and each member had climbed to an elevation of at least 6,000 meters before.

The ascent officially began when the team left Base Camp, which is 5,200 meters above sea level, for the 6,500 meter point 28 kilometers away, said a spokesman. Heavy snowfall on May 2 and 3 halted the climb.

After the weather turned favorable, the team continued on the remaining 20 kilometers to the summit, stopping at various camps along the way.

A total of 19 mountaineers were selected from among the squad to bring the Olympic flame from the Attack camp -- at the altitude of 8,300 meters -- to the summit of Mount Qomolangma.

The summit assault started at around 1:45 a.m. on May 8 and the team reached the peak at 9:10 a.m.

Training for the mission began 16 months ago. In November of 2006, over 70 climbers started training both in Beijing's Huairou County and in the Tibet Region; joint training was conducted in March of 2007.

Keeping the torch burning through bad weather, low pressure and high altitude was a tremendous technical achievement. In a test run on May 9, 2007, 17 Chinese climbers scaled Mt. Qomolangma with a flame protected in a high-tech torch, designed by a Chinese aerospace company, The success of the test run assured organizers that the Olympic torch would remain lit during the actual Torch Relay.

After the test run, the newly formed Chinese Mountaineering Team prepared themselves for the Olympic Torch Relay climb in Beijing, Yunnan Province and Tibet.