Emotions high as Olympic torch scales Everest

CHINA: The Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, an emotional moment for China and the crowning of the Beijing Olympics torch relay that was dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour.

Climbers, all wearing red, shouted "Beijing welcomes you!" and "tashi delek" - a Tibetan greeting meaning "may everything be well" - after lighting the torch on the 8,848-metre (29,030-ft) peak at the end of a seven-hour climb with the Olympic flame protected in a lantern.

"Today's success is not just the success of the mountaineers, it is the success of the Chinese people," Hu Jiayan, deputy director of the General Administration of Sports, said. "I was deeply moved by the devotion of the climbing torch bearers but on their backs were standing millions of Chinese people."

Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world after the deadly March 14 riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and subsequent unrest in other Tibetan areas of China.

Three months to the day before the Games open, the first batch of climbers from a 31-strong team set out at about 1.30 am (1730 GMT) from a camp at 8,300 metres.

The climbers trudged slowly to the summit, in the final stages, staging a mini-relay. They unfurled the Chinese national flag, a flag with the five Olympic rings and a flag bearing the Beijing Olympic logo.

"All the ethnicities of the Tibet Autonomous Region are very proud, " Wu Yingjie, executive vice chairman of the region, said.

"The Tibetan ethnicity in particular has made great devotions to the big event." "I'm really very excited," said Guisang, an ethnic Tibetan and the second Chinese woman to climb Everest. "I'm so very happy to be one of two women up there carrying the torch."

Security around the world's highest mountain, which sits astride the border of the Chinese region of Tibet and Nepal, was tight as China sought to prevent any demonstrations marring the spectacle.

The climbing team, which included 22 Tibetans, eight Han Chinese and one man from the Tujia minority, had been on the mountain for more than a week preparing the route along the north-east ridge.

Two days of snow at the weekend destroyed some of the roped paths and camps but by Wednesday, the penultimate camp at 7,790 metres was renovated and the climbers, also including three women, braced for the final push.

The official Xinhua news agency jumped the gun on time the torch was lit, but it was lit several minutes later. The Beijing organisers paused the main torch relay, scheduled to pass through the southern city of Shenzhen on Thursday, while the final push for the summit was taking place.

The Everest flame will be reunited with the main flame later in the relay, possibly when it passes through Lhasa in mid-June.

Everest Base Camp, Thursday, Reuters