Olympic flame reaches top of the world
The Olympic flame for the Beijing Games was carried to the top of Mount Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) by Chinese climbers at 9:18 am Beijing Time on Thursday. [Full Coverage]
Norbu Zhamdu (L) lights the Olympic torch of the first torchbearer Gegyi with a kindling at the top of the 8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) The lantern carrying the Olympic flame for the Beijing Games was carried to the top of the mountain at 9:00 a.m. Beijing time. Norbu Zhamdu lit the torch with a specially designed lighter at 9:11 and the unprecedented relay concluded at 9:17. The relay on Mt. Qomolangma started with Gyigyi as the first bearer and Wang Yongfeng as the second. Wang, member of the backup team, handed the torch to Nyima Cering, captain of the 12-member Attack Team, who yelled "One World, One Dream" - the Beijing Olympic slogan, before passing the flame to Huang Chungui.
Chinese climbers display flags at the top of the 8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) The fifth and last torchbearer, Cering Wangmo, stood silently on the peak with her torch while other 18 team members unfurled Chinese, Olympic and Beijing Olympic flags. Wangmos younger brother Daintar, working for China Central Television which live broadcasted the flames Qomolangma journey, recorded history with a handycam. Clustered together at the summit, all 12 members of the Attack Team and seven backup climbers cheered "We made it." One climber shouted "Long Live Beijing" and another "Beijing welcomes you." Despite strong winds and freezing temperatures at the summit, the special torch stayed alight and bright with the help of Chinese rocket scientists. In January 2006, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, an institute that specializes in designing burning systems for rockets, was entrusted with the task of designing the combustion system for Beijings Olympic torch. Liu Xingzhou, the chief engineer for the designing project, said the same principle was adopted to keep the torch flame flaring on Mt. Qomolangma as much as to keep rocket motors flaring in thin air.
Chinese climbers display flags at the top of the 8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Nineteen climbers who stayed overnight at the 8,300-meter Attack Camp were waken up at around 1:00 a.m.. After a brief ritual of paying respect to the worlds highest mountain, the first team of climbers started off at 1:30 and the second team followed at 3:30. They have left the top of Mount Qomolangma at about 10 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday after relaying the Olympic torch on the worlds highest peak. They are expected to reach the 7,028-meter-high camp or even the 6,500-meter-high camp before the sunset. The Beijing Olympic torch relay is the longest and most ambitious ever planned, traveling 137,000 kilometers across five continents in 130 days. The torch returned to the Chinese mainland at the beginning of May and is to tour boomtown Shenzhen in south Chinas Guangdong province late in the day.
Graphics shows the route on the north slope along which the Beijing Olympic flame is to be carried to Mt. Qomolangma. (Xinhua/Ma Yan)
Following are the members of the Attack Team of climbers carrying the Beijing Olympic flame to the top of Mt. Qomolangma: Captain: Nyima Cering Members: Backup team: Captain: Celo Members: At 3:00 am (1900 GMT) Thursday, the climbers started the final assault at the worlds highest peak from the Attack Camp located at 8,300 meters above sea level. They are expected to reach the 8844.43-meter summit at around 10:00 am.
Nineteen climbers, including seven backup climbers, had gathered in the Attack Camp. They were waken up by a folk song at 1:30 am and prayed in a ritual at 2:00. The Beijing Olympic torch relay in the south Chinese city of Shenzhen, previously scheduled to start Thursday morning, will kick off at noon, according to relay organizers. Timeline of Mt. Qomolangma expeditions Following is a list of historical expeditions of Mt. Qomolangma, the worlds highest peak, to which Chinese mountaineers are carrying the Beijing Olympic flame on Thursday morning: 1922 - George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce climbed up the North Ridge and Face to 8,320 meters on May 23 in the second British expedition using oxygen for the first time. 1922 - George Mallory led a third attempt of the same expedition on June 7, but set off an avalanche, which killed seven Sherpa climbers, the first reported deaths on Mt. Qomolangma. 1953 - First successful ascent to the summit of Mt. Qomolangma by the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal climbing the south Col Route on May 29. 1963 - First summit ridge traverse by a United States expedition, namely Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, starting from the west and descending over the south-west. 1965 - Indian Nawang Gombu became the first man to reach the summit twice. 1975 - Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman on the peak on May 16. 1975 - Chinese Phantog became the first woman to reach the summit from the north on May 27. 1978 - Italian Reinhold Messner and Austrian Peter Habeler became the first climbers to reach the summit without oxygen tanks. 1980 - First winter ascent by a team from Poland (Leszek Cichy, Krzysztof Wielicki) on an expedition led by Andrzej Zawada. 1980 - Italian Reinhold Messner became the first man to climb Mt. Qomolangma alone and without oxygen tanks. 1983 - Lou Reichardt, Kim Momb, and Carlos Buhler became the first climbers to summit the East Face. 1988 - First successful meeting on the peak on May 5 when a joint team of China, Japan and Nepal reached the top from both the north and south simultaneously and crossed over to descent from the opposite sides. Its also the first time that the expedition was broadcast live worldwide on the peak and photographed from an aircraft. 1988 - Marc Batard completed the southeast route ascent without supplementary oxygen in the record time of 22 hours 30 minutes from Base Camp to summit. 1993 - Ramon Blanco of Spain became the oldest person to reach the summit aged 60 years, 160 days. 1995 - Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to climb Mt. Qomolangma alone and without oxygen tanks. 1996, 1999 - Cathy ODowd became the first woman to reach the summit from northern (1999) and southern (1996) routes. 2000 - On October 7 Davo Karnicar from Slovenia accomplished an uninterrupted ski descent from the top to the Base Camp in five hours. 2001 - Marco Siffredi of France became the first person to ever descend Mt. Qomolangma on a snowboard on May 24. 2001 - Erik Weihenmayer of the United States became the first blind person to reach the summit on May 25. 2007 - Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to reach the summit on May 22. He was aged 71 years and 61 days at that time. 2008 - Chinese climbers carried the Beijing Olympic flame to the summit on May 8.
This picture taken on May 7, 2008 shows tents at the Attack Camp of Mt. Qomolangma, at the altitude of 8,300 meters in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region.(Xinhua Photo)
This picture taken on May 7, 2008 shows tents at the Attack Camp of Mt. Qomolangma, at the altitude of 8,300 meters in southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region(Xinhua Photo) (Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2008) |
Date:2008-5-8 From:Xinhua News