Emotions high as Olympic flame scales Everest

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Beijing student Huang Chungui passed the flame to ethnic Tibetan woman Ciren Wangmu, who trudged the final steps unaided by oxygen to hold the torch aloft.

That prompted jubilation among the reserve climbers, officials and a small team of journalists, who had endured thin air at high altitude, sub-freezing temperatures and basic sanitation as they waited for the final ascent.

The tent to which the live pictures were relayed from the summit was rent with cheers and tears and several renditions of the Chinese national anthem echoed out across the Himalayas.

The Everest 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.

"The Tibetan ethnicity in particular has made great devotions to the big event," said Wu Yingjie, executive vice chairman of the region.

CONTROVERSY

Overseas pro-Tibet groups condemned China for taking the torch up Everest.

"Beijing's conquest of Everest is a political move meant to reassert China's control of Tibet," Tenzin Dorjee, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet, said in an emailed statement.

Tibetan groups said they planned prayer vigils around the world later in the day to mourn those killed in protests in Tibet.

Concerned that protesters would try to disrupt the assault on Everest, which sits astride the border of the Chinese region of Tibet and Nepal, China had effectively closed off the region and released only limited information to the media.

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