A High and a Mystery for the Olympic Torch

Chinese climbers raise the Olympic torch on Everest

A team of Chinese climbers carried the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest today. After an international torch run that was met with protest and controversy, the summit bid is a clear success, and a welcome one from the eyes of the Beijing government. Chinese vice president Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations on behalf of the government and the Communist Party Central Committee “to all the comrades involved in the torch relay" as well as their gratitude to the IOC and foreign friends who supported the effort.

The climbers face cold, altitude and snowstorms that destroyed fixed ropes on the mountainside. And my colleague Lin Yang notes that climb leader Li Zhixin discussed another potential, somewhat murky obstacle the team faced on their final bid. According to an account from the Chinese-language China News site, Li said the climbers spotted an uninvited group on the mountain, but noticed their lights in time to avoid them. “We were not afraid and we overcame the disturbance,” Li was quoted as saying. The Chinese side of the 29,029-foot mountain was closed to other climbers, and the Nepalese government posted soldiers to block climbers from going near its side of the summit. Nepal also deported an American climber who was found to be carrying a “Free Tibet” banner. So what exactly was the disturbance that Li referred to? That's still a mystery at this point.