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Climbers prepare for final torch assault on Everest
Everest Base Camp (China)—A total of 31 Chinese
climbers, 22 of them ethnic Tibetans, are on Mount Everest fixing
routes and repairing camps for the final assault on the summit with
the Beijing Olympic torch, officials said on Tuesday.
In a departure from the usual tight control of information about the
project, China mountaineering team spokesman Zhang Zhijian listed
the full team of climbers, which also includes eight Han Chinese and
one climber from the Tujia minority.
Zhang would not disclose when the final ascent would take place and
said the heavy snow over the weekend had been a minor setback to the
task of getting the Olympic flame to the top of the world’s highest
mountain.
“The heavy snowfall has destroyed the routes we fixed and the camps
we had prepared,” he told a news briefing. “Our climbing torch
bearers are busy rebuilding the routes and camps. It has affected us
a little but not too much.”
The three women in the climbing team include experienced 39-year-old
Ji Ji, whose husband Rena was killed when a rockslide hit his car on
his way to climb the 8,080 metre Gasherbrum 1 peak in Pakistan in
2005.
In 1999, Ji Ji and Rena became the third married couple to summit
Everest together. Ji Ji returned to Pakistan last year to claim the
Gasherbrum 1 peak, the world’s 11th highest, for her late husband.
The oldest climber is 45-year-old Luoze, while teenager Ding Chen,
still a couple of months shy of his 20th birthday, is the youngest.
Zhang said the team had been selected for their passion for the
Olympics, their physical condition and recommendation by their work
unit or institution.
“Many of them are not professional climbers, especially the Han
Chinese,” he said. “They are mainly university students, but they
have the passion. They do have experience of climbing at least one
summit of more than 6,000 metres.”
The flame that will be taken to the Everest peak was taken from the
main Olympic torch when it arrived in Beijing in March. Organisers
have kept plans for the ascent a closely guarded secret for fear
that it may be hit by protests.
Anti-Chinese demonstrations disrupted the international stretch of
the longest torch relay in Olympic history after the March 14 riots
in Lhasa sparked off unrest in Tibetan areas of western China.—AFP
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