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]
Watch Beijing Olympic torch relay on Mt. Qomolangma for first time in history
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 China's 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 China's 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.
Wangmo's younger brother Daintar, working for China Central Television which live broadcasted the flame's 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 Beijing's 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 China's 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 world's 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 world's 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 China's Guangdong province late in the day.