China Carries Olympic Flame to Everest Peak

China's ambitious plan to bear an Olympic flame to the top of the world's highest mountain paid off yesterday as the torch reached the summit of Everest. The feat - three months to the day before the opening ceremony in Beijing - has been cast as the highlight of the relay, dogged by protests as it traveled around the world but now greeted with cheers as it journeys across Chinese soil.

Five mountaineers escorted the flame to the 8,848-meter peak after a six-hour climb in strong winds and temperatures that dropped below -30C. They unfurled the Chinese flag, Olympic flag and a Beijing Olympic banner and shouted "long live Tibet!" and "long live Beijing" into a television camera.

"We have realized a promise to the world and a dream of all the Chinese people," the base camp commander, Li Zhixin, told reporters as the tent rang with cheers and renditions of the national anthem.

He apologized for a news blackout on the attempt, which had infuriated the local, as well as international, media, but added: "We didn't have any choice. I can tell you there are people still out there trying to interfere with the event. Our climbing torchbearers found their tracks and saw their lights up there on our routes."

Twenty-two of the 31-strong team are Tibetans, including Ciren Wangmu, who carried the torch on the final steps to the peak. The flame was taken from the Olympic torch in Beijing earlier this year. The main flame will be in Shenzhen today and the two will be reunited later.