Olympic flame may burn on Everest

[emad]

May 27, 2005


From Jane Macartney in Beijing



CHINA wants to carry the Olympic torch to the peak of Everest before the 2008 Games and broadcast the event live.

Olympic organisers said yesterday that a research group was assessing the difficulties of such an enterprise. “It depends on the weather at the time and on when it will happen,” said Liu Jingmin, the executive vice-president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games and the deputy mayor of Beijing.

Chinese mountaineers have scaled Everest, known in China as Qomolangma, more than 10 times and have plenty of experience. “There is no doubt we can make it despite the difficulties. We haven’t decided how to do it,” said Ma Xinxiang, the head of the China national mountaineering team.

China took a ceremonial flame to the top of Everest, the peak of which straddles the China-Nepal border, in a sports competition among China’s ethnic minorities in 1999. That torch was fitted with a special oxygen tank to keep it burning in the thin air and an igniter for when winds blew out the flame.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1629197,00.html

[RobertSeattle]

1. Typo in article - Everest is 29,035 not 20,035 high

Funny how that could slip through.

There were also reports recently that a French helicopter briefly landed on the top of Everest on a clear day.

[Roland99]

2. Helicopter at 29,000 feet? No way

Hell, that chopper that picked up Makalu Gau and Beck Weathers at about 21,000ft was pushing the practical limits

[ozymandius]

3. A helicopter could not have made it that high.

The air is way too thin at that altitude to provide enough lift.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Press release

http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/article_002441.shtml

There are several news reports about it.

[RobertSeattle]

5. Thanks

I had seen several news url from Asian newspapers, but this is the most official thing I've seen about it. I'm quite surprised this hasn't gotten more news - this is quite a feat.

Oh, it was the French? Nevermind...

:evilgrin:

[ozymandius]

9. Well this is a stunning development.

I recall when watching the IMAX film Everest that they had to airlift a climber off the mountain because he had altitude sickness. The climbing team was forced to relocate at one of the lower altitude base camps because, as the narrator and veteran Everest climber said, the air was too thin at high altitudes for helicopter blades to maintain lift.

This achievement the press release describes is really a milestone in aviation.

[nine30]

6. Helicopter ceiling ?

Airplanes have no problem flying at 35000 ft provided they travel fast enough. Helicopter rotors are just rotating wings and if they rotate fast enough among other things, they ought to be able to generate enough lift to reach that altitude. Just wondering.

[Benhurst]

7. If the torch gets blown out,

it would be an appropriate symbol for 2008 Games. Free Tibet now!

[KittyWampus]

8. Thank You.

[Benhurst]

10. You're

welcome. :hi: