High wind delays torch climb of Everest

By Nick Mulvenney Reuters - Wednesday, April 30 11:36 am

EVEREST BASE CAMP, China (Reuters) - A Chinese meteorologist on Wednesday ruled out a climb for a special Olympic flame up Mount Everest for at least three days because of the weather.

The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting Olympic torch that arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday after a tumultuous world tour that has been beset by protests and counter-protests over Tibet.

Officials are determined that the Everest relay is most prestigious stage of the global parade and that it will not be spoilt by demonstrations.

Yan Xingguo, head of meteorological services for the relay leg up the world's tallest mountain, blamed the wind for the delay 100 days before the Games begin in Beijing.

"It would be hard to climb the summit today," he said. "It's certainly not possible in the next three days because there is wind above 30 metres per second (108 kilometres per hour) ... According to our experience, we can scale the summit when the wind is 20 metres per second."

Lack of information about just when the flame would start the climb had made journalists doubly miserable at Base Camp, already suffering sub-zero temperatures and altitude sickness.

China began counting down 100 days to the Games on Wednesday with songs, a mass run and prayers.

But over the past few months, Beijing's smooth preparations have been overshadowed by the torch relay's troubled journey around the globe, with protesters, especially in London, Paris and San Francisco, targeting China's human rights record, in particular its policies on Tibet.

The red carpet was rolled out in Hong Kong for the torch's return to Chinese soil with authorities criticised for barring activists from entering the city.

Three thousand police will guard the torch during its eight-hour relay in the city on Friday.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Fogarty)

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