Ciren Wang Mu carried the Olympic torch to the summit of Mount Everest.
Now I don’t want to get into the whole political side of China and the Olympics, but I don’t think they should have closed off the mountain for this event and I will say I think the Olympics shouldn’t be about politics…but more about peace. I’m sure others have their own views on this subject…but I think it was a cool publicity stunt non-the-less
Anyway, a group of Chinese climbers on exchange through the American Alpine Club (and staying at the Climber’s Ranch) visited the store the other day, and it turns out a few of them were part of the team that carried the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest last month. To top it off, Ciren Wang Mu, who actually carried it on the final push to the summit was there too. They didn’t speak much English, but I did learn a little about the event…and of course lent them my expertise and advice on some gear questions they had.
Anyway, it turns out the team consisted of about 36 selected Chinese climbers and a special jet power torch was stored in a concealed box for most of the climb. When the team was 200M from the summit, the remaining members transferred the flame to a different torch…and took turns carrying it to the top.
Huh…I thought someone would have voiced their opinion on the China Olympics.
Meh, politics + skiing, meh.
🙂
…oh it will happen steve….I hope.
closing Everest was quite lame, but not any more lame than having highly trained secret police running with the torch to ward of the throngs of expected protesters. If you are in a position of guarding something from protesters with undercover special forces-type guys, and closing (with military force) a mountain like Everest in order to further your publicity stunt, as China did, is that an acknowledgment of the fact that something is wrong? is it an admission of guilt?
One of my biggest dissapointments of the last few months was watching the energy of the torch protests fade out after London and San Fran. The Chinese govt. is disgusting and they way they treat naysayers is equally so. I feel like anybody supporting the olympics this year are doing a disservice to the people of Tibet, and to humanity in general.
if you can’t boycott the olympics, at least you can boycott the sponsors.
other than that, nice vid yesterday…getting better all the time…just hafta keep hoping you run out of PJ tracks!
I knew I could count on you Gringo.
Thanks for the 0.02.
you’re right Gringo, if the chinese have to hide the torch, employ brutal crowd control tactics and even skip huge chunks of the globe fearing reprisal, then there is definately something wrong and i can’t believe people don’t realize this. IT IS a disgrace to the tibetan and nepalese people who revere Everest as a goddess, that the nausiatingly bright torch of china was shining on top like a beacon of human rights deprivation. Shameful. To anyone who can’t publicaly disruptthe games or don’t know how you can help protest not only the 2008 games but the despicable chinese govt, climb your favorite peak and light a red flare on top on the day of the official torch lighting.