Climb Every Mountain, Part 2

More on the saga going on at Mt.Everest...

"BEIJING (AP) — China's new plan for press coverage of the Olympic torch's ascent of Mount Everest has touched off a new controversy.

Health experts and media groups said Wednesday the plan will expose reporters to undue health risks due to the altitude.

It also underscores Beijing's worries about reporting in Tibet and adds another sour note to what Beijing hoped would be a grand feat — taking the torch up the world's tallest peak. Like the entire torch relay, the event has become more contentious after last month's protests of Chinese rule in Tibet, where Everest stands.

Under the new schedule introduced by Beijing Olympic officials Tuesday, reporters' time in Tibet would be halved, to about 10 days, most of it in transit. The trip from Beijing, just above sea level, to the Everest base camp at 16,800 feet would be compressed to three days — a third of the adjusting time experts recommend to ward off the sometimes fatal effects of sudden exposure to low oxygen levels at high altitude.

"To take a week or two, it's acceptable, and to take three days, it's ridiculous," said Dr. Robert Schoene, a mountaineer and expert on altitude sickness at University of California-San Diego. "If you take low-landers who are healthy, almost everybody, at least 80 to 90 percent, would get acute mountain sickness in three days."

The plan drew complaints from most of the nine foreign media organizations invited to Everest, including The Associated Press."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hN6Mq4zTXgcs8x8GNsYMOmMdJl6wD907O7UG0