China names Olympic torch team to ascent Mount Everest

CHINA: China has named the 50-member national team charged with carrying the Olympic torch to the summit of Mount Everest, state media reported Friday.

The flame's ascent up the world's highest peak is billed as a spectacular event in the buildup to August's Olympic Games in Beijing, but security is tight to try to head off any of the protests that have so far chased the flame on its around-the-world relay.

Zhang Zhijian, spokesman for the Chinese Mountaineering Team, said Friday that the team, including mountaineers and support staff, is composed of Han Chinese, ethnic Tibetans, and other ethnic minorities such as Hui, Tu and Tujia, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

"It (climbing the summit) is a collective job; nobody can do it alone," said Zhang, who spoke at a press conference at Everest Base Camp.

Zhang did not reveal the names of the team members and it was unclear how many would actually have the honor of being torch bearers.

No date has been set for the actual ascent, with the expedition's weather expert, Yang Xingguo, saying earlier this week that a brewing storm made a climb unlikely before Saturday. The torch being used was specially designed to burn in frigid, windy, oxygen-thin Himalayan air.

Secrecy has shrouded much of the preparations for the climb to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit of Everest, with China deeply wary of the often-chaotic pro-Tibet protests that have dogged the Olympic torch on its worldwide trip this past month. Beijing, Friday, AP