Mount Everest
China has begun paving a path up Mount Everest to make the trek easier for bearers of the 2008 Olympic torch. The Chinese news agency Xinhua said the 67-mile route to Qomolangma Base Camp would become “a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails.” China plans the longest Olympic torch journey in history, an 85,000-mile, 130-day route that spans five continents and goes up and down Mount Everest before ending in Beijing. The inclusion of the mountain, on the border between Tibet and Nepal, is seen as China’s way of demonstrating its sovereignty over Tibet, which it has occupied since 1951. The paving project came as a surprise to environmentalist groups, which had no immediate comment.
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