The first live television pictures were today beamed from the top of Mount Everest, 50 years after it was first scaled.
But severe weather conditions on the south side of the mountain delayed the final bid for the summit by the Irish mountaineering team, led by Cork-man Mr Pat Falvey. The four climbers, including Derry woman Ms Hannah Shields, were forced to retreat to safety at 26,000 feet.
The TV broadcast was made by a joint Chinese/South Korean team and showed a group of jubilant but exhausted climbers resting at the summit in yellow, red and purple parkas, some wearing oxygen masks and goggles. The pictures were shown on the state-run China Central Television (CCTV), which reaches hundreds of people.
"The wind is strong, extremely strong. We, the first team, are standing here expressing our best wishes to the Chinese people," one member of the team said into a fur-covered microphone.
While previous expeditions to Everest have been captured on film for both the big screen and television, the Chinese climbers were the first to beam live TV pictures from the top.
Twenty-five teams are attempting to scale the mountain on the 50th anniversary of the first conquest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgey Sherpa on May 29th, 1953. Since then, some 1,200 people have scaled Everest and 175 have died on its slopes.