TOP OF THE WORLD: Climbers holding China and Olympic flags, as well as the Olympic torch, on the summit of Mount Everest yesterday. -- PHOTO: XINHUA

The mix of the team was Beijing's way of sending a message of ethnic unity following the unrest in Tibet, observers noted.

The flame's arrival at the top of the world's highest peak, 92 days before the Games open in Beijing, has been cast by Chinese organisers as the highlight of the 130-day run, the longest Olympic torch relay in history.

But what was billed as a 'journey of harmony' became intensely controversial after riots broke out in Tibet in March.

Anti-China protests against Beijing's handling of the unrest marred many overseas legs of the relay. This, in turn, sparked a wave of nationalist anger in China.

But yesterday on Everest, there was only a show of unity.

The climbers staged a six-minute relay covering the last 100m to the top of Everest, bearing a specially made high-altitude torch, reported the official Xinhua news agency.

The last torch bearer, Tibetan mountaineer Tsering Wangmo, reached the summit at 9.17am after a six- to eight-hour climb with her 19-member team from a camp farther down the mountain.

Climbers yelled the Beijing Olympic slogan 'One World, One Dream', and unfurled China and Olympic flags as they huddled together at the 8,848m summit. Their ascent was broadcast live across China.

Even as Chinese across the country cheered the climb yesterday, pro-Tibet independence activists accused Beijing of 'attempting to underscore its baseless claims to sovereignty over Tibet'.

But Vice-President Xi Jinping, who also heads a high-level committee overseeing the Games, congratulated the team in a letter: 'This is one of the greatest events in the history of the Olympic Games, and a precious gift given by the Chinese to the Olympics and people worldwide.'

tracyq@sph.com.sg

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