国内英语资讯:China Focus: Mt. Qomolangma remeasuring surveyors arrive at base camp at a height of 6,500 m_时事

国内英语资讯:China Focus: Mt. Qomolangma remeasuring surveyors arrive at base camp at a height of 6,500 m

MOUNT QOMOLANGMA BASE CAMP, May 7 -- A team of more than 30 Chinese surveyors arrived on Thursday at their base camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters, as they aim to remeasure the height of the world's highest mountain.

The team safely arrived at the advance camp at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, after trekking from their base camp, which has an altitude of 5,200 meters, located in Tingri County of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China.

The team will rest up and continue to repair height measuring equipment at the base camp for at least a day before moving on.

They arrived at a transition camp at a height of 5,800 meters at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday and spent the night there. The surveyors began climbing at around 11 a.m., passed by the East Rongbuk glacier, and arrived at the advance camp after a six-hour walk.

The advance camp sits on a slope next to the end of the glacier and is the last camp before the snow line and the ice and snow road. After roughly an hour's walk up from the camp, the surveyors will arrive at the shoe-changing point, where climbers need to wear crampons to continue climbing on the icy road.

Known as the "devil camp," many of the professional mountain guides, who have reached the peak of Mount Qomolangma countless times, also suffer from altitude sickness here due to its geographical location. It's an area surrounded by mountains and poor air circulation.

After the advance camp, there are three more camps at altitudes of 7,028 meters, 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters along the traditional climbing route on the northern slope of Mount Qomolangma.