Determined climb to top of the world

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-09 07:42

Like most mountaineers, Ji Ji, 39, has a sturdy build, deep sun-tanned skin and wears a sweet bright smile. She wasn't surprised at being honored.

"Taking the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Qomolangma was a great feat. It's a matter of pride for all Chinese and we realized our promise to the world."

Coming from a Tibetan family in Nyingchi prefecture of eastern Tibet, Ji Ji became a mountaineer 20 years ago. She and her husband Rin Na were well known and called the "snow mountain lovers" in mountaineering circles. They were the only couple in the world to reach the top of Mount Qomolangma together on May 27, 1999.

As they lit the flame for a national sports event in 1999, the two wished that they could one day bring the Olympic flame to the world's pinnacle together, but little did they foresee the lurking dangers. On May 27, 2005, on their way to the Gasherbrum peak in Pakistan, Rin Na was hit by falling boulders and died.

It was the couple's sixth attempt to ascend Mount Qomolangma, and the only time they had ever had an accident.

Ji Ji was determined to fulfill her husband's wish. When she succeeded in climbing the Gasherbrum peak, which is 8,068 m above sea level and one of the most dangerous peaks for mountaineers, she secretly took along her husband's ashes.

On May 8, 2008, Ji Ji and four other Olympic torch bearers took the holy flame to the world's highest peak.

"There was a sixth torch bearer," Ji Ji later told the media, "and it was Rin Na."