Faster, stronger, higher, higher and higher

In a scenic spot that literally takes your breath away, the competitive juices run

Skin baked dry and hard by the sun, dark purple lips and the lilt of Tibetan in the air: It was late April, and it was these sights and sounds that greeted us even before we had fully come to terms with a couple of other welcoming presents: the weather and altitude sickness.

We had just arrived at Daocheng Yading Airport, the world's highest civilian airport, 4,411 meters above sea level, which had just been blanketed by snow, something that seemed incongruous for us who had been in balmy Beijing, where short sleeved seemed to be all the go the day before.