A Chinese survey team became the first and perhaps only group today to climb Mt. Everest this year, part of a project to measure the exact height of the world's tallest mountain again.
The activity, reported by Chinese state media, comes after both China and Nepal canceled the spring climbing season on the mountain that straddles their border in order to prevent the new coronavirus(冠状病毒) from spreading among expedition teams that usually live for weeks in tightly packed camps with little emergency medical help.
That could make the Chinese survey team the only people this year to reach the peak of Everest, which has seen growing crowds of climbers and more and more garbage in recent years as commercial operations make it easier to climb the mountain.
A 53-member team from China’s Ministry of National Resources has been conducting scientific work on Everest since early March. China's network of Beidou satellites is being used in the survey to decide the mountain's height and natural resources at present, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Data on snow depth, weather and wind speed is also being measured to help in glacier watching and ecological protection, it said.
China has conducted six major surveys of the mountain, known in China as Qomolangma, since the People's Republic was set up in 1949. It's height was recorded at 8,848.13 meters (29,029 feet) in 1975 and 8,844.43 meters (29,017 feet) in 2005. China has also taken advantage of the lack of climbers to collect garbage from Everest and other popular climbing peaks, the report said.
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