First live TV pictures beamed from top of Everest

A group of Chinese climbers who conquered Mount Everest beamed the first live television pictures from the summit today.

The broadcast showed several climbers at the top and a further five or six only metres away, struggling to reach the peak.

As the final mountaineers fought their way up the steep slope, they paused after every step – the effort wracking their bodies.

Some of those who had already reached the top went down to help the remaining climbers.

The pictures, broadcast on Chinese television and aired on Sky News, initially showed clear blue sky, but as they waited for the rest of the group, the weather gradually closed in.

A Chinese commentator said: “Almost all the team members have successfully reached the top of the mountain.

“The order has been issued from the captain of the team that it is time for them to go down the mountain, otherwise they will probably be in a difficult situation when they go through the process of descending.

“Through the camera we can see that the rest of the climbers who are climbing - who are approaching the summit – are in our sight.”

The team – which included one woman – had climbed for 12 hours before reaching the summit.

“We can see clouds are flying on top of the mountain and this is at the elevation of 8,848 metres,” the commentator said.

“Every step of the way should feel difficult ... so you have to go through a kind of interval in order to inhale oxygen for the next few minutes.”

As the Chinese team celebrated their efforts, strong winds and deteriorating weather thwarted other attempts to scale the world’s highest mountain.

With only a few days left of the climbing season, more than 100 climbers had hoped to reach the top after several days of better weather, including five Irish climbers.

A record number of climbers are trying to scale the Himalayan peak this month to mark the 50th anniversary of the first summit ascent by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953, as part of a British-led team.

More than 1,200 climbers have reached the summit since then, while nearly 200 have died on the mountain’s slopes.

To mark the golden jubilee of the conquest of the peak, veteran mountaineers are gathering in the Nepalese capital next week.

Among them are Sir Edmund and Junko Tabei, who in 1975 became the first woman to reach the summit. Tenzing Norgay died in 1986.