China draws a veil across the mountains | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Carrying the Olympic flame to the summit of Everest live on television is, even by Chinese standards, a demanding challenge.

This week mountaineering authorities in Lhasa announced they wanted to limit the number of foreign climbers on the Tibetan side of the 8,850 metre (29,035ft) peak in spring 2007 to allow a trial run to assess the technology and manpower needed to start the Beijing Olympics from the summit of the world.

Sounds impressive doesn’t it ? Something the world will watch in awe. An impressive feat of human achievement set on the world’s highest mountain.

But, not that long ago something less impressive happened there.

Kelsang Namtso, a 17 year old Tibetan nun was traveling from Nagchu prefecture to study at the Dolma Ling nunnery in India with 73 other refugees.

They had run out of food and were trying to cross the Nangpa La, a 5,800 metre pass 15 miles west of Everest, to Nepal. This trail is overlooked by the base camp of mount Cho Oyu. What Romanian mountaineer Sergiu Matei witnessed and filmed has been broadcast around the world.

It was reported in China as self defense , to me it looks like a young girl shot in the back.

Look for yourself.