QOMOLANGMA, Tibet -- Thirty reporters, the first media team, reached the Mt. Qomolangma media center Monday for covering the ascent of the Beijing Olympic flame to the world's highest peak.

A German journalist (L) takes a photo April 28, 2008, after thirty reporters reached the Mt. Qomolangma media center Monday for covering the ascent of the Beijing Olympic flame to the world's highest peak. [Xinhua]

The media center, built at an altitude of 5,040 meters, was initiated on April 2, Yang Zhanqi, an official with the media center told Xinhua Monday.

The first team consists of 19 Chinese and 11 foreign journalists.

"It's a little bit tough all through the way here, but it is a high altitude, so I still need to take time to get used to it," said Ariane Reimers, a female reporter from the Beijing Bureau of the German ARD Television.

"It is about five thousand meters high, so I still have headache and sometimes could not sleep well in the past few days.

"We came a long way to reach this high so I really want to write some stories about the torch relay and the torch bearers. It is a great feat to build such a great media center this high and set up camps on the way to the summit. The mountaineers are wonderful," she added.

According to the earlier reports, the lantern carrying the Olympic flame has reached the base camp of Mt. Qomolangma. It is the first time for an Olympic flame to reach the world's highest peak.

The exact time for making the history has not fixed, maybe one day in May depending on the weather condition.

According to measurements made by scientists in 2005, the altitude of Mt. Qomolangma is 8844.43 meters, 3.70 meters lower than the figure obtained in 1975.