A Chinese expedition team has safely returned to their base, after finishing collecting data on the top of Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest in the West. The 24 member team reached the summit on Sunday as part of a mission to re-measure the world's highest peak. In 1975, China conducted its first measurement of Mount Qomolangma, finding it was 8848.3 meters above sea level. However, even mountains grow and shrink. So 30 years later, Chinese scientists have again set out to answer just how high Mount Qomolangma is today.

At three-thirty Sunday morning, the mountaineers and researchers left their base camp at 8,300 meters above sea level.

Nearly eight hours later, they reached the frozen summit of Mount Qomolangma, braving strong gales and temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.

The team spent about an hour on the summit, gathering data that's essential for a final measurement.

Experts say good weather conditions aided the mission.

They originally planned to reach the peak on May the fifth.

But harsh weather hampered their progress.

The expedition team started their descent at 12.30 pm Beijing time.

After data analysis, they will announce their findings and the height of the mountain in August.

Meanwhile, a second group of climbers and scientists with the expedition plan to scale the summit on Monday.

The expedition established a logistics center at the foot of Mount Qomolangma in early April.

They gradually moved up the mountain, setting up four camps at different elevations along the way.

The camp at 8,300 meters above sea level was the final stop before the last, most challenging climb to the summit.

Determining the current altitude of Mt. Qomolangma is just part of a comprehensive research program the scientists are conducting on the world's highest mountain.

This expedition is China's first extensive survey of Mt. Qomolangma in the past 30 years.

Their primary goal is to assess the impact of global climate change on the Himalayan environment.

(Source: cctv.com)