As photo ops go, the visibility certainly could have been better. As the members of a Chinese team bearing the Olympic flame approached the highest point on the earth on Thursday in their thick red jackets, they had to trudge through strong winds and thick fog. There were no sweeping IMAX views in the footage released by Chinese national television. The only bright spot was the light emanating from Olympic flame they had lugged successfully to the top of Mount Everest. In a torch relay that has rarely gone smoothly, this was one instance where the Chinese government had no quarrel with the going getting rough. Climbing Everest, or Mount Qomolangma as it is known in China, is all about triumphing over extreme adversity, and on that count, the Chinese proved their point. They have the moxie and technology to keep the flame from dying despite low oxygen at the summit and days of weather-related delays at Everest base camp. But the rest of the message was definitely more muddled.