Early Tibet And Early To Rise

I just don't get it. When I was a young boy Mt. Everest hadn't yet been climbed, and was considered unconquerable, so it was a very big deal when Edmund Hillary (not yet "Sir Edmund") became a hero by doing the impossible and making it to the summit with his Sherpa guide Tenzig Norkay. Everest was as distant and unattainable as the moon, a presumably enduring symbol of that which could not be reached by man even in his wildest imaginings. Now, bingo, Everest is but a way station on the Olympic torch's route to Beijing, as easily reachable as London and San Francisco, and somewhat less problematic given that there weren't any protestors camping out up there. Come to think of it, I wonder why the Chinese didn't send the flame by way of the moon?