A total of 31 Chinese climbers are on Mount Everest fixing routes and repairing camps for the final assault on the summit with the Beijing Olympic torch.

Bad weather over the past week or so has denied Chinese mountaineers the opportunity to take the flame up Everest, depriving China of what it had hoped would be the defining moment of the torch relay ahead of the Beijing Games in August.

The Everest flame is separate from the globetrotting Olympic torch that arrived in mainland China on Sunday for the first leg of its domestic relay after a protest-harried overseas journey.

Two days of snowfall over the weekend were followed by sunshine and blue skies on Monday and, although the mountain was a brilliant white, there was no sign of the "flag" of powder blowing off the peak that indicates dangerous high winds at the summit.

"The heavy snow brings us hardship but it won't have any great impact and our mountaineering project is continuing as planned," Zhang Zhijian, spokesman for the Chinese Mountaineering Association, told a news briefing.

Detailed plans of the project remain secret as organisers want to ensure that nothing disrupts this ambitious splinter leg of the torch relay after the international phase of the main relay was marred by anti-Chinese protests over Tibet.

Despite not giving any specific details of the plans, Zhang did give an idea of what conditions the climbers on the mountain had experienced over the weekend and would face as they looked to push onwards towards the 8,848-metre (29,030 ft) peak.

"If the snow is deeper on the mountain, that takes a lot out of the climbers as they use up far more energy," he said. "Thick snow also covers the route and the camps that have been fixed along the way and much of the work you have already done is in vain.

"Thick snow can cause avalanches in some terrains - another threat to the lives of the climbers," he added. "In addition fog follows snowstorms and that will reduce visibility. The climbing torch bearers could lose their way. That could be fatal to climbers."

Zhang said he could not give more details of the progress of the climb because of the quickly-changing weather conditions.

"The date of the final ascent will be decided by the team commander and he will base his decision on many factors," he said.

Despite the amount of prestige China has invested in this leg of the torch relay, Zhang said the climbers and support staff were under no pressure to summit on or before a particular date.

"Mountaineering is a scientific pursuit, we will show respect to science and nature and disregard other pressures," he said.

Shao Shiwei, of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), remained upbeat about the project despite the weekend's snowfall.

"The climate over the last few days has brought us many problems but we can also say that we are moving closer and closer to our goal," he said.

Eurosport