Pulled this article from a recent issue of Natu

IF THE CRITERION YOU USE to measure the majesty of mountains is simple math,
then the greatest peak on earth is Everest; at 29,035 feet, it surpasses K2
by 785 feet. If popularity is the gauge, the answer seems equally obvious:
More than 1,600 people have been to the top of Everest, claiming all manner
of "firsts," including but by no means limited to: the first one-legged
summiter, the first one-armed summiter, the first person to sleep on the
summit, the first live TV broadcast from the summit, the first person to
make five summits in five consecutive years, and the first husband-and-wife
team to fling themselves off the summit in a tandem paraglider. This year,
another 262 climbers have reached the highest point on the planet as of
press time. And in 2008, the Chinese intend to carry the Olympic torch to
the top on their way to Beijing.

Now my question is this - isn't the air at 29,035 feet just too thin and the
oxygen too depeleted for the flame to be able to sustain itself? Assuming
that there is a pause in the near constant gale force winds at the summit.