by Herve Clerc

CHAMONIX, France, March 3 (AFP) - An avalanche of criticisms of a Franco-Chinese Everest expedition, perceived as endorsing the Chinese presence in Tibet, has forced postponement of the project.

The expedition, organised by Serge Koenig, a guide in this French Alpine resort, was due to have been staged this spring, but will now get underway at best by the spring of 1988 and Koenig told AFP he was not ruling out completely abandoning the project.

Rarely in the history of mountaineering has an expedition excited such passion.

Chantal Mauduit, the ace woman climber who scaled her fifth 8,000 metre summit without oxygen last June, condemned the project as "an expedition of collaborationists" with Chinese repression in Tibet.

More than 2,000 people, most of them mountaineers, have signed a petition protesting the Everest expedition because of Beijing's repression in Tibet.

The French Alpine Club (CAF), which organized the petition, says the mission to scale Everest from the Tibetan side of the world's highest mountain risks being seen as supporting China's policy towards Tibet.

The trip, originally planned for this spring but now delayed until next year, "would legitimize all China's demands on Tibet, contributing to people forgetting the limitless oppression there," said CAF president Andre Croibier.

Top French mountaineers have already said they will boycott the Franco-Chinese attempt to scale the 8,848-metre (29,028-feet) mountain by a new route.

Mountain Wilderness, an international environmental association, called the expedition "a perversion" of mountaineering.

About 20 Chinese and French climbers plan to open a new direct route on the north face of Everest, using fixed ropes to scale a rocky spur at over 7,000 metres (23,100 feet), which will present enormous difficulties.

The expedition, called Alliance 8848, will use oxygen cylinders for more than 2,000 metres before making the final assault.

Koenig denounced his critics as "jealous schemers," saying that for years French expeditions had set off from the Tibetan side of the mountain. "Why should our expedition be more of an endorsement of what goes on in Tibet than the other expeditions or the hundreds of tourists who visit Tibet?"

Prominent climbers such as Christophe Profit and Jean-Christophe Lafaille have boycotted the heavyweight expedition, which has been "strongly condemned" by the CAF for "excessive publicity" and "use of disproportionate resources" which were bound to "flout elementary ethics" and "harm the environment."

The trip, in which Christophe Moulin and other guides will take part, is a throwback to the heavyweight expeditions of old, abandoned by climbers in recent years following the failure of the ascension of K2 in 1979.

A pressurised laboratory will be installed on the north col of Everest at 7,000 metres to be occupied by two doctors, one Chinese and one French, for the duration of the expedition.

The climb will be televised live and helicopters and a satellite will be mobilised to assist coverage.

Koenig, who said UNESCO has approved the expedition, defended the use of fixed ropes. "We cannot risk a death agony being televised live," he said.

The expedition has been approved by the French and Chinese authorities and will be sponsored by French industrialists anxious to gain a foothold in the Chinese market and who have formed the association Alliance 8848.

Croibier said "It is OK to go after contracts in Shanghai or Beijing, but not on the Tibetan side of Everest."

The Chamonix Company of Guides has refused its approval for the expedition saying it is "contrary to mountaineering ethics" and could be interpreted as "support for Chinese policy in Tibet," an autonomous region of China since 1965.

The CAF said it supported the "current trend towards lightweight and rapid climbing," adding that in recent years the use of oxygen had been "discredited."

The closed club of climbers who have ascended the world's 14 summits of more than 8,000 meters, including Reinhold Messner or Erhard Loretan, have used so-called Alpine techniques for rapid ascensions.

Lafaille said there was "talk of 200 people at base camp," saying he was "horrified" at the prospect and also deplored the "excessive publicity" that will surround the expedition.

Lafaille, a specialist in extreme difficulty who has scaled four 8,000-metre summits solo, said however "there are limits to light expeditions."

"I saw this on the Annapurna. There are faces which we cannot attempt at present. It would be suicide. The notion of a heavy expedition is not yet obsolete," Lafaille said.