Sunshine is always after the wind and rainZhang Baotong 2019.2.24

The Laureus World Sports Awards is one of the most influential awards in world sports, and the only global sports awards ceremony, known as the "Oscars of sports". Among the most influential figures in Chinese sports, only Yao Ming, Liu Xiang and Li Na have won this award. At the Laureus World Sports Awards 2019 ceremony in Monaco, 70-year-old Chinese climber Xia Boyu won the Sports Moment of the Year award. The feat of this "footless warrior" who climbed Mount Everest with two prosthetic legs conveyed to the world the sportsmanship of never giving up and fighting to the end, and moved the world. Seeing this old man's award, recalling the scene when he rushed to the summit of Mount Everest in the first season of "Challenging the Impossible", people couldn't help but burst into tears.

I'm afraid that many people will think, climbing Mount Everest is so difficult, facing the extreme danger of nine deaths, why would anyone take risks, or even risk a lifetime?

Mountaineering is indeed dangerous, and climbing Mount Everest is extremely dangerous. You'll have to prepare for a few years, and you'll have to spend months training and climbing, risking your life to climb Everest, but you'll only be able to stay at the top for a short time before you start descending. The descent was still dangerous and difficult. However, its significance is not just to climb to the top and take a look at the infinite scenery of the thousand peaks, but to embody the spirit and will of a nation.

If you know the scene of China's first summit of Mount Everest, you will know the thrill and danger of climbing Mount Everest, and understand its profound and great significance. The first time a Chinese mountaineering team climbed Mount Everest was at 4 a.m. on May 25, 1960, when three of the four people who reached the summit reached the summit. However, after 19 hours of non-stop travel, by the time they reached the summit of 8,848 meters, they had almost run out of oxygen and were too tired to speak. They don't even know if they'll be able to go back to base camp. However, this is how they fulfilled the great trust entrusted to the motherland.

This task was personally delivered by Premier Zhou. At the time, China was competing with India and negotiating a border with Nepal. The two sides are at loggerheads over the ownership of Mount Everest. Nepalese Tenzin Norgai, a guide for the British mountaineering team, climbed Mount Everest from the south slope in 1953. For this reason, Nepal has been calling out China on this matter. The situation was severe, however, the Chinese mountaineering team suffered a major setback on the first ascent, and when they reached an altitude of 7,300 meters, 34 people suffered frostbite of varying degrees and had to retreat to the base camp for treatment. In the face of difficulties, Premier Zhou instructed the mountaineering team to climb Mount Everest at all costs. Vice Premier He Long directly gave a death order to the mountaineering team, even if there was only one person left, they would climb it. So, the climbing team took a break and started the second ascent.

There are two ways to climb Mount Everest, one from the south slope and one from the north slope. The climb from the south slope is easier, the climate is better, the slope is gentler and the danger is lighter. Because Nepal is on higher ground, it is located in the southern part of Mount Everest, and it is located at the waist of Mount Everest. The climb from the northern slope is from Shigatse in Tibet, which is at the foot of Mount Everest. The climb from the north slope is not only long, steep, but also has a complex climate and many glaciers. The Chinese mountaineering team climbed Mount Everest from the north slope, causing a great sensation in the world, demonstrating the perseverance and national spirit of the Chinese people when they conquered Mount Everest. At the same time, it has also won the initiative in the demarcation negotiations with Nepal.

From the experience of the Chinese mountaineering team climbing Mount Everest for the first time, we can know how incredible it is for a 69-year-old legless old man to climb Mount Everest. This is truly a great testimony of "challenging the impossible".

In 1974, at the age of 24, Xia Boyu participated in the selection of Chinese mountaineering team members and was selected, after which he began to participate in the training of the Chinese mountaineering team, and the following year participated in the training and climbing of the Everest commando team with 20 other teammates. According to the advance plan, they are ready to set a world record for the "largest number of people to climb to the top".

Because of the difficult conditions, the road to the base camp was very difficult, and they had to build the camp while building the road themselves. The weather forecast is inaccurate, oxygen is extremely scarce, and a few bottles of oxygen are brought with me, which are generally used for rescue. During their climb, they were blown down the mountain several times by strong winds. They used knotted ropes, tied four people with a rope, and protected each other as they climbed up the mountain, until they reached a height of 8,400 meters, when an accident occurred. The 40-year-old commando leader developed altitude sickness. He carried the walkie-talkie and was responsible for the liaison with the base camp. However, he was speechless.

The captain asked Xia Boyu to give the walkie-talkie to the deputy captain who walked in front. Xia Boyu ignored the rule that the group could not be opened on the high mountain, and went to catch up with the deputy captain in front of him with the walkie-talkie on his back. At that time, both equipment and weather forecasting technology were relatively backward. Xia Boyu is climbing for the first time, and he has no experience, so he can only follow the footprints of others. As a result, as I walked to the summit to an altitude of 8,500 meters above sea level, the more I walked, the more I felt that something was wrong, and I suddenly found that there were no footprints in front of me, and I couldn't even see the summit.

When he came to the side of a large rock wall, he looked down and saw an abyss below, with dark clouds rolling and countless ice cracks opening their mouths. He was so frightened that he didn't even have his soul, and he lay on the rock wall and didn't dare to move. Fortunately, the wind was not strong at that time, otherwise it would have been blown into the huge ice crevasses by the strong winds. However, he can't stay there for too long, the temperature of minus 30 degrees Celsius will quickly freeze him, and once frozen, he will have to die here. He slowly calmed down and began to think of a way to escape. He saw a crack in the rock wall in front of him, so he slowly moved to the crack that was only the width of the sole of his foot, and climbed up little by little, concentrating all his energy and strength on his feet and hands, and being especially careful with every movement. I don't know how long it took, but I finally climbed to the rock wall and saw the path on the ridge. He breathed a long sigh of relief, and he finally escaped from the Grim Reaper, and made his way up the ridge.

After meeting up with their teammates, they struggled to ascend to an altitude of 8,600 meters, at this time, the wind and clouds suddenly changed, the wind was fierce, and the strong high-altitude wind made people unable to stand, let alone march forward against the wind. It took them several hours to travel a few tens of meters with difficulty. If you go against the wind like this, you won't be able to go up for 20 hours. And it's very physically demanding to travel like this. So, they had to camp here. However, it is cold and lacks oxygen, and it is called the death zone, and no one dares to stay here even if they are well equipped.

At an altitude of 8,600 meters, they began to pitch their tents and prepare to spend the night before reaching the summit the next day. It's only 248 meters from the summit, and if the weather improves, they can reach the summit quickly. However, in the evening, the famous mountaineer Wu Zongyue did not arrive. Everyone asked Xia Boyu why Wu Zongyue hadn't come up yet. He didn't know either. So, everyone began to search, but after looking for a while, because it was dark and windy, everyone could only give up looking and wait in place. They stayed here for two days and three nights, but they still didn't wait for Wu Zongyue. Later, I learned that he had died on the north face of Mount Everest. Because before climbing, all the weights are calculated precisely. In these 2 days and 3 nights, people went down the mountain one after another every day, Xia Boyu and several teammates have been insisting on waiting, but there is no food to eat, oxygen is gone, and the walkie-talkie is no longer powered. At the point where they retreated to 7,600 meters, a Tibetan teammate lost his sleeping bag due to physical exhaustion, and the situation was extremely dangerous. Xia Boyu considered that he was hardy and bathed in cold water all year round, and was called "Fire God" by his teammates, so he did not hesitate to give his sleeping bag to his teammates. However, the next night, he found that he could not take off his shoes, and the doctor diagnosed him with frostbite and needed to have his leg amputated. He lost both of his feet, making it his lifelong dream to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

After fitting the prosthesis, he did not give up his dream and continued to practice. The intersection of the foot and the prosthesis is always bruised, worn out, bloody and painful. However, for the sake of his dream, he has been persevering. Later, he suffered from lymphoma and blood clots.

In 2013, he accidentally fell and injured himself and missed the climbing season.

In 2014, 65-year-old Xia Boyu returned to the Everest base camp, a full 40 years after his first ascent of Mount Everest. He was the only one of his teammates back then who was still persevering. However, it was as if the goddess of fate was deliberately playing tricks on him. Before he was ready to set off, the worst mountain disaster in the history of mountaineering in Nepal occurred. On April 18, an avalanche on Mount Everest killed 15 Sherpa guides. This is the deadliest since the summit of Mount Everest began in the 50s of the last century. Because the Nepalese mountaineering expedition industry is dominated by Western mountaineering expedition companies, each climber pays between $40,000 and $90,000 for the company, which then pays 35,000 to local agents in Nepal. These agents are responsible for picking up and dropping off climbers, equipping them with oxygen cylinders and issuing climbing permits. In this way, the surrogate can receive between two and three thousand dollars per person. Finally, the climber is handed over to the Sherpa guide. And these guides are responsible for transporting belongings for climbers, erecting ladders, etc. They are high-risk, low-paid, and only $1,000 per person. And the Nepalese government also collects $10,000 in taxes from each climber. In 2017, a total of 334 people registered, resulting in $3.34 million in government revenue. The avalanche killed 15 people. The government paid only $400 to the families of each victim. The Sherpa guides felt that the pension was too small and suspended their services to the climbers. Therefore, Xia Boyu's assault on Mount Everest fell through.

In 2015, he set off again, but on April 24, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck Nepal, and he had to give up again.

On May 13, 2016, he climbed Mount Everest for the fourth time. Many consider it to be his last gamble. He himself is full of ambition and is bound to win. To this end, he also specifically contacted the network for live broadcasting. When he set off, he also said confidently, "The challenge is impossible, let's go." "He's looking forward to making the impossible possible and making years of dreams come true. Moreover, the climb went quite smoothly, and with just one more hour, his dream could come true. However, just when he was still 94 meters away from the 8,848-meter-high Everest, the goddess of fate once again made his dream come to naught. A snowstorm came suddenly. The snow was thick and white, blocking his way to the top, making it impossible for him to see ahead, his teammates and his guide. All you can hear is the howling of the wind. He secretly decided: this is his last rush to the top, even if he fights for his old life, he will climb it.

However, he was warned to descend immediately. This made him hesitate. Because he can risk his life desperately, but behind him are five Sherpa guides who are only in their 20s. Their families are living on their annual mountain climbing income, and he can't sacrifice their lives for his dreams. So, he had to retreat back down the mountain. This is the closest he has come to dreaming. So, making this choice was very painful for him. When the Sherpa guide saw that he was upset, he comforted him and told him that he would be safe. Yes, it would be nice to come down in peace, for six people died on the mountain that day.

Back in Beijing, because of the compression of the prosthesis and the old age, blood clots can easily attack. But he didn't give up on his dream because of this. He said that as long as I can still take a step, I will move forward on the path of "challenging the impossible". Forty years for a dream, man can be destroyed, but not destroyed. This spirit of his has long reached the summit of Mount Everest. (To be continued)