Sunshine is always after the wind and rain (continued) Zhang Baotong 2019.2.24

He often wonders if he really didn't have the life to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In the past 43 years of mountaineering, he has been hit by too many unexpected blows, such as earthquakes, avalanches and snowstorms, just like playing football.

In 2018, Xia Boyu, who has been engaged in mountaineering for more than 40 years, is 69 years old. At the age of 60, how can anyone go to the mountains to play for their lives? Not to mention an old man with both feet amputated. However, he still felt unwilling and wanted to work hard again.

At that time, he regarded this ascent as the last battle of his life, and if he couldn't go up again this time, he would have to resign himself to his fate. He once said in the first season of the show, "Challenge the impossible, I want to climb Mount Everest again".

However, fate played a joke on him again. In December 2017, Xia Boyu was preparing to attack Mount Everest for the fifth time. But on the first day of the 2018 New Year, Nepal issued a government ban on solo climbing of Mount Everest, and blind and disabled people with amputated limbs were also barred from climbing. Dreams are about to be destroyed by this ban again. Holding on to the last shred of hope, he decided to go to court to get the ban suspended. After a lawsuit, it is a long wait. Finally, the Supreme Court of Nepal suspended the ban on March 7. However, the long wait not only consumed his energy, but also greatly shortened his preparation time.

On March 31, 2018, Xia Boyu boarded the plane to Kathmandu again, began to adjust his condition, purchased equipment, and began training at the 5,400-meter Everest base camp. The subjects of training include outdoor cooking, picnics, picking up garbage on Mount Everest, and mountain climbing. But the hardest thing for him was walking up a steel ladder wearing crampons. For the average climber, this kind of training couldn't be easier. However, he wears a prosthetic leg and lacks sense of the ground, so it is very difficult to walk on the steel ladder without a sense of flexibility. He had to train repeatedly to get on the steel ladder and walk steadily so that he wouldn't fall.

On April 12, his team arrived at the Everest base camp and entered a state of readiness. The weather on Mount Everest is cloudy and rainy, and it changes three times a day. Everyone is anxiously waiting for the weather to improve. When the Chinese ambassador to Nepal heard that he was challenging Mount Everest again, he received and blessed him at the embassy. His son also came secretly, hid in the base camp, and recorded him as he marched to the top. This was the most hasty preparation he had ever made, but there were so many people cheering him on and blessing him.

On May 8, at 5 o'clock Beijing time, Xia Boyu officially set off from the base camp of Mount Everest and began his fifth ascent, to write the miracle of life on the top of the world and challenge the "impossible".

By May 9, they had reached Camp C1, where the Everest base camp was built next to Rongbu Glacier. Rongbu Glacier is located at the foot of Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,300 to 6,300 meters above sea level, and is the only way to climb Mount Everest on the south slope of Mount Everest. Among them, there are 15 mountain glaciers with an area of more than 10 square kilometers. These glaciers are terrifying, with crevasses ranging from a few meters to tens of meters wide, and an abyss below. And those straight slopes are almost 90 degrees of vertical slope. Various ladders can be seen here standing horizontally or vertically on various cracks and straight slopes.

He had trouble crossing a crack in the ice. The ice crack was four or five meters wide, and the guide placed a steel ladder one foot wide and more than ten meters long across it. Others walked on the steel ladder easily, but because he used a prosthetic, he could not stand on the steel ladder in the first place, and the prosthesis did not have a flexible feeling, so it was very difficult and dangerous to walk on the steel ladder. The guide pulled him with two ropes and let him walk through the ropes. However, the rope was too soft for him to use his strength. He tried several times in a row, but it didn't work. In the end, he simply climbed over the steel ladder. Then, another ice wall more than 20 meters high blocked the road. When climbing the steel ladder, I slid with a prosthetic leg, and I was older, and my physical strength was relatively poor. He had to rely on his waist to finally climb to the top of the ice wall.

It was relatively easy to get from Camp C1 to Camp C2, and the ice slopes were all flat roads, so Xia Boyu and his teammates passed quickly. However, there are already people whose faces are sunburned, whose shoulders are blistered, and who even have the feeling that death is approaching step by step or passing by. Every step forward is hard, every breath is painful, and you never know what to face in the next minute. For those who venture to climb the mountain, they must ask themselves a thousand times at this time: why go through so much hardship and exhaust all the money to do such a life risk?

On May 12, the three teams assembled at camp C4, and when they reached C4 at 7,900 meters, the strong winds made it difficult for people to stand. For Xia Boyu, who wears a prosthetic leg, the difficulties and pain he suffered are even more unimaginable. Everyone had a day off here. All the players are fully prepared physically and mentally, resting and adjusting, waiting to reach the top.

On May 13, 2018, at 5 o'clock, the assault to the summit began. However, when heading to the C5 camp at 8,400 meters, there was a short 20-meter distance, which was narrow and sloping, and it took Xia Boyu half an hour to walk through it. But then came the 69-year-old Xia Boyu's moment to the top.

In the early morning, the air was unusually clear, the sun was shining brightly on the snow and ice, and only the wind from high above was whistling in my ears. When you look up, the huge mountain peak is right in front of you, as if it is within reach. He almost cried out in excitement, and the tiredness of his body suddenly disappeared, and he wanted to spread his wings and fly to the top of the mountain at once. They walked up the ridge step by step, and although they walked with great difficulty, they were very excited.

He went up to the top of the mountain and stood on the summit of Mount Everest, the top of the world. A 43-year-old dream has finally come true, making him the world's oldest person to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest with both legs amputated. This momentous moment was 8:26 on May 14, 2018. 10:41 a.m. Beijing time.

The summit is not spacious, with an area of just over 30 square meters. Is this the world's highest peak of 8,848.43 meters that people have always revered and revered? Standing on the top of the mountain, you can overlook the snow-capped mountains in Nepal. The sea of clouds is floating and dissipating, and the mountain peaks are like isolated islands, and the wind is blowing from the top of the mountain. So, his cheers were not even heard by himself. He was very excited, feeling that his heart and air had been purified by all this in front of him, merging with the heavens, earth, mountains and rivers.

Those who have not climbed Mount Everest will certainly not feel the excitement of standing on the summit of Mount Everest. The floating clouds and mist are like holy light from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, all the tiredness and fatigue are washed away by the morning breeze, and the soul becomes extremely sacred. The sun shines on the golden mountain, the light is shining, the peaks are showing, and the fog is rising. The beauty and breathtaking beauty of the scenery make it seem as if the eyes and heart are ascending to heaven.

However, after returning to Beijing, a reporter once asked Xia Boyu, is the scene on the top of the mountain the same as you imagined?

He replied, "Standing on the top of the mountain, I don't see anything." Because for Xia Boyu, he came here for that dream, and the scenery and scenery on the top of the mountain are not important.

Although he had gone through a lot of hardships to reach the summit of Mount Everest, he could not stay here for long. Because the climate at the summit is ever-changing, he must leave quickly, and more importantly, he has to endure more hardships and pains than others. In fact, the descent was even more thrilling than the summit. Xia Boyu's leg was so swollen that it could not fit the prosthesis, and the prosthesis could fall into the abyss at any time. When a snowstorm comes, the temperature will drop directly to minus 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. The blizzard is a great challenge and test for Xia Boyu, who has no followers under his feet and is on the center of gravity. As soon as the wind blew, he kept shaking and had to lie on his stomach on the snow to avoid being blown away by the wind. The wind is a little lighter, so hurry up and walk a few steps. The distance from the bottom of the peak to the first camp was only two kilometers, and it took ordinary people three or four hours to walk, but Xia Boyu walked for 11 hours.

On May 17, with severely frostbitten cheeks and stiff fingers, Xia Boyu finally returned to the base camp. But he said optimistically, "Some people say that I conquered Mount Everest, and I say that it was Mount Everest that accepted me." What kind of mood is it to finally stand on the top of Mount Everest after twists and turns and hard work? Xia Boyu's answer was unexpected, "There is no special feeling, as if I should come up." ”

People who have watched the program "Challenge the Impossible, Footless Warriors Climb Mount Everest" are all in tears, what kind of scene is that, what kind of anger is that, if a person, a country, and a nation have such a spirit and indignation, what difficulties can not be overcome?

When people asked him about his experience of success, he said, "The most difficult thing is perseverance, and the most important thing is perseverance." Just persevere, and you'll see hope. ”

If you don't experience wind and rain, how can you see a rainbow. Rainbows are made of wind and rain. When the storm has passed, the sky is clear, the sun shines on the water vapor in the sky, and a huge and beautiful rainbow appears. It is the beauty that has been gathered through thousands of blessings and hardships. The more suffering you experience, the bigger and more beautiful the rainbow will be. Xia Boyu's experience of climbing Mount Everest in 43 years was forged step by step with blood and sweat, so his achievements are huge and beautiful.