Why climb a mountain? Because it’s there!
FOR Han Zijun, life is an endless high of adventure.
To date, the 36-year-old Shanghai native has scaled 20 peaks above 5,000 meters, sometimes putting her life in peril. Her favorite is Mt Everest, known as Mt Qomolangma in China.
“I love it not because of its supreme height but because my life is entwined with it,” Han said.
She holds the China record for a woman reaching the summit of the world’s highest peak from both the north and south sides. She also narrowly escaped death in an Everest avalanche.
April is a typically good season for Everest challengers, but 2015 was an exception.
On April 26, 2015, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake swept across Nepal, triggering an avalanche on the mountain.
At the time, Han was on her first expedition to conquer Everest from the south ridge in Nepal.
The quake struck at 11:56am, when Han and other climbers were chatting in a dining tent in a base camp at about 5,400 meters.
It set off an avalanche which tumbled down the mountain and slammed into the base camp.
“A deafening roar shattered the stillness in the tent,” Han said. “We ran out to see what was going on. I saw the sky was blanketed by snow powder and a tidal wave of snow was coming at me.”
She ran in the opposite direction, but it was too late.
“I managed to run two or three steps before I was pushed down,” she said. “I felt sawtooth ice, snow, and rocks at my back. I was choking. Just when I thought I was going to die, everything grew still.”
Han poked her head out of the snow. She saw tents in the base camp uprooted and flattened. Clothing, mountaineering gear and other belongings were scattered about. Around her, climbing mates were lying or sitting up, bleeding and crying.
Survivors picked up down jackets and sleeping bags to ward off the cold. A helicopter arrived the next day and plucked the survivors to safety.
The Everest tragedy was not the only life-and-death experience in her mountaineering career.
In July 2014, she tried to snowboard down Mt Muztagata in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at about 7,000 meters. Hidden under deep powder was a crevasse. As she approached, she saw it from about 10 meters away.
She quickly bent backward to increase friction in the snow. Her rapid response stopped her about halfway to the crack. It was the first time she had come so close to losing her life.
The perils of mountaineering became all too clear to her two months later. In an attempt to scale 8,160-meter-high Mt Manaslu, one of her teammates — a 59-year-old veteran climber from Japan — lost his footing. Han joined the rescue effort, but the climber was dead when he was found.
“His eyes were covered with ice and his fingers were completely frozen,” she said. “Just a day earlier, I had had a pleasant conversation with him.”
In awe of the natural world
The tragedy taught her a lesson.
“I was struck in awe of nature, of the greatness and power of the natural world,” she said. Despite the risks, Han didn’t give up mountaineering.
At 8:20am on May 20, 2016, she finally reached the top of the Everest, from the north ridge in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“We started our final stage in the wee hours when it was still very dark,” she said. “On route to the top, I saw shimmering lights from the south ridge in Nepal. The lights were from the headlamps of climbers. It touched my heart. Headlamps shimmered on earth and stars shone in the sky. People from different places were heading for the same place.”
At 8,000 meters on Everest, she came across the infamous “corpse road sign.” No one knows exactly how many bodies remain on Everest, but it is widely believed to be 200-plus. Bodies of former climbers are the grim trail marker for newcomers.
“I didn’t have a second look at the bodies,” she said. “I told myself that I had to return home alive.”
When she finally reached the top of the world, Han had expected to burst into tears or scream for joy. Instead, standing on the summit, she was overcome with a sensation of complete inner peace.
“I just told myself that I finally arrived there,” she said.
At 4:05am on May 22, 2017, she reached the summit of Everest from the south ridge. One of her teammates was another survivor in the deadly avalanche two years earlier. They linked arms to reach the top. At 4:20am, they enjoyed a breathtaking sunrise.
“It is a view I will never forget,” she said.
Why climb a mountain? British climber George Mallory gave the now famous response in a New York Times interview in 1923: “Because it’s there.”
A year later, on his third expedition on Everest, Mallory went missing high on the north ridge, just hundreds of meters from the summit. To Han, Mallory’s answer perfectly sums up mountaineering.
There is a human desire to conquer the unknown, she said. It’s an instinct, deep inside the heart. Mountaineering frees up the realities of human nature.
“Through mountaineering, I can enjoy ultimate views not seen by others,” Han said.
“I connect with the nature world and with my inner self.”
She abandoned a successful career and a high salary as sales manager for a Fortune 500 company to pursue mountaineering.
The turning point came in 2010, when she trekked the 25-kilometer Huihang Caravan Trail, an ancient trade route connecting Anhui and Zhejiang provinces.
Before embarking on the trek, she took yoga lessons but didn’t undertake a strenuous exercise program.
“Initially I just thought of it as an outdoor trip to help me blow off some steam from my hectic business life,” she said. “It was so exciting, and I found my first hiking experience was a piece of cake.”
Han became addicted to outdoor activities.
In October 2012, she went hiking in Tibet at about 5,500 meters. That, too, was pretty effortless for her. She was encouraged to do more. In 2013, she scaled 5,430meter Banji Peak in Sichuan Province.
“I didn’t suffer altitude sickness, and I found I could endure extreme conditions,” she said. “I realized I was born to be a climber.”
So, she became a professional climber and is now one of the best-known female climbers in China.
Even so, she is always striving for new challenges.
Now she is well on her way to accomplish a feat of daring known as the “7 + 2” challenge.
It requires reaching the summits of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, plus both the North and South poles. According to CBS News, only about 50 people have ever accomplished that.
Han’s clock began with her scaling Everest in 2016. By the end of 2017, she has ascended Mt Elbrus in Europe, Mt Aconcagua in South America, Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt Puncak Jaya in Oceania.
In April 2018, she made it to the North Pole on a ski trek.
She plans a combined polar expedition to Antarctica next month, where she will scale Mt Vinson and ski to the South Pole. The final summit on the list, Mt Denali in North America, is slated for next May.
Han has established her own adventure company to promote hiking and mountaineering.
“I believe it is a booming industry,” she said. “It’s not just sport. It’s a lifestyle.”