Climbers praised for giving up Everest quest to save life
Two mountaineers who sacrificed their dream of reaching the summit of Mount Everest to save the life of another climber just 400 metres away from the top have been praised as heroes on Chinese social media.
Fan Jiangtao and Xie Ruxiang from Hunan province were praised by the Provincial Sports Association in a statement for saving the climber on the slopes of Mount Everest, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported.
On the evening of May 18, when Fan and his Sherpa guide were at an altitude of about 8,500 metres, they found a female climber lying unconscious on the ground with only weak vital signs.
The woman’s oxygen supply had run out, and she was trembling from the extremely low temperature while her right hand, missing its glove, had turned black from frostbite.
Fan said he instantly began trying to keep the woman alive until help could be found and no longer had any thoughts of reaching the summit. “My guide asked me many times if I really wanted to give up ascending the summit. I told him, ‘Yes, my goal is to save a life’,” Fan said.
He refilled the woman’s oxygen cylinder using his supply and performed heart resuscitation on her. He then helped her drink hot water and gave her sugar and chocolate.
When the woman fully regained consciousness, Fan and his guide helped her climb down the mountain. Since the slope is so steep, it took them two hours to descend 200 metres, and the woman fell unconscious again.
Fan said he felt frustrated by the slow pace and was starting to feel tired and in pain from the effort of getting the woman down the mountain.
“At such an altitude, you will feel exhausted even from holding a water bottle,” he said. “Because my guide and I had reached the limit of our physical capacity, we couldn’t move her any longer. I had to let her stay there and go to seek help.”
Not long after, he met another climber, Xie, who recalled: “When Fan saw me, he cried. He told me he wanted to save a person, but he didn’t have enough strength. I totally understood his desire to save a life. So I also decided to give up my plan of reaching the top, and joined him to save the woman.”
“No matter whether she will live or die, we must try our best to get her to our base camp,” Xie told his guide. “If we don’t save her, she will definitely die. If we help, she will probably live.”
Fan, Xie and their guides worked together to carry the woman to a camp at an altitude of 8,000 metres.
The woman survived and recovered within a couple of days.
“The most difficult part of the rescue was to give up my life’s dream,” Fan said. “Although we didn’t reach the summit, saving a person’s life is far more valuable than reaching the peak.”
“Ascending to the top of Everest is our dream, but it can’t be compared with life,” Xie said.
The story has triggered a wave of compliments for Fan and Xie’s heroism.
“They didn’t reach Mount Everest’s summit, but they were at the peak of humanity,” one person said. “You are greater than those reaching the summit. I salute you!” said another.
Saving a person’s life is far more valuable than reaching the peak FAN JIANGTAO, CLIMBER