"Legal Warrior" Xia Boyu wants to climb until he can't climb
As the first person in China to reach the summit of Mount Everest without legs, and the Chinese who won the Lawrence World Sports Awards for the Best Sports Moment of the Year after Yao Ming, Liu Xiang, the Chinese Olympic delegation and Li Na, the story of Xia Boyu is legendary.
Today, audiences can witness the whole process of how Xia Boyu successfully climbed Mount Everest in 2018 through the documentary "Endless Climbing" on the big screen, using 43 years to complete a goal that ordinary people cannot reach.
On November 30th, "hardcore uncle" Xia Boyu accepted an exclusive interview with Beijing Youth Daily "Entertainment".
At the age of 72, he is still refreshed, and his words and deeds are "youthful".
Over the past few days, Xia Boyu's roadshow schedule is very tight, and the only thing that makes him a little uncomfortable is the suspension of decades of thunderous training.
Xia Boyu has created a miracle. Others lamented that he was "made of special materials", but he said that he was only trying his best for his dreams. "If you work hard, you will have no regrets."
Climbing Mount Everest after amputation became his dream
Xia Boyu was a football player when he was young. To him, Mount Everest and the Himalayas were a concept in geography books. "At that time, I loved football very much. I said that any part of my body can be injured, but my feet cannot be injured."
Xia Boyu signed up to participate in the selection of the Chinese Mountaineering Team because he was able to have a full physical examination for free. "There are hundreds of people who participated in the selection. Just select a few people. The probability of selection is too small, but I didn't expect me to be selected."
In 1975, 26-year-old Xia Boyu followed the Chinese National Mountaineering Team to climb Mount Everest from the north slope. In an extremely cold place at an altitude of 7,600 meters, the sleeping bag of his teammates was blown away. Xia Boyu surrendered his sleeping bag to his teammates, resulting in severe frostbite and amputation of both calves.
"I didn't expect to freeze my feet when I climbed Mount Everest for the first time. But this mountaineering made me find that my physical fitness, cold tolerance and adaptability are all suitable for climbing, and the excitement and adventure contained in the sport of climbing Sexuality and challenge are also in line with my adventurous mentality."
After nearly two years of depression, Xia Boyu met a German prosthetics expert who came to China to do charity activities. He told Xia Boyu that after you put on the prosthesis, you can not only live like a normal person, but you can also climb mountains.
"It was his words that gave me hope and gave me strength. At the time, everyone didn't believe it, thinking he was lying to me and comforting me. However, I accept even white lies, since he told me Being able to climb Mount Everest has become a dream of mine and a goal of my life. Climbing Mount Everest again to me is like holding a breath of breath, and I will pass the summit Feng, to prove that I won't lose to anyone."
Scraping bones for three years became "Modern Guan Gong"
In order to realize this dream, Xia Boyu worked hard for 43 years.
He gets up at five o'clock every morning and trains as planned.
Because of too much exercise after the prosthesis, Xia Boyu's leg sores never healed. In 1993, Xia Boyu contracted lymphoma again.
"Lymphoma is a particularly terrible type of cancer. I don’t know how many days I can live, but as long as I live one day, I have to fight for my dream and fight for one day. When the dream is not realized, I can’t just I fell down like this. Now that more than 20 years have passed, my cancer is under control and there is no recurrence."
At that time, in order not to affect her exercise, Xia Boyu even asked the doctor to scrape her bones without taking anesthetics. "After the soles of my feet were frozen, the bones were exposed. For the bones to heal, the bones must bleed and bleed. Long flesh, flesh can grow skin. At that time, the bones have periosteum, and the bones need to be scraped to make the bones bleed. Every time you scrape the bones, you need spinal numbness. The day’s exercise is still affected. So I discussed with the doctor whether I could not take anesthetics, but my whole body was shaking constantly when the bones were scraped. The doctor said, “In ancient times, you are the modern Guan Gong.” This process takes three years, and the bones only grow skin after three years."
Recalling now, Xia Boyu laughed and said at that time that he was a bit "self-abuse", "I don't know if my willpower is stronger than others. I think that in order to realize my dream, sometimes we need to give up and make some sacrifices."
Appreciate Mount Everest through a movie
In 2014, Xia Boyu tried to climb Mount Everest for the second time. It has been more than 30 years since he climbed Mount Everest for the first time in 1975.
Unfortunately, the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche killed 16 people and all climbing activities were cancelled. Xia Boyu, who was already at the base camp of Mount Everest, could only pass the summit.
In 2015, after Xia Boyu arrived at Mount Everest base camp, he was hit by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in Nepal. Fortunately, he escaped, but his climbing plan was stranded.
In 2016, he set off again at the age of 67, but he encountered a strong snowstorm at 8,750 meters, and he could only choose to descend rationally, which was only 94 meters from the summit.
On May 14, 2018, 69-year-old Xia Boyyu's 43-year dream finally came true.
Climbing Mount Everest and becoming the first person in China to climb Mount Everest without legs. The movie "Endless Climbing" records Xia Boyu's successful summit.
Although he has been close to Mount Everest many times, Xia Boyu said with a smile that he felt the external environment of Mount Everest when he was watching "Endless Climbing." Steady every step, because the prosthesis cannot perceive the ground conditions, I can only observe by myself, so I just stare at the feet and rarely look around. Through this movie, I have a good appreciation of Mount Everest. I felt the majesty and grandeur of it, and I was very moved when I saw it. Moreover, when I climbed Mount Everest, I was in the middle of a snowstorm and didn't seem to feel that kind of danger, but watching the movie felt terrible."
Xia Boyu introduced that two members of the film crew have been following him from Beijing to the summit. "It's more than a month. When I climbed Mount Everest, I didn't see the camera at all. They are all very experienced, and some have climbed. Many times, they know where to set up the machine, and they will prepare it there in advance. I just follow the guide."
In fact, the doctor did not recommend Xia Boyu to climb Mount Everest for the fifth time, because he suffered from a blood clot before. “Climbing Mount Everest is my life’s dream after all. I must persist and never give up.” Although there have been quite a few over the years. People persuaded him to "give up", but Xia Boyu insisted that his destiny was in his own hands.
I will spend more time with my family in the future
In 2018, when 69-year-old Xia Boyu finally succeeded in reaching the summit of Mount Everest, everyone congratulated him, but Teacher Xia revealed to the reporter of Beiqing Daily that the process of going down the mountain was full of thrills. I didn’t have any shots. In fact, I encountered a blizzard after climbing to the top. I couldn’t see anything at all from one meter away. At this time, I wanted to save my life, not shoot.”
Xia Boyu retreated from Mount Everest for two days before returning to the camp. "You can see in the documentary that after I got down, my face was covered with black frostbite, which was caused by the snowstorm. Several times, I felt as if I couldn't go down. In the midst of hardships, I thought that I had promised my family that I must go back safely. Now my life does not belong to me, it belongs to our family, so I must do my best to return safely."
Xia Boyu said that without the support of his family, there would be no success for him. "My wife knows that I have suffered so much and suffered so much in this life. She is just one hobby. She does not want me to have regrets in my life." Fifth Mount Everest. At that time, his wife also gave Xia Boyu a gourd, which Xia Boyu has always carried with him. This is a blessing, and it is also a blessing to accompany him on behalf of his family when he climbs.
If there are any regrets in this life, Xia Boyu said that he will spend more time with his family in the future.
Hope people understand the true climbing spirit
"Endless Climbing" has touched many audiences since the road show, and Xia Boyu is very happy that this work can bring strength to others.
Speaking of a story that impressed him, he talked about an audience with cerebral palsy, “He was due to hypoxic cerebral palsy when he was young. He said that he had climbed Mount Siguniang before but didn’t go there and watched my movie. I am very touched in the future. He still wants to go climbing. I think his spirit is touching, but I don’t recommend him to go climbing. I just said: “In fact, there are mountains in your work, right? It's like climbing the mountain in your heart.'"
Xia Boyu hopes that people understand the true spirit of climbing, just like the relationship between man and nature, "I don’t quite agree with'man's victory over the sky'. It is not that I conquered Mount Everest, but Mount Everest accepted me. People are too small in front of nature. Nature will never be conquered, but human destiny is okay."
Now, the life goal of climbing Mount Everest has been achieved. Xia Boyu said that he has a new goal. "Some people say that you should take care of your life. My old-age care method is to continue to participate in some more exciting sports. I plan to climb seven. The highest peak of the continent, exploring the north and south poles, I must climb until I can't climb."
Talking about some suggestions for young people today, Xia Boyu said: “From my perspective, the most important thing is persistence, but the most difficult thing is persistence. I think as long as persistence, even if there is no success, I will not regret it. On the other hand, Persistence has the hope of success."
Text/Reporter Xiao Yang
Photography/Reporter Cui Jun
Coordinator/Man Yi