Ru Zhigang has 3 certificates for climbing Mount Everest, but the 3 certificates mark 3 different "heights" of the world's highest peak.
In 2019, Ru Zhigang successfully climbed from the southern slope of Mount Everest in Nepal, and the height of Mount Everest in the summit certificate issued by the Nepalese government was 8848 meters; In 2020, he climbed from the north slope of Mount Everest in China, and the height of Mount Everest in the summit certificate issued by our government was 8844.43 meters. At the end of the same year, China and Nepal announced to the world that the latest height of Mount Everest was 8848.86 meters.
At 5:22 a.m. local time in Nepal this year, Ru Zhigang climbed Mount Everest for the third time, and the latest summit certificate not only engraved the latest height of Mount Everest, but also allowed him to re-measure the distance between ordinary people and Mount Everest after three climbs of Mount Everest.
Mount Everest under the lens is no longer "unattainable"
On May 1953, 5, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest from the southern slope, achieving the first human ascent to the summit. This year marks the 29th anniversary of that feat.
The monumental milestone "calls" climbers around the globe. On the southern slope, for example, Nepalese authorities issued 478 permits to climb Mount Everest this year, the highest in 70 years.
But this year's Mount Everest climbing also faces many challenges, "in the early stage, many climbers from all over the world suffered from influenza, their physical conditions were affected to varying degrees, and later affected by the hurricane in Bangladesh, the weather in the Everest region was not good, the wind has been very strong, and it is extremely cold." Ru Zhigang, who has insisted on traveling around the world for many years, told the China Youth Daily reporter that the team originally planned to reach the summit on May 5, but due to the weather, they had to stay in the C19 camp (2 meters above sea level) for four days without oxygen, and only on the evening of May 6400 did they brave the wind and snow from the C4 camp (5 meters above sea level) to the top of the mountain.
The temperature was close to minus 40 degrees Celsius, and Ru Zhigang's oxygen mask and the skin junction were sticky "like a layer of skin", and he found that he had slight frostbite, "This is the first time I have really felt the cold in the third time I have climbed Mount Everest." He remembers that when climbing in 3, he could take more than 2019 videos with his mobile phone at the same altitude, but this year he only took four or five, "too cold to take out his phone" - this is Ru Zhigang's unique measure as an outdoor short video blogger, 20 years ago, he felt the power of recording Mount Everest climbing, and now he has nearly 4 million fans on major platforms.
"Mount Everest is like a soup spoon, and the Hillary Steps are the spoon." On May 2019, 5, at the Hillary Steps at an altitude of 22,8790 meters, Ru Zhigang "encountered" with about 200 climbers, and he used the lens to restore this unprecedented "Mount Everest congestion": filmed from the bottom up, the people waiting in line at the "spoon handle" to reach the summit wore different colors of hiking clothes, one by one against the mountain wall winding down from the peak, like a string of slender colored beads on a girl's snow-white wrist; When climbing to a high place and shooting down, the colored lines become a colorful mass, the person's posture becomes clear, some climbers have lost the mountain wall to rely on, can only grasp the rope with their hands, knees in the snow, one foot on the stone, when the congestion is serious, this posture has to be maintained for an hour.
After returning to the base camp, Ru Zhigang connected to the camp's Wi-Fi network and uploaded the video. When public opinion was boiling, this set of shaky footage was quickly played more than 1300 million times, becoming the main source of quotations by major media. Labels such as "rich people", "playing with children", "not considering family" and "not environmental protection" appeared in Ru Zhigang's video comment area, but he also noticed that there were high praise comments expressing "Thank you for letting me see the roof of the world".
"My video seems to have become a link between the public and Everest." Ru Zhigang had the motivation to record, "What is the kitchen like in the 5800-meter camp? How to use water and electricity? How big is the tent of the team members? What are the climbers' backpacks..."From the early training to the details along the way, he fully presents the bits and pieces of this journey beyond the limit through short videos, so that the Mount Everest in the lens is no longer "unattainable". At the same time, the increase in influence has also helped him open up monetization channels, allowing him to continue to "walk on the road".
The cost of recording is also changing. In 2019, Ru Zhigang used a short video to introduce that at an altitude of 5334,10 meters, more than 200 seconds of video had to be transmitted for an hour or two, in order to meet the desire to record Mount Everest's climb, he had to spend $10 to buy 10GB of traffic. Nowadays, more than 10 seconds of video can be sent in minutes, and the original 250GB of traffic is included in the cost of climbing, but the greater demand for Internet use makes him have to pay another $<> to apply for unlimited network services, "Everest and the outside world have become more and more connected."
After climbing from the southern slope this year, Ru Zhigang found that Chinese climbers came from the northern slope, and Tenzin Rob, who "met him at the summit", had brought Messi's jersey to Mount Everest in 2018, and Ru Zhigang also showed the Barça club scarf when he reached the summit in 2020. At the top of the world, prayer flags hunt, people bring prayers, thoughts and love to the summit, and one after another pursue the "highest form" of expression.
"There is no denying that Everest is Vanity Fair at the highest altitude." Ru Zhigang said frankly that Mount Everest, which "can stand about six or seven people at the same time", carries the hopes, desires and even extravagances of too many people. He felt that in recent years, more and more people want to climb Mount Everest, especially the southern slope, which lacks threshold restrictions and has a relatively large price space, gathering climbers with various purposes from all over the world: some people who have experienced major changes and want to live again, some people want to escape the complicated daily life to find a pure land, some people want to use the ultimate challenge to break the bottleneck of their careers, some people want to "customize" a signboard for the conversion track, some people continue the family mountaineering tradition to harvest growth and accumulate further education capital by the way, and some people want to try to see the mountains with paragliders on Mount Everest. There are also people who just want to find a "cow that can blow for a lifetime".
Restore our distance from Mount Everest
"No matter what motivation everyone has, those who can really climb Mount Everest are at least climbers who are determined, able to endure hardships, and meet the comprehensive quality standards." In Ru Zhigang's view, Mount Everest can tolerate people who confess their inner desires, but it is difficult to shine on people who have no awe in their hearts.
This time to climb Mount Everest, Ru Zhigang met many people who were influenced by him and began to climb the mountain, but a mountain friend told him: "I didn't expect it to be so difficult to really climb Mount Everest." He instantly fell into reflection, "I suddenly realized that my previous works did bring the public closer to Mount Everest, but it may also dissolve the mystery of Mount Everest, making some people lose their awe and misunderstand their distance from Mount Everest." "However, on a snowy mountain of 8000,<> meters, the result of this misunderstanding is often fatal.
Ru Zhigang once worked in the technology research and development department of a well-known overseas communication company, "IT man, no one will associate me with the words outdoor sports and Mount Everest." His hometown is in Bozhou, Anhui, children in the plains "have never seen mountains since childhood", the real contact with mountaineering was in 2016 during a trip to Kenya, Africa, "snow mountains near the equator" made him feel strange, under the step-by-step guidance of the guide, he climbed Kilimanjaro with difficulty, although from mountaineering clothing to mountaineering equipment, almost everything is temporarily rented, but the feeling of climbing can no longer be quit, and then, from the end of 2016 to 2017 in just over 1 year, Ru Zhigang successfully climbed the second peak of Siguniang Mountain in Sichuan, Mushtag Peak in Kunlun Mountain, and Manaslu Peak in the Himalayas to prepare for standing at the foot of Mount Everest.
"Mountaineering is a scientific sport, especially ordinary people climbing snow-capped mountains, not competition, more compared with themselves." Ru Zhigang said that more and more climbers do not have enough high-altitude climbing experience to challenge Mount Everest, which will not only have accidents due to lack of operational experience, but also may miss the opportunity to find their own defects, "everyone's physical condition is different, some problems that are not suitable for high altitude will only appear in the real climbing environment, if there is a lack of preliminary inspection, the problem is directly exposed to Mount Everest, and the rescue difficulties will be multiplied." Gradually building up physical strength and mentality is indispensable in climbing Mount Everest, "especially learning to endure loneliness." Before going to Mount Everest, he climbed Song Mountain 43 times in a row, "looking at the same scenery alone every day, and it is this boring training process that allows me to keep my head clear when climbing Mount Everest."
Keeping a clear head is the key to "saving your life" on Mount Everest. In particular, the southern slope route where commercial mountaineering is more prosperous, there is no age and "climbing experience of peaks above 8000,<> meters above sea level", and the risks cannot be underestimated, in addition to natural risks such as climate, avalanches, ice cracks, etc., but also to deal with human factors such as congestion, inadequate protection, and untimely rescue, "only by constantly summing up experience and solid training can the risk be reduced."
Three times climbing Mount Everest, Ru Zhigang used the same set of equipment, the one-piece suit was covered with various patches, and the alpine boots left a hole cut by crampons, and he left the position of the chest pocket for the mobile phone, glucose and six or seven banners, "The mobile phone and glucose, if placed outside, it is easy to crash and freeze, and it is best to take off the gloves when taking it, otherwise it will be more troublesome to open the zipper or drop it." "In the midst of the wind and snow, every movement must be planned in advance.
Although "the higher the altitude, the more obvious the weight of a ham sausage", Ru Zhigang brought a camera for the first time, "hoping to collect some shots that can be used in movies in the future, a movie that records ordinary people's dreams step by step." Ru Zhigang, who was elected "China's Contemporary Xu Xiake" last year, wanted to bring the real Mount Everest and the sport of Everest climbing to the public after being "accepted" by Mount Everest for the third time.
Zhongqing Daily · Zhongqing Net reporter Liang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily