On May 8, 2008, the Beijing Olympic Torch reached Mount Everest.
May 8, 2008, 12 years ago today. Suddenly mentioned, maybe you can't remember what was special that day. Let me give you a little tip: it was a day that was "suitable" to climb Mount Everest, the top of the world.
On May 8, 2008, a team of 19 people ascended the summit to bring the Beijing Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest, and the five torchbearers finally selected were ignited and passed to the summit. In ancient Greek mythology, the Olympic torch, which originated from the sun god, passed through thousands of miles and was ignited by Olympic torchbearers from China on this earth ’s closest mountain to the sun.
Thinking of the bleak cold wind, the increasingly bright five-star red flag, and the auspicious cloud torch carrying the millennium civilization? When the sacred Olympic fire first shines with the majestic Everest, it illuminates the whole world on top of the earth with the best wishes of the Chinese people. On May 8, 2008, a team of 19 people ascended the summit to bring the Olympic torch to Mount Everest, and the five torchbearers who were finally selected ignited the torch and passed it to the summit. The Olympic torch, which originated from the sun god in ancient Greek mythology, passed through thousands of miles, and was finally sent to the place closest to the sun by the warriors from China.
The Beijing Olympic Torch Mount Everest climbed to the top of Mount Everest.
Fire of 8844
It was indeed a day suitable for climbing.
Wang Yongfeng, who was then the captain of the Chinese mountaineering team, later recalled in an interview that after starting at three in the morning, the team ’s climbing speed may exceed double the normal speed. "Typically, the summit process takes 7 to 10 hours, but On May 8, the Chinese mountaineering team's summit took only about 5 hours. "
After 9 o'clock, Luo Zhandui, who was responsible for keeping the tinder, took out the tinder that was always behind him.
The lighter ignited.
"My name is Luo Zhandui, a member of the Chinese mountaineering team from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Mount Everest, from the Tibet Mountaineering Team and the Tibet Mountaineering School." After brief and self-introduction with heavy breathing, Luo Zhandui lit the lighter .
Then he turned around, and the teammates behind him already held the torch with both hands. At the moment when the lighter and the torch were docked, the bright firelight sprayed out, pointing directly at the sky.
The Olympic flame was lit for the first time on Mount Everest.
Accompanied by the roaring wind in the background, the first torchbearer and the female team member Ji Ji, who had climbed Mount Everest twice before, held up the torch with both hands and walked up step by step. Without the aid of the climbing rope, although her slowly moving silhouette is not stable, the height of the torch has not decreased at all.
The camera changed, and the second torchbearer Wang Yongfeng was already waiting in front. After the handover, he raised the torch high above his head in one hand and the mountaineering rope in the other—with a step height ridge beyond his two steps.
On weekdays, this is not an obstacle in the eyes of children; but at an altitude of more than 8800 meters, Wang Yongfeng moved forward almost on tiptoe, and stopped in the middle to stabilize his body. For a moment of silence, only his gasping voice remained.
The second torchbearer Wang Yongfeng.
However, the camera zoomed in, and there was always a smile on his face, even if his beard was frosted. There was nothing strange in his face, but that was not the case.
"In order to show the world that the Chinese mountaineers have completed the torch on Mount Everest, we have set a plan in advance: When the torch is passed by the five torchbearers, they must take off their oxygen masks to reveal their true faces. Wang Yongfeng recalled: "But the moment I took off my oxygen mask, I was out of breath and felt suffocating."
On the "step", the bright red flame spread to the torch in the hands of the then president of Tibet Mountaineering School, Nima Tsering.
Nima Tsering climbed in strides.
He turned around and shouted "One world, one dream", then strode up. Nima Ciren said that at that time, he put a lot of energy and insisted on passing the torch in the posture of trotting, in order to convey a spirit and a strength: "As an athlete, I want to show the Olympic spirit to the world; as a China People, I want to win glory for the motherland and the nation! "
Then he passed the torch to the next stick, and the fourth torchbearer turned. In the camera, his facial features were covered by the wind and snow, and he saw that on the gradually steep hillside, he climbed up step by step in the shape of a figure of eight feet.
The last handover of the Olympic torch relay.
It was not until the last handover that people saw clearly that it was the first time in life that Huang Chungui, a college student who had reached the summit of Mount Everest. At this time, surrounded by players, the torch in the hands of the 22-year-old Tibetan girl Tsering Wangm was lit.
Subsequently, Tsering Wangm raised the "Xiangyun" torch at the highest peak in the world at an altitude of 8,844.43 meters. The flames illuminate the five-star red flag, the Olympic rings and the emblem of the Beijing Olympic Games. China has fulfilled its promise of letting the torch board Everest on the Olympic bid.
The Olympic torch is held high on the summit of Mount Everest.
7 year contract
The agreement between China, the Olympics and Everest was made at the beginning of the Olympic bid.
On the occasion of the bid for the Olympic Games in 2001, the Chinese Olympic delegation promised to the International Olympic Committee and the world that if the 2008 Olympic Games were held in Beijing, it would bring the Olympic flame to Mount Everest, the highest in the world.
When this bold and novel idea was put forward, the listener was amazed.
It is very difficult to ignite the torch at the top of Mount Everest such as the north slope.
But this is not easy. Because of the north slope of Mount Everest, because of the extremely cold weather and steep terrain, it has been called "the road of death" by Western climbers. For a long time, they firmly believed that it would be "almost impossible" to climb this mountain from the northern slope that "can't even fly birds".
The difficulty for Chinese mountaineers to light the Olympic flame here can be imagined. This means that climbers must not only overcome the natural dangers of the "North Col" and the second ladder, but also ensure that the fire and the torch burn.
Therefore, after the 2006 Beijing Olympics Torch Relay program was approved by the International Olympic Committee, all preparations began immediately; in 2007, the Everest Meteorological Service Support Team established by the China Meteorological Administration also entered field exercises; Gong officially submitted the acceptance of the combustion technology to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee.
The final summit team consisted of 19 people.
In 2008, although the final torch relay was completed by five torchbearers, the summit team was composed of 19 people with different divisions of labor, and the entire mountaineering team included 36 people, which did not include the previous facility construction and material transportation team. .
In the end, the torch drove the clouds, and Everest added a wonderful color.
The torch relay 12 years ago was the result of the close cooperation between Chinese researchers, mountaineers, meteorological departments, logistics support and other departments in the past two years. It is also regarded as the "first gold medal" won by the Chinese delegation at the Beijing Olympics. ".
The torch passed in the hands of the summit team.
12 years pass
"At that moment, all cheers came from the heart. Before the mountaineering team always said honor and glory, it was a bit tired. But when I saw the Olympic flame lit at Mount Everest, I realized what is true glory." Wang Yongfeng seemed to be back to the moment that shook the world.
The Olympic torch relay brings more than glory. Even in Wang Yongfeng's decades of climbing career, this can be regarded as the real peak, not to mention the last two young torchbearers.
After 12 years, Huang Chungui, the fourth torchbearer of Everest for the first time to reach the summit, has now completed the ascent of the five continents and the highest peaks in the South and North Arctic. There are reports that he is the first Chinese "post-80s" climber to do this.
On May 6, the 2020 Everest Survey Mountaineering Team re-entered the team, and the team members of that year had become the backbone of the team.
Just a few days ago, the 2020 Everest Survey Mountaineering Team has already embarked on a journey and once again made its way to the top of the world. In this team, the second fall of the mountaineering team leader and climbing coach Li Fuqing were all coaches of the Olympic torch Everest relay team; the climbing team captain Yuan Fudong was only a small member of the team. The backbone of a generation of mountaineering teams.
There is a famous saying in the mountaineering session: because the mountain is there.
After 12 years of passing, the torch that was held up by the heroes seemed to be still there. It illuminates this hiking trail forever. (Author Li He)