Peak performance in Tibet
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Q: What was going through your mind as you prepared?
We were nervous and a little bit scared. No one had climbed the mountain or knew the mountain well. The terrain of this mountain is complicated, cracks and chasms everywhere. Also, the weather turned out not as good as we had hoped, it was either snowing or covered in thick fog. We had to be very careful.
Q: What was it like at base camp?
We were out there for about 20 days. It was really cold, temperatures getting as low as -30C. But we got used to it pretty fast. We chose this month because the weather patterns in the Ruoni Peak area are rather complicated and constantly changing, the only good climbing weather is between October and November, where you can maybe catch two to five days of clear skies in a row. We finally got a break in the weather on November 5.
Q: How long did the climb take?
About 14 hours. We began at 4 am, and summited at one in the afternoon. We made it back to base camp at 6 pm.
Q: What happened during those 14 hours?
Because we were more experienced than Japanese side, our team of seven went up to stake the route. At the beginning, the weather was clear, but it slowly started to turn. As we got close to the summit, fog rolled in and the wind began to kick up. Fatigue and bad weather ended up forcing five of our team to turn back, leaving only Danta and I to continue on alone. Considering the possibility of an avalanche, Danta and I led each other in shifts, alternating every 50 meters.
Q: What was the most dangerous part of the climb?
The descent. We had poor visibility on the mountain, so we simply had to rely on our memory to find the route back.
On both sides of us were either cliffs or chasms, and both of us had a brush with death, we each slipped and fell into cracks in the ice on separate occasions.
Q: What about the Japanese team?
The Japanese side set off at 6 am, they ran into bad weather and had to turn back. The next day, they made a second attempt and finally succeeded. Although they weren't as prepared as we were, they were really persistent. One of their team dropped into a 10-meter deep chasm during the descent. Luckily, he was harnessed.
Q: If you were to do it again, what would you do differently?
I would pay more attention to preparing our equipment. The most serious problem we encountered was the lack of ropes. When the universities did their surveying, they miscalculated the length of ropes needed to reach the summit. When we were approaching the peak, the incline was fierce and we were relying heavily on our lines. But we didn't have enough length, so we had to only tie a line if it was absolutely necessary, at the steepest inclines.
Q: What's the next challenge for you both?
Our next target is the K2 peak in Pakistan. And as for a future in climbing, both of us hope to be international mountaineering guides.
Q: What do you do when you're not climbing mountains?
Climbing is what I'm into. I don't care much about other stuff.
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