Recently has been a prime time to summit the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Not only professional mountaineers but also many amateurs aspire to reach the top. However, due to the surge in climbers, the route to the summit has experienced severe "traffic jams." Over the past 10 days, 11 people have died at altitudes above 8,000 meters from prolonged exposure, oxygen deprivation, and exhaustion. Taiwanese female mountaineer Chiamiao Yuyu, who safely descended, revealed on her Facebook fan page: "There have been far too many deaths this year. The path was littered with fresh corpses."
Nicknamed "Three Fish," Taiwanese mountaineer Chiamiao Yuyu successfully summited the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, at 8,844 meters at 3:16 AM on the 27th, and safely descended. She shared the experience via her Facebook fan page, writing: "Climbing from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to Camp 4 at 7,950 meters within a single day, then setting off that very night to summit 8,848 meters, and after reaching the top, having to return to Camp 2. Though this isn’t some extraordinary solo climb plan, for someone who was coughing so hard they were vomiting, had just come down from the world’s fifth-highest peak, Makalu, at 8,462 meters, and had just made a round trip to Everest Camp 4 (7,950 meters, before retreating due to bad weather)... and had only rested at 6,400 meters for less than a day... it was brutal. And crazy!"
Despite it being "brutal and crazy," Chiamiao Yuyu completed the journey in under nine hours. She shared: "Just like with a camera, even without wind, the -40°C environment doesn’t allow us to linger too long. We didn’t even get to see the sunrise. Such a rare lifetime journey to summit Everest—there were no views, only corpses along the way the whole time... (There have been far too many deaths this year. The path was littered with fresh corpses)."
Chiamiao Yuyu added that the expedition was filled with both loss and joy. The greatest joy was accomplishing such a difficult plan, and summiting came second. The loss was seeing how restless the mountains were this year—witnessing people who had been painstakingly rescued last year now being brought down as corpses this year. "The mountain may have many things to say. I will slowly share more through my hiking journal."
For mountaineers, challenging world-renowned peaks is both a dream and a goal. However, summiting Mount Everest requires not only overcoming steep heights but also enduring harsh weather conditions such as snowstorms and strong winds. Since there is a fixed period each year when monsoon winds weaken and the weather improves, increasing the chances of a successful summit, May 21 to 23 was predicted to be the optimal window. As a result, a larger number of climbers chose this period to attempt the summit, leading to long queues on the route. The human body struggles to endure the extreme conditions above 8,000 meters for extended periods, tragically resulting in the deaths of over ten individuals.