Hunan-based free climber Lin Xi summits Mount Everest on the 19th
Lin Xi is a female police officer at the Hunan Women’s Prison. One day in 2005, she came across a recruitment post on an outdoor website. “They were inviting people to climb a mountain in Meijiang, Lianyuan. I was immediately excited.” From then on, Lin Xi fell head over heels for outdoor activities. She began climbing snow mountains in 2006, summited Muztagh Ata at an altitude of 7,546m in 2011, and then successfully climbed Nepal’s Manaslu at 8,156m in October of the following year, becoming the first woman from Hunan to scale a peak above 8,000m. In 2013, filled with reverence and longing for Mount Everest, this “daughter of the mountains” embarked on her journey to “return” to Everest.
Photo of Lin Xi climbing Manaslu (8,156m) in 2012
In the early hours of May 15, 2013, Lin Xi posted on Weibo, “We will start heading for the summit on the 15th, expected to reach the top on the 19th, and descend back to the base camp on the 20th. Everyone, send me your blessings!” Lin Xi is an optimistic and positive person who even took up some “high-altitude crafting” during her training period—doing cross-stitch at the base camp over 5,000m above sea level.
With the good news of her summit on the 19th, Hunan’s first female Everest summiteer has been born! This also marks the ninth consecutive year that the Polarstar Dream Project has seen team members reach the world’s highest peak since it began sponsoring the China-Japan Women’s Mountaineering Team and the Chinese Everest Height Remeasurement Team in 2005.
Lin Xi at Everest South Base Camp (5,400m) with her “high-altitude crafting” piece
Additional News: Shang? (online name: Dabing), a Polarstar Dream Project-sponsored team member in 2013, also successfully summited Mount Everest on the 19th and has safely returned to the base camp yesterday.