Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team Demonstrates the Use of High-Altitude Oxygen Cylinders
In 2011, with the support of Osprey, the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team was officially established. Its members mainly come from the Tibet Mountaineering School and the Tibet Mountaineering Team. The establishment of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team ended the history of China lacking a professional high-altitude rescue team and turned a new page in the country's mountaineering endeavors. In 2012, Osprey launched a long-term project aimed at promoting healthy and correct mountaineering concepts—Osprey’s “Snow Mountain Guardian Program.” Under the spirit of “Guarding Life, Guarding Nature, and Guarding Dreams,” the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team also participated, contributing to spreading correct mountaineering concepts to protect the snow mountains.
On-Site Rescue Drills, The Shock of Protecting Life
“Everyone, please note, if you encounter an accidental injury while mountaineering, here’s what you need to do…” On April 30, 2012, in front of the artificial climbing wall at the Tibet Mountaineering School, the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team was conducting a simulated high-wall rescue demonstration. The exercises included the rappelling of conscious and unconscious casualties from high altitudes, as well as first aid and bandaging of injured areas. Awang Zaxi, the first phase graduate of the Tibet Mountaineering School who is now the deputy principal, and Sun Lingye, the first WMA (Wilderness Medical Associates) instructor in China, explained the key points and precautions of the rescue, giving everyone an in-depth yet easy-to-understand understanding of field rescue.
After smoothly concluding the artificial site simulation at the mountaineering school, the next day, the main group of the event set off for Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. After traveling through Shigatse, Dingri, and enduring the extremely bumpy 100-kilometer Everest Highway, everyone observed another on-site simulation rescue drill by the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team at Everest Base Camp. The drills included treatment with portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers, the use of specialized high-altitude oxygen cylinders, and emergency assistance for disabled climbers at high altitudes. Accompanying media and guests were also invited to act as casualties, allowing them to personally experience how crucial these guardians of safe climbing in high-altitude regions are to the safety of climbers.
“Everyone, please note, if you encounter an accidental injury while mountaineering, here’s what you need to do…” On April 30, 2012, in front of the artificial climbing wall at the Tibet Mountaineering School, the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team was conducting a simulated high-wall rescue demonstration. The exercises included the rappelling of conscious and unconscious casualties from high altitudes, as well as first aid and bandaging of injured areas. Awang Zaxi, the first phase graduate of the Tibet Mountaineering School who is now the deputy principal, and Sun Lingye, the first WMA (Wilderness Medical Associates) instructor in China, explained the key points and precautions of the rescue, giving everyone an in-depth yet easy-to-understand understanding of field rescue.
After smoothly concluding the artificial site simulation at the mountaineering school, the next day, the main group of the event set off for Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. After traveling through Shigatse, Dingri, and enduring the extremely bumpy 100-kilometer Everest Highway, everyone observed another on-site simulation rescue drill by the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team at Everest Base Camp. The drills included treatment with portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers, the use of specialized high-altitude oxygen cylinders, and emergency assistance for disabled climbers at high altitudes. Accompanying media and guests were also invited to act as casualties, allowing them to personally experience how crucial these guardians of safe climbing in high-altitude regions are to the safety of climbers.
Insights from High-Altitude Rescue: Prevention Must Come First
Since the early 1990s, some members of the current Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team have been involved in a series of major rescue operations. Examples include the rescue efforts after the Meili Mountain tragedy and the rescue of the Peking University Mountaineering Team after the Xixiabangma West Peak incident. Among them, in 2010, a Spanish expedition climbing Everest was injured and trapped at an altitude of 8,300 meters and sought help from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through their embassy in China. The Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team received the notification and rushed to the scene, successfully rescuing the Spanish climber in less than a day. This incident caused a sensation in the international mountaineering community because normally, ascending from the base camp at 5,200 meters to 8,300 meters would take about 3–4 days, but our rescue team managed to get there in less than 8 hours. These experiences gave the rescue team extensive high-altitude rescue expertise, laying a solid foundation for the official establishment of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team in 2011.
Members of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team have mostly witnessed some mountain tragedies. The life-and-death situations have not only left indelible memories in the hearts of the team members but have also given them deeper insights into the relationship between humans and mountains—“We hope that through effective publicity, more people will learn about mountaineering knowledge and correct concepts, fully understand their own abilities and conditions, and make thorough preparations for mountaineering, thereby effectively moving ‘rescue’ forward to before accidents happen. We hope that the establishment of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team can not only provide safety assurance for climbers but also convey a philosophy—an authentic climbing philosophy with a ‘guardian spirit.’”
Since the early 1990s, some members of the current Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team have been involved in a series of major rescue operations. Examples include the rescue efforts after the Meili Mountain tragedy and the rescue of the Peking University Mountaineering Team after the Xixiabangma West Peak incident. Among them, in 2010, a Spanish expedition climbing Everest was injured and trapped at an altitude of 8,300 meters and sought help from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through their embassy in China. The Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team received the notification and rushed to the scene, successfully rescuing the Spanish climber in less than a day. This incident caused a sensation in the international mountaineering community because normally, ascending from the base camp at 5,200 meters to 8,300 meters would take about 3–4 days, but our rescue team managed to get there in less than 8 hours. These experiences gave the rescue team extensive high-altitude rescue expertise, laying a solid foundation for the official establishment of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team in 2011.
Members of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team have mostly witnessed some mountain tragedies. The life-and-death situations have not only left indelible memories in the hearts of the team members but have also given them deeper insights into the relationship between humans and mountains—“We hope that through effective publicity, more people will learn about mountaineering knowledge and correct concepts, fully understand their own abilities and conditions, and make thorough preparations for mountaineering, thereby effectively moving ‘rescue’ forward to before accidents happen. We hope that the establishment of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team can not only provide safety assurance for climbers but also convey a philosophy—an authentic climbing philosophy with a ‘guardian spirit.’”
As Nyima Tsering, the captain of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team, said: “At high altitudes, an individual’s strength is really small, which is when the safety assurance of climbers becomes particularly important.” The best form of assurance is to act before accidents happen, which is also the original intention behind Osprey’s Snow Mountain Guardian Program. The participation of the Tibet High-Altitude Rescue Team is to better promote correct mountaineering concepts, enabling climbers to acquire certain high-altitude rescue knowledge, to properly assess their own conditions before climbing, and to learn how to correctly use and prepare their climbing gear, thereby minimizing the possibility of accidents before they occur and realizing the forward placement of rescue efforts.
Synced to youmezz’s Weibo