Yunhu's True Record—8 Days and Nights of Climbing Snow Mountain Peak

third day, it was snowy and overcast, extremely cold, I stayed by the stove in the house;4On the3800mfourth day, it was sunny, I went up the mountain to scout the route, mistakenly thought I had taken a wrong turn,

Why did I give up at5000meters altitude, and why did I give up again during the second good weather window:
1.At that time,11:30 in the afternoon we only just arrived at5000m, having expended a lot of energy, and felt there was no hope of reaching the summit;
2.Lately I’ve often thought about bad things, and lacked confidence in handling danger;
3.the weather was extremely cold (-10℃below freezing), my body needed a huge amount of energy just to resist the cold, and my digestive capacity was poor (bowel movements were ineffective in the valley, whereas staying in a camp halfway up the mountain was actually better), not to mention energy storage, recovery was also poor;
4.the gear wasn’t warm enough, my fingers would stiffen if I didn’t move them — my middle, ring, and little fingers would go numb, and during the earlier climbing (3800-4200pass-4500starting climb point) it was already very taxing.
5.3800All of the above were unknown sections, covered in snow, and even at the pass the main peak was still indiscernible — we had to break trail anew.
6.The reconnaissance trip the day before had failed—I hadn’t fully surveyed the approach route, misjudged the path, and remembered what others had said2hours, I thought I should be able to do it in a light pack in3-4hours. Also, this day had consumed some of my energy;
7.the time planning was inadequate,3300-4500the starting point for the climb6hours—if I had started at10o’clock, it would have been better, but then there’d be another issue: a longer night climbing period and having to endure the cold for even longer;
8.4500-5000the scree slope had a rather steep gradient40-50°, although covered with snow, the footholds were poor, and I still slipped every two steps, which was exhausting.3800-5000mIt was all small, shuffling steps forward—you can imagine it wasn’t easy. (On Turtle Stone, we took the right-side scree path.)
9.The reception station kept emphasizing that solo climbing was too dangerous and that I might be stopped. In the end, I signed a waiver and pressed my fingerprint before heading up the mountain. This year,8indeed, there was an accident.
10.The second weather window—although there was moonlight but no stars at night, the sky remained overcast,11and there were still cloud layers over the peaks in the valley until12o’clock, when they finally cleared completely. From the moment I woke up, I kept hesitating. After taking night photos, I was freezing, and I had no confidence in my willpower, spirit, or physical strength.
    Additionally, the snow cover made the scree slope less slippery for quick steps, but it was also harder to find secure footing (with flaky rocks). Despite the cold, there were still two or three rockfall incidents. I hadn’t even reached Camel Back yet—the real climb hadn’t started—but I thought the problems wouldn’t be too severe. The villagers in the valley were really consistent (30kilometers of road200yuan must be the most expensive anywhere), if not for Snow Mountain’s beautiful shape, I wouldn’t have considered returning. But yes, I will go back to Snow Mountain,One pushand it is entirely feasible.