Liu Lianman, a Harbin Resident
May 29, 2013, marked the 60th anniversary of the first human ascent of the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Though Everest may seem far away, one of its climbing heroes lives among us — Liu Lianman, a resident of Harbin. Fifty-three years ago, he selflessly acted as a human ladder, carrying his teammates Wang Fuzhou, Qu Yinhua, and Gongbu, and together they conquered the “Second Step,” once deemed impassable by foreign explorers. Recently, reporters visited the elderly man, now over eighty, to hear about his extraordinary 18-year journey in mountaineering.
“The Strongman” Transferred to the National Mountaineering Team
In late May, reporters visited Liu Lianman at his home in Harbin as scheduled. A trophy awarded personally by Marshal He Long in 1958 after he and his teammates successfully summited Mount Gongga was prominently displayed.
Liu Lianman is the lifelong honorary advisor of the Provincial Mountaineering Association and is often invited to give lectures or serve as a guest at major outdoor events across the province and beyond. Reflecting on his past, Liu sipped his tea and said slowly, “Looking back, I’ve had many unique experiences. My path into mountaineering was somewhat accidental — not entirely my own decision.”
In 1951, Liu Lianman started working at the Harbin Electromechanical Factory. At just 18, his incredible strength — he could easily carry 600–700 jin (300–350 kg) of coal at a time — made him a widely known “strongman.” He was also passionate about sports and frequently participated in various competitions.
In 1955, Liu was selected by Harbin’s First Machinery System to compete in the First National Urban Games for Machinery Systems in Dalian, where he won third place in the discus event. “Perhaps it was my outstanding performance at those games that led to me being chosen by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions the following year to attend a mountaineering training course,” Liu said with a smile. Back then, the training focused on rock climbing and snow and ice operations. Relying on his youth and stamina, he learned quickly.
Nearly Buried in an Avalanche
In 2012, Liu published a book titled The Story of a Mountaineer, documenting his years in the sport and his experiences. Over 18 years, he narrowly escaped death 11 times — he could certainly be called a lucky man.
Liu recalled that in 1957, a joint Chinese-Soviet mountaineering team attempted to summit Mount Gongga. Before the climb, he and three others went ahead to scout the route. On the way back, Liu was in the lead when he suddenly heard his teammates shout, “Avalanche, get out of the way!” Just as the danger neared, he spotted a recessed rock nearby. He pressed his body against it and gripped the rock crevice tightly. “The snow slammed against my back for quite a while before it stopped. I didn’t feel the pain until later,” Liu said. Beneath the cliff, the snow piled up into a mound three or four stories high. Without that rock, he would have been swept down the mountain and buried alive.
On another occasion, after summiting Mount Gongga, Liu encountered a blizzard during the descent. “The snowstorm was so fierce I couldn’t even open my eyes. My teammate Liu Dayi suddenly slipped, and the captain and I tried to stop him with our ice axes. In the end, all three of us slid down together,” Liu said. The slide was incredibly fast, almost like flying. He lost his ice axe in the process. Fortunately, when they reached the edge of a cliff, a protruding rock blocked their fall. The captain grabbed the rock, and when the blizzard subsided, the three looked down to see an abyss below — a fall would have meant certain death. Liu said such dangerous incidents were too numerous to count.
Starving and Seeing Stars After Two Days Without Food
After training, mountaineers sometimes faced not only danger but also hunger. Once, Liu was assigned by his superiors along with three other climbers to assist the Xinjiang Geological Bureau in surveying the Tianshan Mountain terrain. Due to the vast area, each group was too far apart to maintain contact, and they had to move their tents after every survey point. By the time Liu and his team returned, it was already dark, and they couldn’t find their camp.
“We were starving — hadn’t eaten for over two days, and we were seeing stars,” Liu said. Luckily, on the third day, they spotted a tent on the opposite side of the river. Though the river was only about 30 meters wide, the current was extremely strong — even a cow could be swept away. At that point, Liu said he didn’t care about the risks. Without taking off his clothes or shoes, he plunged into the river and swam with all his might to the other side. By the time he reached it, he had been carried downstream 300–400 meters.
The tent on the other side belonged to another survey team, who were roasting flatbread. Liu ate several pieces and asked for more, which he tied up tightly to throw back to his teammates. Having experience throwing discuses, he thought tossing some flatbread across the river would be easy — but he found he had no strength. The bread landed a meter short, in the river. “Thankfully, the other side was a gentle slope, and my teammate reacted quickly, grabbing the bread before it floated away. Otherwise, both the bread and the person trying to catch it could have been washed away,” Liu said. Every time he recalls the incident, he feels a chill of fear.
Never Expected to Survive Everest
In 1960, the National Sports Commission decided to form a Chinese-only team to tackle Everest from the north side. From the start of the expedition, Liu was at the front, leading the way. When the five-member team reached 8,700 meters — the “Second Step” — they struggled to climb a 6-meter-high rock face, falling repeatedly. That’s when Liu came up with the idea of a human ladder. His “ladder” strategy enabled the assault team to finally overcome the “Second Step,” once considered an insurmountable barrier by foreign explorers.
“With the lack of oxygen and nearly 100 jin (50 kg) of gear, every step took minutes. I was so exhausted I could barely breathe. How could we get up? I remembered how firefighters use ladders to scale buildings, so I thought, why not try a human ladder? I boosted my teammates Qu Yinhua and Gongbu up, then helped pull Wang Fuzhou up with the others,” Liu said. After advancing more than 100 meters, his strength gave out, and he had to stay behind, leaving the summit push to his three teammates.
“I never thought I’d make it off Everest alive, so I turned off my oxygen to save it for my teammates’ descent and wrote a will,” Liu recalled.
Looking back on his mountaineering career, Liu humbly described himself: “I’m no hero — I just did what needed to be done.”