It’s summer vacation again, the peak season for mountaineering throughout the year. Mountaineering teams from college students at various universities in the capital, such as Tsinghua University and Peking University, have recently set out one after another, ready to set new climbing records. However, the news that Yan Dongdong, a former member of Tsinghua University’s mountaineering team, unfortunately fell into a crevasse and died while climbing Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang has once again drawn attention to the special group of “climbers,” especially college student mountaineering enthusiasts. Their safety situation is even more worrying due to the lack of necessary equipment and standardized training.
It is understood that it is currently summer vacation, and several college mountaineering teams are engaging in mountaineering activities. For example, the Peking University Mountain Eagle Society mountaineering team left Beijing on July 5 and headed to Sichuan, preparing to climb Que’er Peak, which stands at an altitude of 6,168 meters. Just a few days ago, the Tsinghua University Student Mountaineering Team had just ascended the southeast twin peaks of the Transparent Dream Glacier in Gansu Province, at an altitude of 5,483 meters. In addition, snow-capped mountains above 5,000 meters in altitude, such as Haba Snow Mountain in Yunnan and Yuzhu Peak in Qinghai, have also become popular climbing destinations for college mountaineering teams in recent years.
However, several industry insiders in mountaineering say that college mountaineering teams are very dangerous when encountering emergencies in the snow mountains because they generally lack equipment and standardized, systematic training. As early as 2002, five members of Peking University’s Mountain Eagle Society mountaineering team tragically died in an avalanche while climbing Xixiabangma West Peak in Tibet. Faced with the current surge in college student mountaineering activities, some believe this reflects the spirit of college students “showcasing themselves and challenging their willpower,” while others suggest that college students should prioritize their studies and not blindly pursue mountain climbing. “In fact, we also don’t hope to see too many college students going climbing. After all, they are not professional athletes; they lack both skills and equipment, which is very dangerous,” said an official from the Mountaineering Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China in the morning.
Yuan Lun (a pseudonym used at the request of the interviewee), who has had exchanges with more than ten college mountaineering teams in China and was once the president of the Peking University Mountain Eagle Society, told reporters that the biggest problem plaguing college students climbing snow mountains is the lack of sufficient, quality-assured equipment. He said that although the Peking University Mountain Eagle Society receives over 100,000 yuan in social sponsorship support per year, their mountaineering equipment is still very limited. Gear such as windproof jackets, ropes, and crampons are used until they are no longer usable before being discarded, and many college mountaineering teams in China cannot even reach this level of equipment, with some gear also being substandard in quality.
Tsering, who has served as a guide for several college mountaineering teams, said that non-standard training among college mountaineering teams is also a major hidden danger. Many students view mountaineering as tourism and do not make adequate preparations before setting off. “They can’t even handle rope road-building techniques, yet they shout about climbing 8,000-meter peaks. I can only tell them they’re playing with their lives.”
A key reason for the non-standard training is the lack of suitable training grounds, with indoor climbing walls at schools being almost the only option. Yuan Lun said that winter training is the best time for team members to practice using crampons and ropes, but mountainous areas with icefalls around Beijing are closed to the public during winter, which greatly affects the team's training. “Out of necessity, sometimes team members can only sneak in.”
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