A view of Everest from the base camp. Photo by Special Correspondent Zou Jin
Exclusive report from Everest Base Camp (Special Correspondent Zou Jin, Correspondent Cao Zhikai): At around 15:00 yesterday, the Diyou Everest Mountaineering Team successfully arrived at Everest Base Camp, located at an altitude of 5,200 meters. The people of Wuhan have begun a face-to-face rendezvous with Everest.
This is one of the series of events celebrating the 60th anniversary of China University of Geosciences, organized by the university, with co-sponsorship from our newspaper and the Wuhan Municipal Sports Bureau.
Yesterday morning at around 09:00, the mountaineering team left the Dingri Everest Hotel and headed for Everest Base Camp, more than 100 kilometers away. It was a stretch of poor-quality “washboard road” winding through the mountains, requiring slow speeds. The team also underwent multiple border checks along the way, but fortunately, there were no delays. After over six hours on the road, they safely reached the base camp. With this, all 32 members of the Diyou Everest Mountaineering Team have now gathered at the foot of Everest.
The subsequent ascent of Everest will be divided into two phases: acclimatization and transport, and the summit push. In the first phase, team members will be divided into three groups as appropriate, setting out from the base camp in sequence to advance to higher camps for acclimatization and transport tasks. The first group will mainly consist of the transport team.
Today, the whole team will conduct acclimatization training around the base camp.
Dong Fan, the overall commander of the mountaineering team, and Tsering, the team leader, both emphasized that team members must follow commands and arrangements. “We must ensure that this mountaineering activity is absolutely safe,” said Dong Fan.