For many years, hiking through Hoh Xil like Lan Hai and his companions has been difficult to get approved by relevant authorities due to the immense risks involved.
Hoh Xil, covering approximately 83,000 square kilometers, is the third-largest uninhabited area in the world after the North and South Poles, and also the largest uninhabited region in China.
For many years, Hoh Xil has been a paradise for wildlife such as Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks, snow leopards, and white-lipped deer. But as human footprints extended, the tranquility of this paradise was eventually disrupted. However, given such a harsh living environment, only poachers, hikers, and scientific researchers dare to make brief stays in Hoh Xil.
As one traveler who crossed Hoh Xil alone a decade ago put it: “It’s not about conquering Hoh Xil, but about holding eternal reverence for it.”
Located in the heart of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Hoh Xil has an average elevation of over 4,600 meters. The Hoh Xil Mountains and the Dongbule Mountains run across the central part of the region, with two broad valley lake basins between the mountain ranges where the terrain is relatively flat. Mountainous areas above 5,500 to 6,000 meters are covered with glaciers, totaling more than 1,700 square kilometers in glacier area.
“The complex terrain has allowed Hoh Xil to nurture a variety of natural environments—some as beautiful as a heavenly realm, others as harsh as a purgatory,” a traveler who crossed Hoh Xil alone told reporters. A decade ago, he and a guide spent over ten days traversing the Hoh Xil uninhabited area.
In this uninhabited region characterized by low temperatures, scarce precipitation, frequent strong winds, and significant regional variations, apart from loneliness, what travelers find most unbearable is the drastic day-night temperature difference. “The air here is thin, with oxygen levels only about 50% of that on the plains. Even more unbearable is the extreme day-night temperature variation. During the day, temperatures in the uninhabited area can exceed 35°C, but at night they can drop to around -5°C.”
For many years, due to minimal human activity, Hoh Xil’s environment and climate have been preserved. Yet, what remains most vivid in the memories of travelers are those life-and-death struggles—memories that remain etched in their minds, unforgettable.
Even so, the harsh environment has not stopped humans from attempting to hike across Hoh Xil.
On April 7, 2011, Lan Hai from Tai’an, along with eight other outdoor enthusiasts, set off from Korla, Xinjiang. On May 7, they reached the 68th Road Maintenance Squad on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, having spent a month hiking across Hoh Xil.
“We got permission from the relevant authorities to enter Hoh Xil, and we prepared for a long time,” said Lan Hai. When they finally stepped onto Hoh Xil’s land, the first thing they felt wasn’t the scenery, but the cold—extreme cold.
“At night, the temperature outside the tent could reach -40°C. My sleeping bag is rated for a minimum of -28°C, and I couldn’t feel warm at all,” Lan Hai said. In the morning, a one-centimeter-thick layer of ice would form on the sleeping bag.
During those days, water was a major issue. Although swamps and muddy water were visible everywhere in Hoh Xil, the salty and bitter water was unsuitable for drinking. “Drinking it would make you sick, and getting sick in Hoh Xil is fatal.” The mineral water they carried often froze into solid chunks, and only by placing it in the sun at noon could some of it thaw. At the coldest times, even their metal climbing water bottles cracked from the freezing.
What remained most memorable for them was being stalked by a pack of wolves.
When passing by Science Lake, they spotted the wolves. At first, they didn’t realize the danger and took out their cameras to photograph the wolves. Their camera actions made the wolves hesitant to act rashly. While facing off with the wolves, they began to think of ways to protect themselves—several of them stood back-to-back with trekking poles, waiting for the rest of the team to catch up. Seeing more people approaching, the wolves gradually retreated.
However, the wolves’ retreat didn’t mean they had given up. Soon after, the pack followed them for another seven or eight kilometers. “Every night, we went to sleep listening to the howls of the wolves,” Lan Hai said.
In the following days of endless snowstorms, with no visible landmarks or other team members, Lan Hai and two others walked in a line. Due to various reasons, only one of their GPS devices was functioning properly. After walking for a while, they noticed that the displayed distance kept increasing the further they went, and the compass readings contradicted it. “The snowstorm grew heavier—whom should we trust? This decision determined the life or death of the three of us. Getting lost in Hoh Xil meant certain death,” Lan Hai said. “In the end, relying on our years of outdoor experience and intuition, we retraced our steps to find the riverbed and then moved forward. Later, we found out our decision was right—the GPS device was broken.”
On May 7, Lan Hai and the others finally succeeded in crossing Hoh Xil. He immediately used a satellite phone to call his family to report that he was safe. “Just saying ‘I’m alive’ made me burst into tears.”
In fact, for many years, hiking through Hoh Xil like Lan Hai and his group has been difficult to get approved by relevant authorities due to the immense risks involved. It was precisely because these individuals all had many years of outdoor survival experience and had prepared specifically for four years that they managed to make it out by sheer luck.
We must always remember the words of that traveler who crossed Hoh Xil a decade ago: “For Hoh Xil, we should hold reverence in our hearts.”