Response to the Report “Heavy Snow Hits Niutou Mountain, 41 Shanghai Hikers Stranded”

Hello everyone:

I was one of the leaders who led a group to Niutou Mountain in Wuyi last week. Our club is Shanghai Lüwu, my name is “Nanren” (Man), and the other two leaders were “Ado” and “Heshang.”

First of all, we’d like to thank the friends from the Off-roadEClub Wuyi Mountain Rescue Team and the Zhejiang Off-road Rescue Team who drove rescue vehicles up to meet us.

However, after returning to Shanghai, we were quite surprised to see the overwhelming news online. Then we received a call from our association, and close friends also called one after another to ask about the situation — it was really too much pressure. Previously, considering that we had dealt with Heima (Black Horse) for a long time, we didn’t want to cause a rift, since all hikers are one big family.Today, after watching this video, I really felt I had to speak out. The report and the facts are so different. Let me first state the actual sequence of events, and then everyone can discuss further.

Our team was active in2Niutou Mountain in Wuyi from the24to the26. We contacted a local Wuyi leader, Heima, to serve as our local guide (he had led our club many times before and was familiar with the routes).24We stayed at a small hotel in Wuyi County on the evening of the25, departing from Liukeng to camp at the Niutou Mountain Protection Station, where it snowed at night.26When we got up in the morning, the snowfall had lessened. According to the original plan, the team8:30began descending, with the destination being Xiaodai (where our coach was waiting). It wasn’t until after2in the afternoon that we finally withdrew back to Liukeng, where we had originally entered the mountain (later, according to Heima, we had taken a wrong turn, but he never informed any of our leaders; instead, he just kept going the wrong way). The original plan was to reach Xiaodai in just15minutes to meet our coach, but taking the wrong route caused us to walk an extra2hours, and we ended up back at Liukeng. On the way down, due to no phone signal, we happened to meet a motorcycle coming up from below. We immediately discussed with the driver whether he could take one person down to find our coach and have him come back up to pick us up. The motorcycle driver took Heima down first. Heima found the coach and then called our leaders, saying there was some ice on the road. Considering that the coach was a45-seater and there were many people, going down rashly might be dangerous. The three of us leaders discussed whether there were other ways to get everyone down to the town below and then meet the coach. At that point, Heima called to say that the local off-road vehicle team could come up to assist us (without telling us it was a rescue team). I asked about the cost, and he said not to worry about it. By coincidence, a local shuttle bus came down from below and explained the situation to us: the mountain road had been quite icy in the morning, but by then it had mostly melted, and they had no problem driving down. They could also arrange for two empty buses to take our team members to Wuyi within15-20minutes. After agreeing on the price, we waited for about30minutes,2shuttle buses arrived together. By then, Heima and our coach driver had already taken the motorcycle back to Liukeng to meet us and switch to the shuttle buses to go down the mountain. Heima could have completely avoided calling the off-road vehicles. On the way down, we met9off-road vehicles coming up the mountain, and all team members descended to the foot of the mountain in this way, transferred to the coach, and headed to Wuyi. We arrived at the place Heima had reserved for us to eat at around17, when it was still light. Before dark, we had our meal together with the rescue team vehicles. When saying goodbye, Zhanche (a nickname) told our leaders that someone from the Wuyi Propaganda Department wanted to come over, so we waited a bit. Then we saw Zhu Yuejun, the editor-in-chief who posted the online article, asking us about the incident. Since we were already later than our original return time to Shanghai and eager to leave, he said he was very familiar with Heima and would ask him directly about the details. Then we got on the bus and left.

That’s the full account of what happened.

Here, we’d like to point out that:

1. Our originally planned descent route was changed because the local guide Heima led us the wrong way, resulting in the actual descent point not being the same as the coach’s waiting location (though the descent point also had residences and supplies, and all team members were fine). Due to the sudden snowfall and icy roads, upon receiving Heima’s advice that having the coach drive up might be risky, we prudently and cautiously decided — for safety reasons — to contact2local shuttle buses to bring the team members down. It should not be described as being “stranded at the mountaintop,” and moreover, everyone arrived at Liukeng at around2in the afternoon (Liukeng is not some remote wilderness area), and we arrived at the restaurant in Wuyi to eat at5Around that time, it wasn’t even dark yet.

2. From the moment we reached the descent point until the shuttle bus picked us up, the entire process took no more than30minutes. So how did it become hours of being trapped?7Were we considered trapped starting from26in the morning? That’s when we were supposedly already trapped?

3. This was an unexpected incident, and we took appropriate measures. All team members were aware of the situation’s progress. I don’t think it’s necessaryzfto spend taxpayers’ money to rescue us. If we had known it was a rescue vehicle and not an off-road car we paid for, we definitely would not have agreed to what Black Horse did, because we were not lost, no team members were injured, we had phone signal — we just encountered icy road conditions that caused a delay. We don’t know how the media got there, we don’t know how the rescue team arrived, and everyone has seen what the media said. But let’s not use this as an opportunity to promoteZF’s wisdom andV5— everyone knows what’s going on. But using us as props is just too low.

4. I believe Black Horse knows the full story of the incident best. They must have seen that the shuttle bus could drive up here. Whether local rescue forces were needed, I’m sure they could judge for themselves. I suggest everyone ask them.

5. The photos circulating online now were all provided by Black Horse. Some are even photos of us going up the mountain or setting up camp. How did these end up being labeled as photos of us “being trapped”? I really don’t understand if it’s the provider’s description that’s off, or if the media just had no other material to work with??

6. “Captain” and “Xiaocai” are not the online aliases used by our team members. I don’t know if it’s out of consideration for our “face” or guilt, but since the official news reports didn’t explicitly point to our club, guides, or team members, we let it go. But now the hype has gone too far, and everyone is pointing fingers — we really can’t take it anymore, and trying to smooth things over is no longer an option.

Finally,

the rescue team responded very promptly. They are a well-trained squad, and we thank you. I believe you are also people who don’t know the full truth. As for the irresponsible reporting by Wuyi media, we are speechless. And regarding what Black Horse has done, we express our regret.