CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- At 10:35 on May 21, 2024 (Beijing time), Liu Ying’an took off his oxygen mask and breathed in the extremely cold air at the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world with an altitude of 8,848.86 meters.

He then took out flags and banners and shot videos with his mobile phone, recording one of the peak moments in his life and sending his blessings for his hometown Liangping and his expectations for children.

It’s harder to give up than to reach the summit in a Mount Everest expedition

2024 is Liu Ying’an’s zodiac year, and he took a trip up Mount Everest as a gift for himself.

On April 15, Liu Ying’an went back to his hometown, Hucheng Town in Liangping District, to pay respect to his ancestors before heading to Chengdu where he would set off for the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, and then transfer to a helicopter to Lukla.

There are two routes for mountaineers to climb to the top of the world: the north ridge route that starts from the north side of Mount Everest in Tibet, and the southeast ridge route that starts from the south side of Mount Everest in Nepal. No matter which route is chosen, the climbers will pass a sleepy ‘graveyard’ before they reach the base camps, a resting place for many who have attempted the dangerous expedition. There are some gravestones with the names, photos, and epitaphs of the victims. Liu Ying’an stooped here for a while with tears running down his face. In his videos, we can see the graveyard is thick with gravestones, which seem to remind the latecomers how deadly the climb is and transmit the unyielding spirit of the challengers.

This was the first shocking and unforgettable scene that Liu Ying’an had seen in Mount Everest. When passed through the graveyard, he was thinking who would erect a gravestone for him if he could not return alive. “What does an epitaph mean to a dead man? I must survive!” Liu thought to himself. Finally, he emptied his mind of negative thoughts and moved forward with firm strides.

With a Sherpa guide, Liu Ying’an started his climb early in the morning of May 17, reached Camp 2 at an altitude of 6,500 meters on May 18, arrived at Camp 3 with an elevation of 7,200 meters on May 19, and climbed to Camp 4 on May 20, which is 7,950 meters above sea level.

Despite many dangers and threats, Liu Ying’an was about to climb to the top safely. However, things got tough when he reached the Hillary Step, the final stage of the ascent to Everest.

The Hillary Step is a near-vertical rock face stretching up to 12 meters at an elevation of 8,790 meters in the ‘death zone’. It’s the only way to the summit. Over the past 70 years since humans first topped the summit of Mount Everest, the Hillary Step has claimed the lives of 200 mountaineers.

The narrow ridge, only about 30 centimeters wide and flanked by cliffs spanning thousands of kilometers in height, allows one person to pass at a time. Some parts of the Hilary Step are only half the width of a foot. Liu Ying’an carefully climbed on the Hillary Step. In the blink of an eye, five mountaineers fell from the cliff and only three of them were finally saved.

Death was so close that some mountaineers chose to abandon the climb. The summit was almost one step away, making it more difficult to give up than to continue the expedition. Finally, Liu Ying’an decided to make it to the top.

At 10:35 Beijing time, Liu Ying’an reached the summit of the Roof of the World. However, he was not that excited, as he knew that the real challenge for mountaineers had just begun.

Falling into an ice hole, Liu said working downhills were more difficult

Liu Ying’an said that the days spent climbing account for 30% of the whole journey, as it’s more difficult to descend a mountain than to climb it.

It was on the way down Everest that Liu Ying'an had an accident. Due to a lack of experience and proficiency, his Sherpa guide did not find that he had fallen into a hole in the ice at an altitude of 7,300 to 7,500 meters. “I’m done!” After his mind went blank for a while, he called the name of his guide, only to find he could not speak loudly while wearing an oxygen mask. He knew that he would face certain death if he did not try to save himself.

Liu Ying’an forced himself to calm down. He looked around, happy to find that he was securely tied to the safety ropes and trapped in the middle of the ice hole instead of continuing to fall. “Thank goodness!”

With the help of safety ropes and the crampons of the mountaineering shoes, Liu Ying’an carefully and slowly moved himself out of the hole. Knowing that a wrong step could cost his life, Liu hardly dared to breathe. After climbing out of the ice hole, Liu Ying took a deep breath, finding that the guide had been more than ten meters away and he didn’t notice his disappearance at all. Liu Ying’an was even more thankful that he had kept calm and saved himself.

After surviving a life-threatening situation, Liu Ying'an made a video to remember the exciting moments.

Liu was not relieved until he returned to the base camp at Mount Everest and removed his crampons. Only then was he truly safe from danger.

He lost over 10 kilograms of weight in the expedition. His face was black when he just descended from Mount Everest and started peeling during his recovery.

His dream started with a question - what is on the other side of the mountain?

Liu Ying’an is the first Liangping people that has topped the summit of Mount Everest. On the morning of May 28, he returned to his hometown Liangping, the place where his climbing dream began.

Growing up in a mountain village called Hucheng Town in Liangping District, Chongqing, Liu Ying’an was often told by his mother that ‘It’s raining on the other side of Xuanding Mountain’, ‘it’s sunny on the other side of Xuanding Mountain’...

What lies beyond the other side of that mountain? Liu Yingan looked at the tall and silent Xuanding Mountain in the distance, and for the first time, he had the idea of climbing to the top of the mountain.

As Liu Ying'an grew older, mountaineering became one of his hobbies. When his youngest son was nine, they climbed Banji Peak together, a hill with an altitude of 5,430 meters. However, due to severe altitude sickness experienced by his son at around 4700 meters, they failed to complete the climb. At that time, Liu Ying’an was worried about the physical condition of his son and awfully sorry about the failure to top the mountain. He believed that they could have reached the summit.

Since then, mountaineering has become a goal for him. In recent years, Liu Ying'an has successfully scaled several world-renowned peaks, including Mount Manaslu (8,163 meters, the eighth highest mountain in the world), Muztagh Ata (7,546 meters) in Xinjiang, and Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters, the tallest mountain in Africa). His successful ascent of Mount Everest marks another milestone in his mountaineering career.

After experiencing the beauty on the other side of the mountains himself, Liu Ying'an wants to help more people leave their mountain villages and witness the scenery beyond the mountains. Since 2022, Liu has sponsored underprivileged children in the Daliangshan region to pursue education as part of his philanthropic efforts. What lies beyond those mountains ignites my dream, and I hope it can also be the starting point of dreams for the children, said Liu Ying'an. (Photos provided by the interviewee) 

(Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)