Wilderness Challenge [Comprehensive British American American Entertainment]

What is the concept of 800 meters?

The height of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, is 828 meters, and on the mountain, the height of 800 meters is simply worthless-if it is not for the 8000 meters in front of the soles of the feet.

Embarking on the journey in the early morning, the team stopped to take a rest after passing through the road blocks mixed with rocks and ice, and walked to a slightly flat area called "balcony".

Jennifer sat on a protruding rock and slowly sipped energy drinks, ate a few energy bars, dropped the almost empty oxygen bottle on the ground, and replaced it with fresh oxygen.

The road from Camp No. [-] to the South Peak is very steep, and the delineation of the route requires climbers to use ropes and ice axes to choose a relatively flat place on both sides of the ridge to go up and down, and sometimes walk out of a zigzag.You can see the clear starry sky from the balcony. Usually, Jennifer would be amazed by the magnificence above her head, but now she is shivering with stars in her eyes, and has no intention of admiring the beautiful scenery at all.

A few players staggered to the floor beside her, and Soden immediately reprimanded them, ordering them to wear gloves and masks.

The guide team originally planned to let several players who were in bad condition give up the summit, but just like Soden could not persuade Aksim, he could not persuade the diehards who were determined to advance.

"When he went up the mountain, he had been doing ideological work. When he walked to the balcony, he seemed to have accepted his fate." Some contestants recalled afterwards.

The truth is not much different.

At that time, Soden had already figured out that it was impossible for him to become the first choice of mountaineering guide through this business. Taking a step back, he could not even bring everyone down the mountain with their tails down. A double desire blinds them to the crisis that is at hand.

Like Nandina.

Nandina was apparently struggling with the effects of drugs, and the high altitude environment made her miserable, and she wobbled with every step she took.Considering the situation in the past where a guide tied a climber to the waist with a rope and staggered towards the summit, the competition manual stipulates that Soden and his team are not allowed to directly provide help to the athletes, but there is no provision for helping hands between the athletes.

So is there anyone willing to lend a hand?

almost none.

At 03:30 in the morning, the team set off from the balcony and continued to sprint towards the summit of Nanfeng. After passing the summit, there was the notorious big tuyere, which is a U-shaped depression between Nanfeng.Nandina accidentally fell backwards to the ground when she was going downhill. At least ten people passed by her, but none of them stopped. Only Jennifer, who caught up later, barely tried to support her.

Stupid and not thought through.

Such attempts are of course futile.

Dizzy from the squats and supports, Jennifer had to freeze at bend height in a difficult position.After a few seconds, Nandana slipped out of her hands like a big, slippery fish, and immediately fell to the ground again, pale and vomiting.Jennifer immediately took off her oxygen mask, lest the vomit would be poured into her mouth and nose, but as she had done that night in the camp, Nandina was gripping the mask tightly, her fingers as hard as iron.

Later, the guide Puba noticed the abnormality and rushed over with another Sherpa.Puba is tall and strong, and his energy seems to be boundless. He walks on the cold snow peak like walking on the ground.He walked over quickly, first stopped Jennifer from the back, called "stop" a few times in broken English, and then squatted down to straighten Nandina, carefully checking her condition.

Based on her trust in the guide, Jennifer graciously let go, and a few minutes later graciously obeyed Soden's instruction to "move on" and sprinted towards the summit of Mount Everest with her legs as heavy as lead.

Before the wilderness team set off, in the base camp, some senior people once made the following warning: the price of help is high.

Yes, willing or not, agree or not, every climber should keep this sentence in mind as the bible, because behind this warning is countless blood, tears and lost lives.

The most famous ones, and the ones that are still mentioned by every climber to this day, are related to "landmarks".

One of them is "Sleeping Beauty" Frances.Frances was the first woman to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, but she died on the way back.It is said that there was a blizzard on the mountain at that time, and Frances's husband, Sergey Arsentieff, left her with some tools and left alone to seek help (his body was also found not long after).Two other climbers, Ian Woodall and his girlfriend Kathy O'Dall, collided with Frances during the climb, and they stayed with her for an hour because the oxygen cylinders did not match the oxygen masks, and also because they were at high altitudes. Unable to afford a person with reduced mobility, unable to provide any help, and ended up watching Frances lose her life.Ian personally covered Frances' body with the flag during a later summit push.

Another famous "landmark" that was witnessed dead is "Green Boots".The climber Pacho stopped in the cave at 8500 meters due to lack of energy. During the period, many people passed by, but he did not rescue him for various reasons.

In 2006, Mark Inglis, a famous New Zealand mountaineer without legs, accused more than 40 people of passing by and looked on, causing a British climber to die of hypothermia.

Jennifer more or less felt the mood of those passing by when she stopped.

Could it be that they are inhumane and selfish, so they would rather die than save?

not necessarily.

Firstly, the amount of oxygen and living materials carried by climbers is limited, and additional actions will lead to increased oxygen consumption. Second, the act of carrying weight itself will also bring an unbearable impact on the fragile physical fitness of climbers.As for the third... Everyone should learn to take responsibility for their actions at the first moment of stepping on Mount Everest.

And in the bottom of her heart, she also hopes that timely stop loss can save one or many lives-there are also many teams who have used the pulling method to carry customers to Mount Everest, whether it is guides or customers, what about most of them What?

Challenging the limits of human beings is not empty talk.

***

Unbeknownst to Jennifer, that statement came true later in the day in a crueler and more personal way.

Not long after the wilderness team set off, the European team, which had just arrived at Camp No. 18 for an hour, also began to head towards the top of the mountain. Half an hour later, the other two teams also charged towards the top of the mountain.Climbers in the death zone have no channel to know the seriousness of the situation, and cannot clearly understand that hundreds of climbers rushed to the summit on the 19th and [-]th like the audience sitting in front of the TV, but when they were in When the line at the foot of the Hillary Step was longer than usual, everyone knew something was wrong.

The Hillary Step is an almost vertical rocky mountain wall. It is so steep, so unattainable, and it stands so close to the end point. At the moment when the climbers are so exhausted, it is known as the guardian of the summit of Notre Dame. , has also been reviled as a persuasion for countless adventurers.

Slightly luckier than other teams, the 25 players in the wilderness team reached the summit at 11 am.This is something that deserves a big book. If it were a social platform, there should be at least a few long articles to express emotions, but people squeezed out the last bit of strength to climb to the top of the mountain, and after reaching the top, they let go. The joy of that moment was quickly swept away by the exhaustion and worries that swept over.

What could be more annoying than being stuck in front of the Hillary Step for four hours?

It was noon, and the sun was scorching hot on the bare facial skin of the climber, and soon Jennifer's forehead was tanned red.The lack of oxygen made her dizzy, and the commotion from time to time in the team and the calls that disappeared after reaching the summit made her even more upset. As if these were not enough, the readings of the oxygen tank were gradually bottoming out .

Other climbers climbed up the rope one after another, but those who were waiting to descend the mountain could only watch helplessly. At the beginning, people would pat each other to encourage each other. Later, Jennifer almost doubted that even if someone fell down the mountain in front of her, the whole team would not be able to see it. The people here would just say "Oops" and act like nothing happened.

At this time, the congestion on Mount Everest has reached its limit. People who are still waiting below the Hillary Step want to rush to the summit before returning to the point, and those who are waiting above the Hillary Step want to go down the mountain quickly to avoid a tragedy caused by exhaustion of oxygen and physical strength.

Jennifer was breathing hard while clapping her hands and stomping her feet, observing the long queue of climbers.

Each of them paid a huge fee, endured great pain, and experienced unspeakable challenges, and finally stood here. It is not easy to ask them to give up!

But there is also an imminent crisis hidden in this urgent expectation.

There are ropes fixed by Sherpas on the ridge extending down the Hillary Step. The ridge is narrow and steep. Only by following the ropes can climbers go up and down the mountain safely. People can only pinch their noses to slow down.These waiting people may fall down the slope at any time, suffer from acute mountain sickness, or have to go down the mountain after nightfall due to time delay, collide with a blizzard, and stand on top of the world. They can only pray for a sunny day. There is no other way.

It is not uncommon to wait for two or three hours at the Hillary Step on weekdays, but today, some people have even waited for five hours.

Afraid of what to come.

At 3:[-] p.m., the athlete from Switzerland rolled down the hill due to exhaustion, becoming the fifth climber to suffer from traffic jams that day.

At 4 p.m., the Wilderness Team took down the Hillary Step as a whole.

At 5 pm, when the wilderness team descended to the southeast peak, a violent snowstorm rose from the cirque.Almost instantly, visibility dropped from a few hundred meters to a few meters, then a few feet.The contestants who were walking in front were caught by the wind and snow, while Jennifer and several other contestants who stopped to take a break on the balcony were stunned by the scene of the snow dragon dancing wildly. A clear picture was taken in the snow.

Not daring to stay on the mountain any longer, more than a dozen people jumped up and continued to move down with their heavy bodies.Jennifer opened up the oxygen tank a little bit, and the sudden increase in oxygen concentration made her sanity clear, and it was difficult for her to recognize the path under her feet.Soon, they lost even the ability to distinguish the mountain road. The snowstorm covered the sky and the earth in the same color. If they were not holding the rope in their hands, they might not even know where to go.

If it was just a snowstorm, most people would be able to return to the camp safe and sound, but after walking down 50 meters, a horrible thing happened——

A huge snowboard fell from the mountain, like waves washing up on the shore, engulfing the entire team in an instant.

Jennifer was knocked sideways by the disintegrating snow, and she couldn't help but fell down the ridge with the snowboard.Her gloves broke free in the violent struggle, and her exposed skin was completely frozen.The cold froze her fingers, exhaustion dragged her ankles, and she watched the rope get farther and farther away, but she couldn't hold it again.

At a critical moment, the nearest Dolores grabbed her straps—from the look on her face, even Dolores didn’t know why she stretched out her hand, and she let it go quickly, but with this With the buffer of a grasp, Jennifer was able to glimpse life.She tried her best reflexively, her crampons stepped into the ice wall, her bent elbows supported the snow, her stiff fingers stretched out towards the rope...

For a moment, Jennifer felt like she had regained her balance.

She didn't know how many people were washed down the steep slope by a small avalanche, and she didn't know how many people were hit by the frozen snow. She only knew that she was only an inch away from the fixed rope, and she was back on track Relative security is only an inch away.

Until that loud voice reappeared.

"Come to me!" said the voice.

The last trace of strength was also drawn away, Jennifer closed her eyes, and the strong wind engulfed her in an instant.