Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Chapter 423: 421

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I’ll claim a spot, will be done by 00:45

After making a huge effort to reach Camp One, Bi Fang exhaled a cloud of cold mist and squinted at the sun before rolling up his sleeves to check the time, exhaling with a huff.

“Eleven thirty-seven, not bad, we didn’t miss lunchtime,” he said.

Leaving at two in the morning and finally arriving at Camp One took nearly ten hours. The whole ascent of the Khumbu Glacier seemed to be just a few hundred meters of elevation gain, but the actual distance traveled was over fourteen kilometers, truly a “long march.”

The numerous large and small crevasses along the way were countless, and just navigating aluminium ladders, Bi Fang had crossed seventeen, finally reaching Camp One.

Standing on this vast plateau, the view was excellent. Bi Fang took deep breaths into his lungs. The air here was fresh but breathing certainly wasn’t a pleasant experience due to the very low amount of oxygen available.

At the entrance to the camp, Bi Fang could well say he had a view of mountains “above,” though his own altitude was just six thousand meters, the peaks around him nearly all exceeded eight thousand meters.

Holding an undeployable drone, Bi Fang gripped his climbing pole and pointed towards the distance with a shake.

“The weather’s good today, not much mountain fog. We can have a clear view – from left to right, they are four peaks over eight thousand meters: Cho Oyu, Mount Everest, Lhotse Peak, and Makalu. The tip peeking out through the clouds, that’s Mount Everest, and the large grey stretch below is the massive Rongbuk Glacier, with the white area at the bottom being the frozen Gokyo Lake Three.”

The majesty of the mountains left viewers at a loss for words; after struggling to find the right expressions, they could only flood the live streaming chat with a barrage of “holy sh*t” to convey their awe.

“There are only fourteen mountains on Earth over eight thousand meters above sea level, and ten of them are in the Himalayas. The other four are in the Karakoram.”

[The Himalayas still hold prestige]

[Ten of them, but aren’t there also many peaks nearby? Don’t those count?]

Many viewers noticed Cho Oyu, the shortest among the four peaks pointed out by Bi Fang, but above it, there were pointed peaks that were even taller, already numbering more than four in sum.

Bi Fang shook his head: “Those are subsidiary or fore-summits, which generally don’t count. In geography, the highest point in a mountain range is the main peak; an isolated peak is an independent mountain; and those near an independent peak that form a ‘guarding pattern’ are subsidiary and fore-summits. The ones taller than Cho Oyu are just subsidiary peaks of other mountains. Even though they also surpass eight thousand meters, they are not counted among them.”

“Of course, what I just said wasn’t accurate either. A more accurate description should be there’s a group of mountains over eight thousand meters above sea level. In fact, there are more than fourteen mountains on Earth over eight thousand meters, as most main peaks are surrounded by several subsidiary peaks over that elevation.”

As the name suggests, a mountain group is a “collection” of an independent mountain and all its subsidiary peaks… The concept of the main peak is easy to understand; for example, Mount Everest is the main peak of the Himalayas.

But what exactly is considered ‘isolated?’ In vast mountain ranges like the Himalayas, where are the ‘isolated’ peaks? How close is considered ‘relatively near’?… These concepts are qualitative rather than quantitative, and the demarcations are not clear, making the identity criteria for 8000-meter-class mountains vague as well.”

[So where did this standard come from?]

The audience was curious, wondering where did this unified statement of fourteen peaks come from?

“That’s because over the 100+ years since mountaineering became popular, these high mountains were only systematically measured by the British Military Survey Team, so their statement about the ‘fourteen’ has taken hold. Later, it also received unanimous approval from the mountaineering community.

Mountaineers have also summed up through practical experience that these ‘fourteen’ are actually the highest peaks within fourteen separate 8000-meter peak groups, that is, independent mountains. Even if there are peaks around an independent mountain that reach over eight thousand meters, they are considered subsidiary peaks.”

[So now, is Old Fang also a mountaineer? (Dog’s head)]

“`

Bi Fang laughed and neither admitted nor denied, “Wait until I summit Mount Everest solo without oxygen, then you can call me that.”

Although he had no specific mountaineering achievements of his own, just the act of summiting Mount Everest without oxygen would secure Bi Fang a place at the mountaineering festival. Not to mention doing it solo, with the double buff, there were fewer than ten people in the entire history of Everest ascents who had achieved this.

If that couldn’t qualify someone as a mountaineer, then most of those who called themselves such would have to die of shame.

Awesome!

The audience didn’t understand all the ins and outs, but at that moment, this was the only thought in their minds.

“A solo climb is an invincible path, why bother with an oxygen cylinder.”

“I was the first to disagree when Teacher Ma retired from the literary scene.”

“There’s now one more verified identity; does anyone with the prowess keep track of how many identities Old Fang has?”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Mathematician, chemist, physicist, biologist, mountaineer, adventurer… others to be added.”

“Architect, aviator, astronomer (Dog’s head)”

“I’m just a little knowledgeable, not enough to be called ‘master.’ Don’t put me on a pedestal,” Bi Fang waved his hand, amusing the audience into bursts of laughter.

Without staying too long at the entrance to base camp, Bi Fang planned to rest and recuperate at Camp One before continuing the climb.

“I will rest here for a bit, replenish my energy, restore my strength, and then continue the climb. Once past the Khumbu Glacier, the subsequent stretch becomes much less dangerous. We only need to ascend another four hundred meters to reach Camp Two directly. The distance is roughly five kilometers, but it’s much less hazardous than the Khumbu Glacier, which is why we won’t need to specifically aim for a midnight start.”

Entering the current Camp One, viewers could clearly see one corner in the southeast completely submerged in snow, with several colorful tents weighed down at the very edge, also affected by an avalanche.

There were still people lingering there, paying their respects to their deceased comrades and packing up to leave.

This was undoubtedly a somber atmosphere; coming here didn’t fulfill dreams but instead cost lives.

Bi Fang went to the permanent tent that the guide company had prepared, identified by the markings on it.

As a standard guide company, there was more than one guide like Rob; there were many. These people needed a place to stay at base camp, so the company naturally prepared campsites and supplies for them each season, and because of the strong winds on Mount Everest, they almost had to be repaired every year.

Upon lifting the tent flap, a wave of warmth hit him, the temperature inside the tent was much higher than outside.

“The weather today is really nice. The tent is warm from the sun, but the wind is a bit strong. Now, we need to replenish our fluids as much as possible, then eat something. I’ll take a nap soon, roughly an hour and a half, to recover my energy with a complete sleep cycle.”

At this time, the tent was empty, but some supplies were left behind. Bi Fang opened up the fuel and then used a lighter to ignite the stove, preparing to cook something to eat.

Unexpectedly, a shouting voice came from outside the tent at that moment.

“Is Mr. Bi inside?”