Pinnacles of ambition

Zhang Liang is only the second mountaineer in the world to have climbed the world's 14 highest peaks and reached both the North and South Poles by foot. Liu Xiangrui reports.

When Zhang Liang finally reached the summit of Mount Denali in Alaska, the highest peak in North America, the 54-year-old amateur mountaineer acted rather cool about it, and not like a man who had achieved the pinnacle of his climbing ambitions - the so-called "14+7+2".

In mountaineering circles, "14+7+2" refers to conquering the world's top 14 peaks over 8,000 meters, climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents, and reaching the North and South Poles by foot. This "grand slam" of expeditions represents a long-held ambition for many professional mountaineers, let alone amateur climbers.

But by ascending Mount Denali on June 7, Zhang, a bank employee from Shenzhen, Guangdong province, became the first Chinese climber - and only the second person in the world - to achieve this feat. South Korean mountaineer Park Young-seok was the first person in the world to have completed the grand slam in May 2005.

According to Zhang, he was not as excited as people might have expected when he finally completed the grand slam.

"For me, I was just glad that I had completed another expedition successfully, after prolonged torment and many challenges," he recalls.

Zhang admits that Mount Denali, which was not the highest peak he had ever attempted, was more challenging and energy-sapping than he had expected. He lost a lot of weight during the expedition, which took his team 12 days to complete. Each of the members had to carry more than 70 kilograms of equipment, either on their backs or dragged behind them in sleds, to ascend to the height of 4,000 meters.

The team had to overcome the notoriously extreme and changeable Alaskan weather conditions, which were comparable to those Zhang faced on his approach to the North Pole. Even during summer, temperatures can drop to as low as minus 35 C. At the summit of Mount Denali, where wind speeds can reach up to 160 kilometers per hour, the oxygen density can drop to as low as 42 percent - even lower than on Qomolangma, known in the West as Mount Everest.

According to Zhang, he developed his passion for mountaineering because he simply enjoys the process of climbing and likes to challenge himself both mentally and physically.

Over the course of nearly two decades, Zhang has progressed from being an ordinary climbing enthusiast to becoming one of the most respected mountaineers in the world.

"Mountaineering was just a hobby for me in the beginning, but it eventually changed the path of my life," says Zhang, adding that the biggest gratification comes not from the sense of achievement or improvement in his skill levels, but from growth in the spiritual sense.

Originally from Hebei province, Zhang moved to the booming industrial hub in Guangdong province after graduating from college in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, in the mid-1980s. He took up a position at a Shenzhen branch of Agricultural Bank of China.

In 1999, he came into contact with some climbing enthusiasts and later joined a local mountaineering association. Like many others, he started out by joining hikes up some of the small peaks near the city.

In 2000, two of his climbing partners died in a mountaineering accident while attempting to climb a mountain glacier in Qinghai province, Northwest China.

"I felt sad to have lost my friends, but later it became something that ignited my curiosity. I wanted to discover the charms of glaciated mountains and find out why people were willing to risk their lives climbing them," Zhang says.

So he followed a group, made up of members of the national professional mountaineering team, to explore the same mountain.

Since was the first time he had seen and experienced a glaciated mountain peak, he suffered acutely in the high-altitude environment.

"The symptoms were so bad that, at one point, I decided that I'd never return to these kinds of places again," he recalls.

However, despite being initially put off by the experience, it had planted the seeds of ambition in his head. Before he realized it, his ideas had grown so big that he had already started to plan more adventures.

"The extreme range of challenges you face when climbing is incomparable," he explains, adding that he enjoys the purity and simplicity of these remote environments.

Over the past 18 years, Zhang has steadily climbed 26 glaciated mountains and successfully reached the North Pole in 2005 and the South Pole in 2008 during expeditions on foot.

Zhang first heard about the "14+7+2" after a conversation with Wang Shi, a businessman and renowned mountaineer, when they met during an expedition in 2009.

"But I didn't make '14+7+2' my goal back then. I never thought I could climb all those peaks during my lifetime," he says. "I just kept climbing, and gradually I climbed them one by one."

Zhang says that while he feels lucky to have achieved this, he doesn't regard it as the summit of his climbing career, and his past experiences will only serve to motivate him more in the future.

According to Zhang's colleague and director Fang Hui, Zhang's qualities, reflected in daily life and work - such as his calmness, mental toughness and modesty - are important qualities for a successful mountaineer.

"He's not burdened by any obsessions like setting records or completing set goals, and that has allowed him to stay cool and make reasonable decisions when he faces risks on the mountain," Fang says, adding that his organization has been very supportive of Zhang's passion.

"Knowing when to wait and when to give up is important. We will only have the chance to make it to the top if we stay alive," says Zhang, who says he has witnessed many tragedies and believes that his mindset of "never risking your life for the sake of mountaineering" has helped him to survive many dangers.

He remembers being evacuated many times due to bad weather or other hazards, sometimes from within spitting distance of a mountain summit.

His friend and climbing pal Cao Jun, who has known him for nearly two decades, is impressed by Zhang's ability to focus on details. The two often train with each other and have ventured to the Antarctic together.

According to Cao, Zhang always makes detailed preparations before each climb or expedition.

"I never use the word 'conquer'. I only have reverence for nature. We can only take on the challenge when we are fully prepared," Zhang says, adding that many accidents he has learned about happened due to insufficient preparation.

After losing many mountaineering friends and experiencing four life-threatening accidents himself, Zhang says he often has fears when he thinks about the potential risks involved.

"It's a normal reaction for anyone," he says. "What I can do is to prepare the best I can each time, and try to stay cool when danger comes."

Zhang participates in many sporting activities, such as soccer, badminton and marathons, and also takes the time to walk to his workplace every day to keep fit. He believes that his exercise regimen and self-discipline help with mountaineering, as he often needs to trek for hours on end at high altitude in extreme cold.

During his various expeditions, Zhang has had the opportunity to meet many top mountaineers and adventurers from all around the world.

In 2015, Zhang and his international team attempted to climb Mount Annapurna on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas, which is notorious for its harsh environment. There, the team experienced firsthand the kind of strong-mindedness required to stay alive in the face of danger.

During bad weather conditions, some of the climbers found themselves cut off from the rest of the party and in a hopelessly desperate situation. But Zhang's words of encouragement and clear thinking managed to guide them out of the crisis, and they were all eventually evacuated to safer ground without loss of life. His teammates praised Zhang's cool head in later interviews.

"Instead of my personal achievements, I always feel proud to have the chance to show the other side of Chinese people - our pioneering spirit - in this special field," says Zhang, who always carries a national flag with him during his expedition programs.

As he continues to climb, Zhang has gradually expanded his interests to other adventure sports, like orienteering.

Meanwhile, Zhang likes to spend much of his spare time on charitable activities, such as sharing his own experiences to help people through difficult situations in their lives.

"There is an invisible mountain in the heart of every person. Overcoming the invisible mountain is even more difficult than climbing a real peak," he says, adding that he hopes to inspire others with his experiences of being a mountaineer.

Contact the writer at liuxiangrui@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 07/13/2018 page19)