Mountaineering Maid

By ZANG LAN

"All team members consider one another's needs, and all try their utmost to maintain harmony and friendship."

I like to be known as the Mountaineering Maid. I scaled my first high-altitude peak with perennial glaciers five years ago, and have been mountaineering ever since. During this time the names and features of peaks I have climbed have already begun to fade from my memory. What remains are images of sections of crevasses, cutting ridges, and hanging glaciers. To me, the summit of a mountain just means I have only a few more strides to make, and one mountain is no different from another, other than being higher or lower, easier or more difficult to climb. I am not a choosy climber, being ready to conquer any mountain that I have not yet climbed.

In China, amateur mountaineering is confined to a very select group of people, mostly entrepreneurs and teams of university students. After entering Peking University, I joined its Mountain Eagles Club, the first university mountaineering society in China. My actual involvement in mountaineering did not, however, start until the centennial celebration of Peking University in the spring of 1998, when in early May the Eagle adventurers returned from their successful ascent of Mount Qowowuyag (8,201 meters above sea level, the world's sixth highest peak). This event was celebrated as a special adjunct to the school centennial and new club members, particularly girls, were asked to greet the mountaineers with flowers at the school gate. I was very excited that day as in my eyes, the Mountain Eagles Club means, dignity, purity and solemnity.

At first my parents thought the club was just a normal students' society until they heard of past mountaineering accidents. They strongly objected to my involvement, but when they saw how totally involved I was in training for, reading about and preparing for mountaineering they ceased all opposition, never having seen me so obsessed with any other type of activity.

"I am enamored by the sense of euphoria and freedom that climbing a mountain brings me."

Club membership is not a mountaineering qualification. That is decided by physical training. Each week the club holds two training sessions encompassing long-distance running, combined strength training, rock climbing, camping, and climbing with heavy packs. Serious members train every day, and many students drop out because they find it too tough.

After a year's training, I was given a place in the club's mountaineering team. The first mountain I climbed was the beautiful Xuebaoding -- Snowy Treasure Peak -- in Sichuan Province, 5,588 meters above sea level. I have since grown from rookie climber to team veteran, and in that capacity actively organize the team training activities.

I enjoy sitting on the shoulder of a big mountain, legs dangling, while gazing at a serenely blue sunny sky. I am enamored by the sense of euphoria and freedom that climbing a mountain brings me.

Some of my fellow girl team members try to mask their femininity to avoid being treated differently by the boys in the team, but I never have. I like to wear a pretty dress on leisure days at the camp, and whenever possible to go into town with some of the male members. On an ascent, all team members consider one another's needs, and all club members try their utmost to maintain harmony and friendship. This is what I most cherish about mountaineering.

Mountaineering affects every aspect of my life. It is my best friend, my lover and the greatest source of joy and sorrow in my life.

ZANG LAN works at the Peking University Mountain Eagles Club and is active in promoting outdoor sports and activities. From July 1999 to October 2003, she scaled the Xuebaoding Peak (5,588m July 1999), Mount Samdain Kangsang (6,590m August 2000), Mount Qongmu Gangri (7,048m August 2001) and Yuzhu Peak (6,178m October 2003) from its southern slope. She also reached the 6,700-meter point of Mount Xixabangma (7,292 m August 2002) and the 5,100-meter point of the No. 3 Glacier of Yuzhu Peak (October 2003).