The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu
Xia Boyu.
More than two years ago, the movie "The Climber" let China know Xia Boyu - the first leg amputee mountaineer in the history of world mountaineering to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepalese side, the winner of the Lawrence "Best Sports Moment of the Year Award", the anti-cancer fighter...
The 72-year-old Xia Boyu has won too many titles, and behind each title is a thrilling and blood-boiling story.
"The belief in reaching the summit of Mount Everest has always sustained me. As long as I am alive, I must fight for my dreams for a day, a day of hard work. Xia Boyu had said such inspirational words more than once, and he had even become the spiritual force of many people.
On December 3, a documentary about Xia Boyu, "Endless Climbing", was released in major theaters in China, bringing an old man who was more flesh and blood under the aura into the public eye.
Xia Boyu was also interviewed by the surging news reporter, sharing his untold story during the summit, as well as his gratitude and guilt to his family.
"For more than 40 years, I have actually been more selfish, for my own ideals, regardless of their feelings. In fact, climbing to the top is not the end, going home is. ”
Xia Boyu showed the gourd sent by his wife.
Behind the feat, the unknown "blood bubble"
Over the past thousand years, human beings have challenged and conquered the limits of nature without stopping. At an altitude of 8848.86 meters, Mount Everest is one of the most difficult to conquer, with too many living beings forever frozen on the road.
"Over the years, the development of science and technology and the improvement of various mountaineering facilities have indeed increased the probability of climbing Mount Everest, and it seems to be relatively safe." But without the determination to overcome difficulties, it cannot be done. ”
Xia Boyu told the surging news reporter, "Because in the process of climbing, you will hear a loud buzz like thunder at any time, which is a precursor to an ice avalanche, if the heart is not strong enough, you may have a weak leg when you hear it." ”
How difficult it is to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Xia Boyu's five challenges in the past 43 years are enough to explain everything - the first challenge to Everest, xia Boyu, who was also known as the "Vulcan God" at the time, gave up his sleeping bag to his teammates, and his legs were taken away by the extreme cold of Mount Everest.
Since then, three summits from 2014 to 2016, even though at one point only 94 meters from the summit, blizzards and avalanches have stopped the old man again and again.
In 2018, xia Boyu, who is already 70 years old, challenged Mount Everest for the fifth time and finally successfully reached the summit, achieving a feat for a two-legged amputee climber. But it is only today, after the release of the documentary "Endless Climb", that the story of the "battle with the god of death" behind that feat is presented to the public — a potentially fatal blood bubble on Xia Boyu's leg.
Xia Boyu was the first person to climb Mount Everest on a prosthetic leg.
"My blood bubbles are different from other climbers, because I have had blood clots and taken hemolytic medicine, so the doctor told me that there must be no wounds on my body, and once I bleed, I will bleed continuously."
Xia Boyu told the surging news reporter that he knew very well that in the process of climbing the summit for at least 8 to 10 hours, the legs and prosthetic limbs would definitely rub, and it was impossible to not get blood bubbles.
In the documentary, there is such a real dialogue, when the Sherpa guide who accompanied Xia Boyu and the team leader Ke Qingfeng in the Everest base camp mentioned this blood bubble, Ke Qingfeng was silent for a long time, and then replied, "Notify me at any time if there is any situation." ”
For so many years, Ke Qingfeng has been supporting Xia Boyu to climb Mount Everest, he knows what blood bubbles mean to Xia Boyu, but Ke Qingfeng, who likes to use "stubbornness" to describe his friends, also knows that in such a situation, Xia Boyu will not give up.
"It was also this time that I watched the documentary that I noticed that I was looking at the soles of my feet at every step of the way, trying to stabilize every step." Xia Boyu said that at that time, this way of acting was to prevent the blood bubbles from becoming larger or even broken, "I can only step on it through my eyes, and then reduce the amplitude of shaking, so I can only stare at the bottom of my feet." ”
Xia Boyu challenges outdoor rock climbing.
"As long as you live, you have to struggle and struggle"
Fortunately, enough protection and smooth climbing made the blood bubbles on the legs not burst until the moment of reaching the top. And Xia Boyu's little story with the blood bubble is a microcosm of his mountaineering life in the past 43 years - he not only has to fight against the unpredictable extreme environment of Mount Everest, but also with his own body.
In 1996, Xia Boyu, who regained confidence in mountaineering after fitting a prosthesis, was diagnosed with lymphoma due to the inability to heal the broken wounds in his legs due to his insistence on large-scale exercise training.
During that time, Xia Boyu had to lie in the hospital for multiple surgeries and radiation therapy. At the age of 67, Xia Boyu was diagnosed with a blood clot, and according to the doctor's advice, Xia Boyu could no longer challenge the extreme climb of Mount Everest again.
"Cancer and blood clots are actually more difficult than mountain climbing. If the cancer comes back or my blood bubble bursts during the climb, my life will be threatened at any time, and I will certainly not be able to climb the mountain. ”
When it comes to these tribulations outside of mountaineering, Xia Boyu said that he was not sure how long he would live at the time, but his belief in reaching the summit of Mount Everest has always supported him.
"When I do chemoradiotherapy, all the indicators of the body are very low, I don't want to eat, I have nausea, I have hair loss, and I have all the reactions to cancer." But I can't just wait, if I wait until the cancer is under control and doesn't come back, I go to exercise again, maybe it's over. ”
In the treatment process waiting for the recovery of physical indicators, Xia Boyu has gradually resumed training, "I think that as long as I am alive, I must fight for my dream for a day, a day of hard work." As long as I live for one day, I will go and accomplish my goal. ”
Xia Boyu challenged to climb ice.
Looking back on this experience now, Xia Boyu is also quite emotional - since the diagnosis of lymphoma in 1996, the cancer has never recurred, "I got up at 5 o'clock in the morning to start strength training, because I think a person can't do without strength." ”
In Xia Boyu's view, strength is the key to his mountaineering, and strong muscles can not only help him control the joints, but also make up for the lack of legs. As a result, the training plan that Xia Boyu set for himself was close to the limit:
The 10 kg sandbags practiced squats in groups of 150 and practiced in 10 groups; pull-ups in groups of 10, practicing 10 groups; push-ups in groups of 60, practicing 8 groups; sit-ups in groups of 60, practicing 8 groups; after these completions, there are also back flying, biceps and triceps exercises.
After strength training, he also had to ride a bicycle to climb Xiangshan Mountain, cycling nearly 50 kilometers every day.
It is also because of his persistence and persistence that Xia Boyu's physical fitness has not been affected by illness and age and has declined rapidly, and he even won the double world championship of speed and difficulty in the disability group of the 2011 World Climbing Championships in Italy.
Xia Boyu won Lawrence's "Sports Moment of the Year Award".
For the sake of the family, returning home safely is the end
"After climbing Everest, the amount of training has decreased. But I still maintain a certain amount of exercise, because I am more than 70 years old, my physical fitness is declining, my cardiopulmonary function is also declining, and if I want to slow down the aging process, I must maintain a certain amount of exercise. ”
After reaching the summit of Mount Everest, Chaber did not intend to stop challenging nature, he had set himself a plan of "climbing the highest peak of the seven continents + hiking the north and south poles", and in 2019, he climbed the highest peak in Europe, Elbrus, and the Aconcagua Mountain in South America.
However, due to the epidemic, Xia Boyu's plan cannot be completed now. He could only focus on the high mountains in China, "My team and I have set a plan of 'one hundred cities and one thousand mountains', and now seven or eight have been completed." We also hope that with such actions, more people can go out of the house, go outdoors, exercise and fight the epidemic. ”
However, compared to herself who challenged Everest a few years ago, Xia Boyu now leaves relatively more time for her family.
In fact, in the documentary "Endless Climb", there are two very real scenes - just before the official summit of Mount Everest, he talks to the camera about his gratitude and regret for his family, and at one point he loses his voice and cries; and just after he climbed to the top, he choked up again when he talked to his lover.
Son Xia Dengping shared his feelings.
These tears in front of the camera form a sharp contrast with the image of Xia Boyu's "iron man", but they show a more flesh-and-blood, more real old man.
"Before, I was bent on going my own way, thinking about nothing but mountaineering. Because there are lovers in the family, I don't think too much about what part of responsibility I should assume, as long as I climb the mountain. ”
Talking about his tears, Xia Boyu said that he had a deeper understanding of his dreams and life after realizing his dreams, "After reaching the top of the mountain, I found that every time I climbed the mountain, it caused a lot of pressure for them, both mentally and physically, but in the past I just didn't think about it, I think this is a very guilty place, I want to make up for this lack of family." 」 ”
Xia Boyu told the surging news reporter that after returning home from Mount Everest, he took his lover to drive to some scenic spots around Beijing to play, hoping to make up for the time spent with his family.
And this is actually a kind of spiritual core that the documentary film "Endless Climbing" hopes to convey after the release of the documentary film "Endless Climbing", including producers Wu Jing, Guo Fan, and producer Ke Qingfeng - as 72-year-old Xia Boyu himself said, "Reaching the top is not the end, going home is." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Ding Xiao