Chen Xin
His name is Chen Xin, the screen name is a grain of dust, and at the age of 14, he began to survive in the wilderness and explore life, until he fell in love with paragliding cross-country flying; For the first cross-country flight in the snowy mountains in his life, he encountered the test of life and death twice, relying on calmness to overcome danger; Paragliding cross-country flight is his career, flying over the Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountain without power many times, interpreting the dream of human beings to fly, which is full of lonely exploration and shining brilliant brilliance.
One day in March 2020.
On the grassland at an altitude of 3,200 meters in Haba Snow Mountain, Chen Xin, who was "fully armed", flung the folded paraglider in the air in front of him, and then quickly retreated, gradually stretching out as the air poured in.
After the paraglider flew overhead and the airfoil was complete, Chen Xin quickly turned around and ran forward, allowing the parachute to obtain sufficient take-off speed and lift the parachute, while his hands held the control sticks on both sides and adjusted the parachute (control direction, pull left to fly left, pull right to fly right).
Soon, Chen Xin "flew". The moment his feet hit the ground, he put his legs into the boat bag.
Tiangong is still considered beautiful. As soon as he flew up, Chen Xin encountered an excellent hot air flow that continued to rise.
With the help of the hot airflow, Chen Xin continues to climb upwards, enjoying the scenery overlooking the sky while circling with the eagle spreading its wings.
In just a few minutes, Chen Xin circled to an altitude of more than 4,500 meters.
This is Chen Xin's first official cross-country flight in the snowy mountains. If you flew more than 4,500 meters, you should fly south back to your camp at an altitude of 1,800 meters. At that time, several people who flew together did not fly to the snow mountain, but Chen Xin, who flew "hi", continued to fly against the snow mountain.
An unexpected condition occurs. He first flew to the cliff wall of the snowy mountain, was firmly locked by the strong dynamic air flow wind on the cliff wall, and then drilled into the cloud at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and could not come out, and was in danger of crashing into the mountain and dying at any time.
In the end, he was lucky to be "sucked" by the ravines between the snowy mountains, and was forced to fly over the Haba Snow Mountain from the ravine, "No matter which direction I deviated 4 or 5 meters, I hit the mountain directly." ”
After escaping, although the paraglider was photographed by the turbulent current, Chen Xin couldn't help but shoot the record, and felt the urge to cry, because he fulfilled his long-cherished wish to fly over the Haba Snow Mountain, "At this moment I was about to cry, the feeling is difficult to describe." And just after such a big thrill, I survived, and that moment was the feeling of death and life, especially exciting. ”
01
The first flight to Haba encountered the test of life and death
According to Chen Xin, there are about 100 people in China who play cross-country paragliding, but there are only 3 or 4 people who fly professionally in high-altitude mountain or snowy mountain environments, and he is one of them.
Paragliding is generally divided into three large types, one is aerobatics, through the extreme performance operation of the paraglider, let the paraglider complete various extreme actions; One is fixed-point flight, which accurately steps on a fixed target when landing; One is cross-country flight, which is divided into mountain downhill off-road (climbing a certain mountain peak, and then quickly descending the mountain with a paraglider to a designated place), open cross-country (flying in a straight line in any direction according to meteorological conditions, taking off from point A to landing at point B for the longest distance in a straight line and obtaining the maximum altitude) and racing flight (suitable for competitions, setting up different task point subjects, completing orienteering according to the order of accounts, and calculating results based on completion time and efficiency).
Chen Xin "plays" open-road off-road in high-altitude mountains, and it is an unpowered paraglider.
From the perspective of power, paragliding is divided into powered paragliding and unpowered paragliding. The main difference between the two is that powered paragliders have power devices, while unpowered paragliders rely on air currents to glide, which tests people's experience, judgment and mentality.
In 2014, Chen Xin experienced paragliding for the first time in Pokhara, Nepal, and wanted to combine paragliding with mountaineering. After returning to China, he began to study and train, and then accumulated a certain amount of cross-country flying experience, and then had the "snow mountain cross-country flight" in 2020.
After that flight began, Chen Xin experienced a special "lack of oxygen" during the rapid altitude rise.
Unlike the "lack of oxygen" when climbing, Chen Xin feels pleasure, "It gives you a strange, passive sense of pleasure, and gives you some confusion, just like drinking too much and floating." Then, at that moment you have to restrain it, you should stay awake and not be carried away by this bodily sensation. ”
After flying to the cliff wall of the snowy mountain, Chen Xin was "wrapped" by the strong dynamic air flow wind (the wind hit the cliff wall and produced an upward wind) and flew up.
The problem also arises, if you reach the top of the snowy mountain and the paraglider has no speed outward, you can only crash land into the primeval forest below. It takes at least 1-2 days to get out of the primeval forest, and people will be especially tired.
Therefore, Chen Xin could only continue to fly along the mountain range.
At this time, the local meteorological bureau fired some weather bombs in order to increase the rain. The clouds in the sky began to change drastically, and the cloud cover increased instantly.
This caught Chen Xin off guard, and he flew to an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and was forced to get into the clouds and could not get out at all.
"There is a rule that paragliders cannot enter the clouds," Chen Xin said, "We rely on the power of the mountain airflow wind, we can't fly outside, because we have no speed, so we can only be carried away by the wind of the mountain cliff." ”
Most frighteningly, the flying computer then showed that he was flying towards the mountain. Chen Xin suddenly panicked, "How is this possible?" I didn't even move my hand, I didn't pull the lever, I supposedly flew west. ”
In the moment of life and death, Chen Xin still chose to believe in himself and did not make unnecessary moves.
Soon, a huge force pushed him to the ravine mentioned at the beginning of the article, and only then did he get through the danger.
After "escaping from death", Chen Xin flew above the notoriously dangerous Tiger Leaping Gorge and prepared to "land" on the outside of the Lower Tiger Jump.
02
Second time in distress in more than an hour
Looking at the Tiger Leaping Gorge from the air, the Jinsha River below rushes endlessly, winding like a dragon in a "roar" under the conquest of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Haba Snow Mountain.
Chen Xin didn't care about enjoying the magnificent scenery of the Tiger Leaping Gorge at that time, so he fell into another crisis.
Originally, he was in a tailwind, and combined with the wind acceleration effect of the canyon pipeline effect, the flying computer showed that the speed of the paraglider soared to 107 to 108 kilometers per hour.
Under normal circumstances, the trim airspeed of a paraglider is 38 kilometers per hour, plus the wind speed (tailwind plus positive, headwind plus negative), which is the actual speed of the paraglider.
"Flying above 100 kilometers per hour is very dangerous." Chen Xin said, "It's like driving, if you are fast and apply a little force to the steering wheel, there will be a lot of feedback, and the car will float." Once the speed of the paraglider reaches 100 kilometers per hour, a little folding of the wings may plunge the paraglider into a death spin, or it may be black-eyed. ”
If the paraglider has unilateral wings folded and is not dealt with in time, the paraglider will immediately enter a "death spiral" state. Under the action of huge centrifugal force, the pilot's blood will all rush to the lower body, and the brain will be deprived of oxygen. After a few laps, ordinary people will be unable to bear it, and then black vision will appear, causing shock.
At that time, paragliding was very fast and had a large sinking rate.
Chen Xin was wearing a full helmet, and his hand could not reach in to balance the ear pressure, and soon he could no longer hear the beeping and wind of the flying computer.
In a hurry, he turned the direction of the paraglider, went against the wind, and slammed on the accelerator rod, "At that time, my flight computer showed that the speed was 25 kilometers per hour, which was equivalent to my parachute flying backwards." At this time, once there is turbulence, and the wind is not very serious, the whole umbrella will collapse. ”
Subsequently, Chen Xin found a terrace in the process of retreating.
"All the mesas, the wind comes from here, it sinks, this place is also called the leeward zone." Chen Xin said.
Chen Xin, who is bold in Yigao, uses a method that insiders are unlikely to use: fly backwards into the leeward zone, waiting for the downward turbulent wind to shoot his umbrella down.
"The moment I filmed, I was waiting." Chen Xin said, "At that moment it was a very extreme operation, and as soon as the wind beat me, it went down." ”
Chen Xin's first cross-country flight in the snowy mountains ended in a continuous thrill.
03
At the age of 14, he began hiking in no man's land
The first cross-country flight in a snowy mountain, although the process was only more than an hour, but twice experienced the test of life and death.
Chen Xin admitted that he was not particularly afraid at that time, "The first reaction was not to be afraid, but to come up with measures." When the measures are finished, you will experience the feeling of fear, and the feeling of fear and emotions are lagging. ”
He attributes this "calmness" in his personality to the exercise he has grown up with.
When he was 4 or 5 years old, Chen Xin's family lived in Kunming. At that time, he often saw foreign hikers and backpackers riding bicycles at the Kunming railway station.
"Why are they doing this?"
The naïve Chen Xin couldn't help but have doubts, and also planted the seeds of exploration in his heart.
Later, the family moved to Guangdong, and the young Chen Xin not only liked to play games, but also wanted to stay away from the "lively" and go to the mountains.
So, he began to save money secretly. After buying a tent and sleeping bag, he began skipping school and ran to the mountains to stay quiet.
After his classmates, teachers and parents found out, Chen Xin felt that he was deeply trapped in the "encirclement", and everyone did not understand him, thinking that he was a little neurotic, "Why should you run to the mountains alone with a bag and a tent?" ”
Fortunately, my father gradually accepted and continued to support him, "My father felt that as long as you don't do bad things, you can do it, and people have to have their own ideas and the ability to think independently." ”
At the age of 14, Chen Xin began hiking alone in no man's land, and later also went to Gonggar.
In Gonggar, he climbed an unknown mountain. At the top of the mountain, he found that there was no platform to "set up camp", so he had to go down the mountain.
At that time, it was already dark, the headlamp could not be used, and the teenager who was "wrapped" in darkness and fear could only retreat by the moonlight.
Suddenly, a large flat rock came into view. He quickly took out his tent and camped on the stones.
At night, the wind suddenly hit, blowing off the tent poles, and the tent "crumbled", "I can only get up in the middle of the night to pull the wind rope." When the sky was dim, I felt that the mountain did not want me to continue walking, so I went home and did not complete the gonggar. ”
Around 2012, Chen Xin embarked on a new challenge, cycling around the world with friends, and establishing the Global Cycling Network and the Universal Team.
Originally, he and his friends planned to ride 64 countries in three years with 3,000 yuan. However, due to temporary affairs at home, he could only terminate the plan early, but he still rode 8 countries.
In addition to hiking and cycling, Chen Xin is also obsessed with mountaineering, especially snow-mountaineering, and specially enrolled in classes to participate in training, "I have always advocated climbing snowy mountains, and at that time I may have been influenced by Mr. Xia Boyu, and suddenly I felt that mountaineering is a very challenging thing, and I especially like challenges." ”
According to Chen Xin, he has climbed Haba Snow Mountain more than a dozen times (the highest peak of Haba Snow Mountain is 5396 meters above sea level), some of which are mixed with commercial climbing content.
When asked why he didn't challenge 8,000-meter snow-capped mountains, such as Mount Everest, Chen Xin talked about one of his characteristics, "Because I didn't like places with many people since I was a child." Commercial climbing will involve a lot of teams, including Mount Everest, and climbing will be very tiring. ”
"The mountain gave me the feeling that it was a quiet place. I love to walk to a place and communicate with mountains and trees, even with the air. It may be a little neurotic, but it's a fantasy, communication without words. ”
Once, Chen Xin went alone to climb the Haba Snow Mountain. When he reached the mountain, he encountered a strong wind and could not retreat.
The top of the snow mountain was already very cold, coupled with the fierce wind, Chen Xin soon became a little unable to support it.
In desperation, he dug a snow cave and hid in it for more than two hours, "just to avoid the wind, the wind is particularly strong." As soon as you cock your butt, it will blow your ass crookedly. ”
Even so, Chen Xin almost had an accident, "My toe was almost amputated, and it was all purple down." From a professional point of view, it is still not recommended to go hiking alone. ”
04
Flying Jade Dragon Snow Mountain to find the treasures of the Naxi people
But Chen Xin, who has always liked to enjoy a quiet state, can't resist the temptation of "exclusivity", especially after encountering paragliding.
In 2022, Chen Xin flew the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain for three consecutive years. Although it is not the first time, Chen Xin is still enjoying it, "Every time I fly, my mood is different. The scenery you see is also unique, and that feeling is particularly beautiful. “
"Why do I like to be alone? It's a little selfish, but I just love this landscape engraved in my head. At that moment it was mine, completely integrated with me. ”
In the shared video, it can be seen that Chen Xin is hovering alone above the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on a paraglider, with a panoramic view of all the beautiful scenery.
In the distance, the blue sky and the curved horizon with colorful glows, the snow-covered peaks in the distance, and the river valleys everywhere below.
In addition to being excited, Chen Xin also flew countless circles above the main peak of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the fan steep, looking for the legendary treasure of the Naxi people.
In the legend of the Naxi people, the Mu clan toast buried a treasure on the mountain. At the paragliding base, one can see a stone pillar on the tip of the mountain at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, almost 10 meters high, which is very peculiar.
The red circle is the stone pillar
Perhaps because he flew relatively high, Chen Xin never found the stone pillar in the air, "Although I haven't seen it yet, it is also a very interesting thing to record and find through video data." ”
In addition to enjoying the beautiful scenery exclusively, Chen Xin will also think about life in the air, "In fact, flying is a good thought process, your brain is thinking about how to fly, and at the same time thinking about your current life, career and life." In that state, a lot of things will be figured out at once, which is a good decompression. ”
Perhaps, this is the point of expedition.
05
Flying is the primordial impulse of man
Looking back at Chen Xin's adventure experience, he chose different adventures at each stage and constantly restarted his life.
When I was a child, I went hiking outdoors, which stemmed from envy and curiosity about foreign backpackers; The decision to travel the world by bicycle stemmed from the failure of several startups and the fact that he was still saddled with more than 2 million foreign debts at that time; The beginning of climbing the snowy mountain came from the "guidance" of teacher Xia Boyu, which stimulated the desire for challenge in his heart.
In the process, he has been looking for a balance between hobbies and careers, "I have always been thinking about how to integrate my hobbies and careers, so that I can survive and fulfill my hobbies." ”
The first time Chen Xin had the idea of starting a business was when he was 14 years old. That year, an earthquake struck Wenchuan. Seeing the bodies of the victims on the Internet, Chen Xin hid in his room and cried.
At that time, the school held many donation activities, and Chen Xin asked his parents for money every time and responded positively. But after more times, his mother began to suspect that he was lying, which gave him the first idea of starting a business, just to donate more money to Wenchuan.
Later, he started a business repeatedly, failed repeatedly, but never gave up. Today, he enjoys paragliding while starting a business around paragliding.
This is how he has always been in life.
In 2013, he wrote on social media, "Life is an independent mental state, it is above everything, I can't see it, I can't touch it, but I can deeply feel its existence." ”
In the same year, he once "had" a dream at the foot of the Great Wall, "dreaming that I have a pair of wings that can fly over 2,000 years, and appreciate the heroism of a husband and a man." ”
Ten years later, in June of this year, he completed a cross-country flight over the Great Wall.
For Chen Xin personally, his dream covers his life, "Paragliding is a business and personal hobby that I want to run all my life. ”
From a human point of view, every flight he makes is a negligible point in the primordial dream of mankind.
But no matter how small it is, it is real.
"Flying is a primitive dream of mankind." Chen Xin said, "Before human beings went to heaven, the vast majority of people liked to look up at the starry sky. Flying is a primitive impulse of man. ”