Another record! The Chinese team climbed Mount Everest to retest the "top of the world", and the fighting spirit touched the Chinese

Source: Global Times

【Global Times Comprehensive Report】At 11:00 on the 27th, 8 members of the 2020 Everest Elevation Measurement Mountaineering Team successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Everest from the north slope and completed the summit measurement task. This is The seventh measurement of the height of Mount Everest in China, and the "height" of Mount Everest will usher in a historic update. For the first time, using the data provided by China's independently built and independently operated Beidou satellite navigation system, mankind carried out gravity measurement at the summit of Mount Everest for the first time, and high-precision measuring instruments were independently developed by China... These innovations made the German news station sigh, and the world once again witnessed the rise of China. The measurement coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest from the north slope and the 45th anniversary of China's first accurate determination and publication of Everest's elevation. Many Chinese learned about those stories from last year's hit movie "The Climber". In an interview with the Global Times reporter on the 27th, Dang Yamin, head of the 2020 Everest Elevation Measurement Technology Coordination Group and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping, said that he had not watched the movie because he could not bear it. "It was too hard then. Now, I want to say to the old mountaineers, today we don't have to be so difficult!"

Global Times-Global Network reporters witnessed the summit at the Everest base camp

"Are the instruments and equipment ready?" What's the weather like? "All ready!" There is a little bit of snow blowing, which does not affect the departure. "At 2:00 a.m. on the 27th, the 2020 Everest Elevation Measurement Mountaineers who were on standby at the assault camp at an altitude of 8300 meters were about to start attacking the summit. In the walkie-talkie, the dialogue between the leader of the summit attack team, Ci Luo, and Wang Yongfeng, the leader of the Chinese mountaineering team, made the atmosphere of the summit headquarters warm up at once. The Global Times reporter saw that the picture of the top-attacking team members cooking breakfast came from the front.

Throughout the night, everest base camp is brightly lit. After the light of day, although Mount Everest was hidden from the clouds, the people below the mountain still set up astronomical telescopes and theodolites to follow the top team members with the lens. At 8:15, all eight top-scoring team members climbed the "second step" at an altitude of 8680 meters and replaced the oxygen. At about 10 o'clock, the top team members passed the 8800-meter "cross cut". When the command announced that "all the difficulties have been passed!", there was a cheer at the scene.

At 11:00 a.m., 8 members of the 2020 Everest Elevation Measurement Mountaineering Team, Including Ciluo, Yuan Fudong, Li Fuqing, Pubu dunzhu, Tsering Dorjee, Tsering Phuntsok, Tsering Lobsang and Lobsang Dunzhu, successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Everest from the north slope. This is the third summit launched by the survey climbing team. Agence France-Presse said the Chinese surveying and mountaineering team became the first team to climb Mount Everest this year. In a live video of Chinese media, under a clear blue sky, survey mountaineers set up measuring equipment at the top of the peak. In the Headquarters of Mount Everest, everyone excitedly opened champagne to celebrate the success of the summit.

India's Deccan Herald commented that the successful summit of Mount Everest by the Chinese surveying team marks a key step in The difficult task of re-measuring the world's highest peak. Scientists believe this will improve human understanding of nature and help promote scientific development. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said that the measured results will be used for geodynamic research, and the precise depth, meteorological and wind speed data of snow on the summit will provide first-hand information for glacier monitoring and bio-environmental protection.

After reaching the summit, the surveying mountaineers erected a marker at the summit, used the Global Satellite Navigation System (gnss) receiver to make high-precision positioning measurements through the Beidou satellite, used the snow depth radar detector to detect the snow depth of the peak, and used the gravimeter to make gravity measurements. At the six rendezvous points around Mount Everest at an altitude of 5200 meters to 6000 meters above sea level, the survey team members simultaneously carried out peak-summit rendezvous measurements and gnss joint measurements, and successfully obtained the elevation measurement data of Mount Everest.

Although it will take two or three months to derive the exact "height" of Mount Everest, some media outlets, like the German weekly Focus, are looking forward to "the world's highest will have a new answer".

Another peak of domestic technology

The New York Times said that how high is Everest? This is not a simple question. Geologists from various countries disagree on how to calculate it. Since 1949, China has carried out six large-scale surveys and scientific expeditions on Everest, and in 1975 and 2005, the elevation of Everest was announced twice, which was 8848.13 meters and 8844.43 meters, respectively. Some countries believe that the height of Mount Everest is still 8848.13 meters. The difference is that 8844.43 meters refers to the height of the rock face of the summit, while 8848.13 meters counts the thickness of the snow sheet (ice sheet).

Which measurement method should be used? Dang Yamin told the Global Times reporter that if the height of the snow cover is taken as the standard, the data measured at different times will vary a lot, almost one data a day, so the measurement of the height of the snow cover should be announced at the same time as the measurement time and weather conditions. In fact, scholars in many countries agree to use the high data of the rock surface as the standard. "There is no unified requirement for this in the international community, and one thing is that we must talk about science." He believes that as a national act, the height measurement of Mount Everest should still measure the height of the rock surface, of course, you can also announce the height of the snow cover at that time.

In the measurement task of Mount Everest, China's domestic equipment assumes a heavy responsibility. The Associated Press noted that Chinese survey mountaineers used their own Beidou satellite navigation system. The system is a competitor to the GPS global positioning system in the United States. Germany's "Economic Weekly" said that China Mobile and Huawei, together, successfully completed the construction and opening of the world's highest 5G base station, and achieved full 5G coverage of Mount Everest. "This is a new peak for China's telecommunications industry and industrial technology."

"Climbing and measuring Mount Everest itself is a stage to highlight the strength of the country and the level of comprehensive science and technology." Dang Yamin told the Global Times reporter on the 27th that among the measuring instruments and equipment at the top, the domestic core technology accounted for about 90%. For the effect of domestic technology, he used weather forecast technology as an example, saying that on the 25th, when the mountaineering team marched to the wind outlet at an altitude of 7500 meters, the wind became stronger, but the team members still dared to continue to move forward, because we knew that the wind would become smaller after 10 p.m. on the 26th.

The accuracy of the weather forecast also helped the team members set a new record for the length of time spent Chinese at the summit of Mount Everest: 150 minutes. Dang Yamin told the Global Times reporter that just like farmers must follow the "agricultural proverb" when planting fields, under normal circumstances, they can only stay at the peak for an hour at most, which means that they must retreat at 1 p.m. this time, even if it is only 50 meters from the peak, they have to turn around and go down, otherwise the wind above level 12 will be very dangerous. "At 12 o'clock, I saw that the team members were still seriously disassembling and erecting the equipment, and I was like sitting on a needle felt." To Dang Yamin's long relief, the weather forecast showed that the weather behind was relatively good. In addition, the equipment and oxygen of the team members are fully guaranteed. He said: "This is due to the improvement of our national strength. ”

We stand on the shoulders of the heroes of our predecessors

60 years ago, Chinese mountaineers Wang Fuzhou, Kampot and Qu Yinhua climbed Mount Everest from the north slope for the first time, creating the feat of climbing the world's first peak from the north slope for the first time in human history. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post recalled that history and said Wang Fuzhou was considered one of the pioneers of mountaineering in China. In 2015, after the death of 80-year-old Wang Fuzhou, the China Mountaineering Association said that the spirit of mountaineering created by the older generation of mountaineers represented by Comrade Wang Fuzhou has far exceeded the sports itself, and has become a source of motivation and encouragement for the people of the whole country to brave hardships and fight tenaciously.

In the interview, Dang Yamin talked to the Global Times reporter about the journey of climbing Mount Everest in the 1960s and 1970s. He believed that the greatest commonality compared to today's measurements was an immortal national spirit. "Chinese is ambitious, when we reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1975, although the material conditions were not rich, in the end we relied on spiritual strength to make up for it, so that the doubters shut their mouths." Today, our measurement technology is becoming more and more advanced. The spirit of winning glory for the country and proving oneself in the world is still there. ”

Dang Yamin told the Global Times reporter that some veteran team members who once climbed Mount Everest often chatted with him and said that they were very envious of today's conditions. "In 1975 gravity measurement, why were some of the team's hands frozen? Because the instruments we used at that time were all foreign, it was not easy to operate, and it could not be modified, and sometimes we had to take off our gloves to work. Now our domestic instruments are very easy to operate, and they can wear gloves to work. Dang Yamin said that what we must always remember is that we are standing on the shoulders of the heroes of our predecessors and climbing to the top again.

[Global Times Special Correspondent to Tibet Gu Yekai Yuan Quan Global Times Reporter Fan Lingzhi Aoki Chen Xin Liu Yupeng]

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