Qomolangma always a tall order－even for an expert

XINING－Faith can move mountains. That's the belief of Li Fuqing, a 44-year-old professional mountaineer who originally trained as a race walker but has since managed to scale Mount Qomolangma three times.

Sixty years ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach Qomolangma's summit via the north ridge. To mark the anniversary, China deployed a survey team of 53 climbers to remeasure the height of the world's tallest peak. Li easily made the team and was chosen as one of the eight members to head to the summit.

Li felt extra pressure as he was also responsible for coaching the whole team which contained some amateur climbers.

"We had a few members with no experience of high-altitude mountaineering. But they used to work in the wild, and they quickly got used to the altitude."

On April 10, the team reached base camp before making the final push for the summit. Bad weather twice delayed their plans, and the climbers only had a small window of opportunity to make the risky ascent.

On May 27, on their third attempt, Li and his teammates successfully scaled the summit.

"If we had lost the window of opportunity, the mission would have failed. But when we made it, we were simply relieved more so than being just excited," he said.

Li's career as a mountaineer can be traced back to his race walk training. Born in a Tu ethnic county in Qinghai province, he trained to be a race walker in the 1990s in a local school.

The school is located in Duoba National Highland Sports Training Base, a cradle of Chinese champions, including famous Tibetan race walker and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Qieyang Shijie.

"Years of altitude training gave me the stamina needed for mountaineering. Born and raised in the highlands, I have no fear of the altitude," Li said.

In 2002, Li joined a mission to scale the peak of the 6,178-meter Mount Yuzhu in Qinghai's Kunlun range. He was assigned as a logistical support member, however his idea of becoming a real mountaineer started to grow from then.

Li's direction then shifted to alpinism after joining the Chinese mountaineering team a few months later.

Years of expeditions on the windswept highlands made him one of the best on the team. Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he joined the team carrying the Olympic torch to the summit of Qomolangma. Now Li is the coach of China's national mountaineering team.

From being a rookie to a national team coach, Li never takes anything for granted.

"Conquering Mount Qomolangma is a dream for many. I was lucky enough to see the grandness of the summit. But every time I scale the mountain, I have more respect for the majesty in front of me," he said.

Years of braving the wind and ice have shaped this philosophical approach.

"No matter how high we stand, we can never conquer nature," he said. "There is no conflict between standing high and being in awe of nature."

Xinhua