By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 281 Rescue Early Warning: Exploring New Routes!
Although the altitude at this time has not yet reached the death zone of over 8 meters, it is still extremely dangerous, even extremely deadly, for an oxygen mask to be blown off by the wind at a windy pass.

Nowadays, most mountaineering teams carry oxygen tanks when climbing, and there are very few people like Li Younan who can maintain blood oxygen levels above 95 even without oxygen.

The mountaineering team ahead of us all carried oxygen cylinders.

Because you are breathing oxygen continuously, when the oxygen mask is blown off, acute hypoxia symptoms will quickly occur. Within minutes, you will experience severe headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, and impaired judgment, such as being unable to decide how to put the mask back on on your own, and you will also lose your body coordination.

The team member had already laid his body completely prone, his hands gripping the rope tightly.

The team member's guide was trying to rescue him, but it was impossible for him to take off his own oxygen mask and hand it to him.

At that moment, the mask was blown to an ice crevice seven or eight meters away and got stuck. There was no rope, and below was a bottomless abyss.

The seven or eight-meter-high rock face was covered in ice and snow. It didn't seem like a long distance, but the guide didn't dare risk his life to go and retrieve it.

Just then, the guide was surprised to see that the climber behind them, who was clearly not from their team, suddenly hammered his ice axe into the firm snow on the rock face.

He then tested the sturdiness with his hand, swung his body to the side, and kicked his crampons hard into a piece of glacier. He then did the same with his other ice axe, which he also hammered into the glacier.

Thus, he was now suspended on the rock face.

Li Younan had already planned the route before making the decision. Except for the first strike of the ice axe into the snow, the rest of the route was glacier.

Having crampons and an ice axe doesn't actually pose a danger to him.

In contrast, the ice walls are quite solid; the temperature here is below -50 degrees Celsius, and the ice freezes as hard as stone.

Li Younan didn't spend too long before he reached the spot where the mask was stuck, and then released one hand to pull the mask out.

Luckily, if the mask had been blown any further, there would have been nothing we could do.

Li Younan put the mask back into his pocket and returned to the rope in the same way.

To be honest, an oxygen mask is usually hard to blow off, but you can clearly see that there are marks of friction and tugging on this mask.

It's likely that during the climb, the mountaineer made a mistake in their movements or route selection, which caused interference with external equipment. In addition, there might have been entanglement in the oxygen supply line. As a result, the wind created a leverage effect, pulling the mask off their face.

During the ascent of Mount Everest, there have been numerous cases of people dying from lack of oxygen and low temperatures after their oxygen masks were completely torn off.

For example, during the Mount Everest congestion incident in 2019, several climbers' masks were loosened by strong winds. Another example is climber Francis, whose mask was blown off by a blizzard at an altitude of 8600 meters, ultimately leading to his death.

Li Younan knew very well that time was of the essence. After retrieving the mask, Li Younan quickened his pace and soon arrived at the team member whose mask had been blown off.

The wind was extremely strong at that moment, and all you could hear was the howling of the wind. You had to speak very loudly for someone to hear you.

Although Li Younan had moved extremely quickly, several minutes had already passed, and due to the sudden lack of oxygen, the mountaineer had already shown symptoms of acute hypoxia.

Seeing that Li Younan had retrieved the mask, the guide quickly helped him, and the two of them swiftly connected the oxygen mask tubing and put the oxygen mask back on the team member.

The mountain guide shouted to Li Younan, "Thank you!"

Li Younan shouted back, "Get him down here right now! This isn't the place to say thank you!"

The guide patted the climber on the head and shouted in his ear, "Don't fall asleep, wake up! You're not in good shape right now, we need to go down for a bit."

The mountaineer, still somewhat dazed from fright, nodded, struggled to his feet, and then looked intently at Li Younan: "What's your name? My savior!"

Although Li Younan did not bring an oxygen mask, he naturally wore a mountaineering mask due to the strong wind. Under the cover of the mountaineering mask and goggles, it was impossible to see what he looked like.

Li Younan said, "My name is Li Younan. Be careful when you go down."

"Li Younan, thank you." The mountaineering team member silently remembered Li Younan's name. "I will repay you!"

Judging from the voice, it was that of a middle-aged man, and Li Younan smiled indifferently.

After the two descended, Li Younan continued to climb up with the mountaineering team ahead.

At this moment, although Li Younan was extremely confident, he obediently held onto the rope and silently climbed upwards.

While he could certainly forgo the business route entirely and find or even explore a completely new one, it's a bit odd of him to insist on finding his own path when there's already a ready-made one.

While climbing, Li Younan felt a mix of emotions, all because of the rope in his hand.

Li Younan walked behind, and as they gradually left the area with the strongest winds and the wind subsided, he spoke into the microphone of the action camera: "Brothers, do you see this rope in my hand?"

"I believe many people have seen this thing in movies, TV shows, or news reports. It's used by climbers of Mount Everest to climb up."

"Everyone is probably wondering, where did this thing come from?"

"So, who was the first person to climb up and lower this rope?"

"The answer is—the road construction team on the north slope."

"Because we are now on a commercial route. As we all know, there are two commercial routes: one is the north slope commercial route where we are now, and the other is Nepal on the south slope."

"The reason why these commercial routes charge climbers such high fees is not only because they provide services such as guides and transporting supplies, but also because every year at the start of the climbing season, road maintenance teams go up the mountain in advance to set up safety facilities."

"And the process of building this road is the real mountain climbing!"

"They had no protection whatsoever. They set up ropes, installed anchor points, built metal ladders, and checked for avalanches and crevasses along the steep route from 6500 meters above sea level to the summit."

"This is a task that needs to be done every year."

"Because ice crevasses, glaciers, and heavy snow are all dynamic, after this year's climb, or even before next year, the ropes will be buried by the wind and snow, and the metal ladders will become deformed and unstable."

"And the risks of ice crevasses and avalanches will also change accordingly."

"So in a sense, the pioneers of these road construction teams are the more valuable warriors who climbed Mount Everest. It was they who enabled later climbers to successfully reach the summit and turned the insurmountable barrier into a thoroughfare."

"Without these road construction teams, the climbing death rate on the north slope would be even higher!"

While Li Younan was explaining things to his viewers, he had already successfully passed through the windy pass, and the C2 camp was just ahead.

Before officially reaching Camp C2, you need to traverse a long slope covered with thick snow.

Once you cross this snow slope, you'll reach Camp C2, at which point the altitude will reach 7900 meters.

Generally, climbers will choose to rest at Camp 2 for one night before continuing to the next camp.

However, although we have passed the wind gap, it does not mean that there is no wind here. It is just that the wind force is much weaker than that of the wind gap. At this time, you can still feel the strong wind carrying snow particles and ice crystals hitting your goggles.

Li Younan breathed a slight sigh of relief; they were about to reach the next important milestone, no matter what.

But at that moment, his heart suddenly tightened for no reason, followed by a feeling of palpitation from his chest.

He suddenly realized that the snow under his feet had become heavy, not the firm feeling he usually experienced, but rather like stepping on a loose sand dune.

First, a slight vibration traveled up Li Younan's legs from the soles of his feet. Then, Li Younan suddenly looked up and heard a low, grinding sound. It wasn't a loud noise, but rather the rustling sound of the snow being squeezed, which grew louder and louder.

avalanche!

The word immediately popped into his head.

Meanwhile, members of the climbing team ahead shouted in panic, "Avalanche! Avalanche!"

He was then covered in the mouth by a guide dressed in uniform.

Li Younan immediately understood that the person shouting was a commercial mountaineering team member who had gone blank in this situation and was instinctively panicked, while the guide was trying to prevent a larger avalanche.

After all, people who are frequently buried by avalanches know very well that the vibrations of sound waves are enough to cause even larger avalanches.

Li Younan suddenly turned around. His thick backpack blocked part of the impact, and he was pushed forward by a force.

The surrounding snow began to flow, not sliding down in large swathes. In Li Younan's view, it was a vast expanse of white snow waves carrying tiny ice particles surging down the slope.

Li Younan looked back and saw the member of the mountaineering team closest to him about to shout something, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of snow.

The rope suddenly yanked him, and he let out a scream, but it loosened the next moment—the knot had snapped.

Li Younan was swept forward by the snow waves, his knees sinking into the snow.

Despite this, Li Younan remained remarkably calm.

His mountaineering skills gave him a strong ability to warn of disasters. Before encountering this avalanche, his brain had already assessed the snow slope in an instant. Even if an avalanche occurred, given his location, if he handled it properly, it would not pose a particularly great danger.

Avalanches also vary in size.

After sliding for about ten meters, the snow slowed down. Li Younan stood up, using his ice axe for support. His knees were mostly submerged in snow, and he struggled to pull his legs out of the snow.

Looking back, the rope that had been laid along the slope had broken into several pieces, many of which were buried in the snow. All the previous footprints were gone, and some of the rope's anchor points had been pulled out and were lying crooked in the snow. The previously clear route was now completely messed up.

The mountaineering team ahead was in a bit of trouble. Their physical condition was far inferior to Li Younan's, and they lacked Li Younan's foresight.

When the avalanche struck, Li Younan quickly used his backpack to mitigate most of the impact, so the avalanche did not cause him any real harm.

But it was different for the mountaineering teams; most of their torsos were buried in the snow.

It's important to understand that the impact of an avalanche is comparable to that of a truck plunging off a cliff, but this is not the primary mechanism by which avalanches cause death.

Avalanche deaths are caused by asphyxiation, hypothermia, and trauma, with asphyxiation being the leading cause of death.

Once the snow covers the chest cavity, the immense pressure can prevent the chest cavity from expanding, leading to difficulty breathing.

In addition, hypothermia caused by a sudden drop in body temperature at high altitudes can also pose a fatal risk.

Li Younan's gaze quickly swept over each member of the mountaineering team ahead. Fortunately, this time only two team members were buried below chest level in the small avalanche, while the rest were buried below waist level, and they began to save themselves.

Li Younan first assessed the possibility of another avalanche before going up to help pull out the nearest team member. She was a female mountaineer, and when Li Younan rescued her, she was clearly crying, saying, "My...my arm..."

Li Younan frowned. The female mountaineer had just fallen in the avalanche. She braced herself with her arm, and the impact of the snow flow directly hit her arm, which may have caused a fracture.

This is really a headache.

Right now, they definitely can't get to Camp C2.

Everyone began to descend, and Li Younan also helped rescue two seriously injured team members to the rocky area below.

Once the situation finally stabilized, Li Younan and the mountaineering team leader took stock of the losses.

There were a total of 8 members in the mountaineering team, including 4 guides and 4 commercial mountaineering team members. Two of them suffered fractures, one in the arm and the other in the ribs. The equipment and supplies they were carrying also suffered varying degrees of damage.

The rest of the equipment is fine, the key is oxygen!

They took stock of the few remaining oxygen cylinders, and thankfully, on average, they had enough for the descent.

This is already a stroke of luck amidst misfortune!
Although there were injuries, there were no fatalities.

With the addition of the team member and his guide who had already descended from the windy pass, this mountaineering team can now declare that their attempt to reach the summit has failed entirely.

The team leader thanked Li Younan and said, "The route has been damaged. There are still more than ten days left in the window of opportunity, and it's probably too late to repair the route. I estimate that we won't be able to climb again in the first half of the year."

Li Younan looked up at the route. First, the rope system was completely torn or buried deep. Second, the anchor ice cones were pulled out, the snow anchors were ineffective, and the original path was covered by snowdrifts, forming new crack areas. The route they were familiar with had completely disappeared.

Furthermore, it is well known that this area becomes a high-risk zone for secondary avalanches after an avalanche, greatly increasing the difficulty and risk of restoration.

The team leader gave a wry smile and could only announce to the other team members the decision that the climb had failed and they had to turn back. He then said to Li Younan, "Brother, thank you. You're really amazing. You actually made it here without any supplemental oxygen."

Li Younan shook his head indifferently; he was now considering a different issue.

If the commercial route is disrupted, then he will have to consider exploring new routes to the summit.

At this point, descending was an urgent matter for the members of the mountaineering team, as some had already been injured and they had lost a significant amount of their oxygen.

So they only rested in this area for about ten minutes before preparing to descend. Fortunately, the descent ropes had not been damaged.

Just as they were about to set off, they noticed that Li Younan didn't seem to be joining them. The team leader said, "Brother, let's go."

Li Younan shook his head: "You guys go down, be careful."

Upon hearing Li Younan's words, everyone turned to look at him: "No, brother, the route above has been destroyed."

Li Younan smiled and said, "Isn't this the situation that the road construction teams face at the very beginning of each mountaineering season?"

Everyone was stunned.

That being said... but they are, after all, a road construction team! Especially the team leader of this year's road construction team, Dorje Tsering, who has summited Mount Everest 18 times and holds the record for the most summits from the north face, while most of the other team members have also summited more than 10 times!
They could certainly act as pioneers to climb Mount Everest without a rope.

But Li Younan...

But then they suddenly realized that Li Younan had just demonstrated extremely professional mountaineering skills at the windy pass, and had not been carrying an oxygen mask so far. Such strong lungs might not be much different from those of the top Sherpas.

Seeing this, the captain stopped trying to persuade Li Younan and simply said seriously, "Then I wish you good luck, brother, and a safe journey."

Others chimed in, "Have a safe journey!"

"Keep it up, bro!"

As everyone waved goodbye, Li Younan embarked on his continued climb alone, and he would have to choose another route to ascend.

……

Li Younan is not climbing alone; after all, he is also carrying live streaming equipment and the attention of most netizens, helping them climb Mount Everest together.

At this point, the host in the live stream no longer dared to connect with Li Younan. The scene in the live stream was quite different. The host and guests looked at Li Younan's live stream with very complicated expressions.

The host said, "We just saw Li Younan encounter an avalanche in the live broadcast. Li Younan has not given up his goal of climbing Mount Everest. We also learned from their conversation that the commercial route to continue upwards has been disrupted."

"Then let's ask our guest, Professor Chen, to explain to us again what the consequences are of a disrupted business strategy."

After thinking for a moment, the guest speaker surnamed Chen said in a deep voice, "This means that if we continue to climb Mount Everest, the difficulty will increase exponentially!"

You have to understand, for most ordinary people like me, being able to climb Mount Everest isn't because you're really that amazing, but because you're paid a lot of money.

"A pioneering road-building team has set up metal ladders, driven in snow spike anchors, and laid out ropes for you in advance. Along the way, there are guides who carry most of your equipment to lighten your load and even bring oxygen tanks."

"In a sense, you have climbed Mount Everest, but you haven't really climbed Mount Everest."

"In the mountaineering community, there are even many people who climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen who do not approve of those who commercially summit Mount Everest."

"At this time, Li Younan was facing the real challenge of climbing Mount Everest."

"Before the commercial route on the north side was established, the ascent of Mount Everest from the north side was widely recognized as a death route."

After hearing Teacher Chen's explanation, many netizens who were worried about Li Younan started flooding the live stream with comments: "Why isn't the host connecting with Li Younan to tell him that this route is dangerous?"

"Safety first, safety first."

"Host, please connect with Li Younan on the live stream!"

Upon seeing these comments, the host shook his head and said, "I've also noticed that many viewers in our live stream are worried about Li Younan's safety, but at this time, as the host, I shouldn't disturb Li Younan."

“We all know that Li Younan is a seasoned explorer. Yes, at this point in my eyes, he is no longer just a simple traveler; he is a true explorer.”

"When Li Younan made this decision, he must have considered more things than we outsiders did. As bystanders, we should not interfere with his decision."

Despite the host's sincere words, many viewers in the live stream still expressed their emotions through comments such as, "Does Red Bull really not care about people's lives just to promote its advertisements?"

However, more supporters backed the host's choice.

After all, Li Younan is indeed an adult, and his decision was not forced upon him by others.

Moreover, on the internet, everyone is driven by curiosity, and people are eager to see how far Li Younan can go without relying on commercial channels.

Soon the atmosphere in the live stream calmed down again, and everyone's attention returned to Li Younan's climb.

Let's return to the live stream.

Li Younan arrived at the bottom of the slope again, but this time he didn't plan to go up from there, since an avalanche had just occurred and the situation was unknown.

Li Younan checked the time; it was still a little past two in the afternoon, which wasn't too late, strictly speaking. However, the wind had picked up considerably by the afternoon.

Li Younan said, "Brothers, I have an idea now. Maybe we don't necessarily have to go to Camp C2. After all, I'm carrying a tent, so it doesn't really matter to me where I am."

"The road to C2 camp from here has been cut off, so there's really no need to go around it and get back to C2 camp."

"So my idea is to head straight for Camp C3, which is the assault camp."

At this moment, Li Younan checked the altitude on his watch; they were still four or five hundred meters away from Camp C3.

Li Younan explained, "Camp C3 is the last camp before the topping-out ceremony. No matter how we detour, we must reach Camp C3."

"In addition, there are the Yellow Belt area, the Second Step, the transverse line of the northeast ridge, and the Third Step, which are several important nodes that we will inevitably pass through."

"Now let me rest for a bit, eat and drink my fill, and then we'll continue our journey."

Li Younan found a relatively sheltered spot, ate a meal, drank some hot water, and then used the drone he carried to survey the terrain.

The drone was originally intended for use after reaching the summit, so it only carried one battery. After taking a few photos, Li Younan quickly retrieved the drone.

He studied the photo for a while and quickly determined a completely new route.

For the rest of the journey, everyone in the live stream was on tenterhooks for Li Younan.

Because not long after, he encountered a deadly terrain.

After bypassing Camp C2, Li Younan actually took a relatively easy route, but soon an area covered by snow appeared ahead again. Li Younan quickly stopped and looked at the glacier not far away.

Li Younan smiled, his camera pointed at the snow slope ahead, and said, "Brothers, do you see what's ahead? If you don't climb Mount Everest often, never step onto this kind of terrain rashly."

"Did you notice the glacier here? There's a glacier under that snow slope, and a crevasse under the ice."

Li Younan took out a folded snow probe and poked it into the snow slope in front of him. He easily poked a large section of the slope down, and then gently stirred it. Suddenly, the snow covering the slope fell down with a whoosh.

At this moment, what appears on camera is a highly concealed crack several meters deep; stepping into it would have unimaginable consequences.

This is his terrifying ability to warn of danger.

It could even be said that Li Younan's confidence in climbing Mount Everest was not primarily due to his rock climbing ability, but rather to his almost spider-like anticipation of geological dangers.

Viewers in the live stream gasped when they saw this.

Even the guests couldn't help but say, "Li Younan was able to climb Mount Gongga so easily, it's definitely not just luck... If it were me, I probably would have already failed here."

By this time, Li Younan had already demonstrated exceptional mountaineering skills, physical fitness, and extensive experience in summiting snow-capped mountains, giving everyone even more confidence in his ability to reach the summit.

Li Younan gently shook his backpack, and snow dust drifted down from the skis hanging on it.

He seemed lost in thought, muttering to himself, "Do you think I'll run into a mountaineering team coming up from the south slope this time?"

Almost there, we'll reach the summit soon.

(End of this chapter)