Born in Qomolangma’s shadow, climber ascends to dreams

LHASA: Having successfully conquered Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, five times in his life, Dechen Ngodrup, 36, was spotted once again at the mountaineering base camp during this year’s summit push, assuming a different role as he provided necessary assistance to his teammates.
Transitioning from a mere climber to a seasoned expeditionist, his destiny has become inseparably entwined with the mountain itself.
Last year on May 4, he along with 12 teammates reached the summit of the world’s highest peak on the China-Nepal border. Different from previous expeditions, he took on the role of a leader, bearing the weighty responsibility of not only ensuring the well-being and safety of his team but also spearheading groundbreaking scientific research endeavors that had never been undertaken before. On their way to the summit, the 13-member squad led by Dechen Ngodrup set up an automated meteorological monitoring station at an altitude of 8,830 meters, the highest of its kind in the world.
The station weighing about 50 kilograms needed to be split up into seven parts before being transported and installed by the team.
On the day of their climb to the summit, the team encountered knee-deep snow above 8,300 meters, making every step a laborious feat that demanded an immense amount of energy. What would typically be a four or five-hour trek took them nearly nine hours to accomplish.
After the successful establishment of the station, they continued to ascend to the summit, where they measured the thickness of the ice and snow using high-accuracy radar for the first time at the summit. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item