Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Chapter 414: Chapter 412 Acquaintance

Having exerted much effort to reach Camp One, Bi Fang exhaled cold mist and squinted at the sun before rolling up his sleeve to check the time and letting out a breath.

“Eleven-thirty-seven, not bad, we haven’t missed lunchtime.”

Starting at two in the morning, it took nearly ten hours to reach Camp One. The entire Khumbu Glacier seemed to ascend only a few hundred meters in altitude, but the actual distance covered exceeded fourteen kilometers, truly a “long trek.”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

There were countless large and small crevasses, and Bi Fang had crossed seventeen aluminum ladders, finally reaching Camp One.

Standing on this vast platform, the view was superb. Bi Fang expanded his lungs for deep breaths. Though the air was fresh, it was anything but comfortable to breathe due to the extremely low oxygen content.

Standing at the entrance to the camp, Bi Fang could certainly see the “height” of the surrounding mountains. His altitude was merely six thousand meters, but nearly all of the neighboring peaks rose above eight thousand.

Holding the drone that couldn’t fly, Bi Fang gripped his climbing poles and pointed towards the distance.

“The weather is good today, the mountain mist isn’t too heavy, we can see very clearly. From left to right, these are four peaks over 8000 meters: Cho Oyu, Mount Everest, Lhotse Peak, and Makalu. The ones where the tips emerge from the clouds are Mount Everest, and the large gray expanse below is the massive Rongbuk Glacier, with the white at the bottom being the frozen Gokyo Lake Three.”

The mountains were majestic, leaving the viewers speechless. After a while, they could only flood the live stream with a barrage of “f*ck,” expressing their amazement.

“There are only fourteen peaks on Earth that exceed an altitude of 8000 meters, with ten of them being in the Himalayas and the other four in the Karakoram.”

[The Himalayas still hold the trump cards]

[Ten, but aren’t there quite a few other peaks nearby? Don’t they count?]

Many viewers noticed Cho Oyu, the shortest of the four peaks pointed out by Bi Fang, but there were even sharper peaks above it, making the count more than just four.

Bi Fang shook his head: “Those are subsidiary peaks or forepeaks, which generally don’t count. In geography, the highest peak in a mountain range is known as the main peak; a lone peak is an independent mountain; those that are relatively close to an independent mountain and present a protective formation are considered subsidiary peaks and forepeaks. Those higher than Cho Oyu are just subsidiary peaks of other mountains, and although they also exceed 8000 meters, they are not included in the count.”

“Of course, what I said earlier was not accurate either. The precise description should be a group of peaks exceeding an altitude of 8000 meters. In fact, there are more than 14 peaks on Earth that exceed 8000 meters in altitude, with many subsidiary peaks existing around most of the main peaks.”

As the name suggests, a peak group is a “collection” of an independent peak and all its subsidiary peaks… The concept of a main peak is easy to understand, like Mount Everest being the main peak of the Himalayan range.

But what does “lone” mean? How could there be “lone” peaks amidst the vast expanse of the Himalayas? How close is “relatively close”?… These concepts are qualitative rather than quantitative, and their boundaries are not clear, which makes the “identity” standards for 8000-meter peaks also quite vague.

[So where did this standard come from?]

The audience was curious. Where did this unified statement of 14 peaks come from?

“That’s because over the 100 years that mountaineering has been popular, only the British Military Survey Team has conducted systematic measurements of these mountains. So their statement about ’14 peaks’ became predominant and later gained the unanimous acceptance of mountaineers.

Mountaineers have also concluded from practical experience that these ’14’ are actually the highest peaks within 14 distinct 8000-meter peak groups, that is, independent mountains. Around an independent peak, even if the elevation exceeds 8000 meters, they are considered subsidiary peaks.”

[Is Old Fang now a mountaineer too (dog’s head)?]

Bi Fang laughed and neither admitted nor denied it: “Once I summit Mount Everest solo and without oxygen, you can call me that.”

“`

Although he had not achieved any specific accomplishments in climbing yet, simply reaching the summit of Mount Everest without oxygen was enough to secure Bi Fang a place at the climbing festival. Not to mention, he did it solo, without oxygen—a double buff. In the entire history of climbing Mount Everest, the number of people who had achieved this could be counted on one’s fingers.

If this couldn’t qualify someone as a mountaineer, then most of those who called themselves climbers would have to die of shame.

Awesome!

The audience didn’t understand all the twists and turns, but at this moment, they had only one thought in mind.

[Solo climbing is the way of the invincible; who needs an oxygen cylinder anyway.]

[I was the first to disagree when Teacher Ma withdrew from the literary world.]

[There’s another identity verification; does anyone with great abilities have the stats on how many identities Old Fang has?]

[Mathematician, chemist, physicist, biologist, climber, adventurer… the list goes on, please add if I missed any.]

[Architect, aviator, astronomer (dog’s head)]

“I only have a smattering of knowledge in these fields; I’m far from deserving the ‘master’ title. Don’t inflate my ego,” Bi Fang waved his hand, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Without lingering too long at the entrance to the campsite, Bi Fang prepared to rest a bit at Camp One before continuing his climb.

“I am going to rest here, replenish my energy, recover my strength, and then continue the climb. Once we get past the Khumbu Glacier, the danger decreases significantly. We just need to ascend another four hundred meters to directly reach Camp Two. The distance is approximately five kilometers, but it’s much less dangerous than the Khumbu Glacier. That’s also why we don’t need to make a point of starting off in the middle of the night anymore.”

Upon entering the current base at Camp One, the viewers could clearly see that in the southeastern corner, the snow had completely submerged it, with several colored tents buried underneath. This area was also affected by the avalanche.

There were still people there, mourning their deceased companions and packing their belongings to return home.

This was undoubtedly a somber atmosphere. They didn’t realize their dreams here; instead, they had lost their lives.

Bi Fang identified the tent prepared by the guide company from the markings on it and made his way to the designated permanent tent.

As a formal guide company, there wasn’t just Rob as a guide; there were many others. These people needed a foothold when they come to base camp, so naturally, the company would prepare campsites and supplies every season. Also, due to the strong winds at Mount Everest, repairs were almost necessary every year.

Upon lifting the tent flap, a wave of warm air hit him—the temperature inside the tent was much higher than outside.

“The weather today is really good; the tent has been warmed by the sun, although the wind is a bit strong. Now we need to hydrate as much as possible, have some food, and later on, I’ll take a nap, about an hour and a half, going through a full sleep cycle to recover my energy.”

At this moment, the tent was empty, but some supplies were left behind. Bi Fang unpacked the fuel and lit the stove with a lighter, preparing to cook something.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a series of shouting was heard from outside the tent.

“Is Mr. Bi inside?”

“`