Tibetan Mastiff Notes

Chapter 25 Wolf kills wolf (2)
I looked at the sky, and it was getting dark. There was a big black sky, and I couldn't see anything at a distance of less than 100 meters.The weather is terrible, and it looks like a snowstorm is coming. We are now stuck less than halfway up the mountain, and we don't know whether to go up or back.

Uncle Xianba’s brows were wrinkled like iron bumps. Because Dajie is a young man, he doesn’t have as many psychological burdens as his father. Instead, he feels that the more difficult it is, the more he can challenge the limit of the human body, which is even more exciting. thing.Dajie told me that if the weather is usually sunny, the hillside is still full of sunshine at this time!
I raised my wrist to look at my watch. It was already [-]:[-] in the afternoon. As soon as it got dark, a snowstorm was coming.Uncle Xianba said: "We can't go up any further. There is going to be a blizzard soon. We can't see the road ahead and the wind is strong. If we go up again, dangerous situations will arise at any time. We have to go in the transverse direction. Go to a flat place near the pass on the other side to set up a tent for the night, check the situation tomorrow morning, and then decide whether to continue climbing.”

I looked up at the sky, and for the situation in front of me, Uncle Xianba's proposal was the best solution.I worry about those who are trapped on the top of the mountain, not knowing how long they can last in such a harsh climate.I really want to continue to go up for a while, but there is no way, a person's strength is limited, the sky is getting darker and darker, the sky has already fallen a large snowflake, which feels as big as a baby's palm, and Xianba and his son have already moved to the other side. Walk in the direction of the pass on one side.

The wind was blowing, like ghosts crying and wolves howling, I hurried to catch up, and I found that the father and son were taking a "zigzag" route, which was tortuous.I know that walking like that can prevent slipping, but my balance is much better than theirs, and my feet are stable, so I walked straight on the straight road, trying to catch up with them.

The snow here is very thick, I chased a distance with the fastest speed, before I figured out what was going on, my body sank down suddenly, and I was suddenly sunk by the snow, leaving only half of my shoulders and a head exposed outside.I knew that I stepped on a soft snow pit, and I didn't know how deep the snow pit was. It might be that the snowboard stuck my two legs, so I didn't continue to sink.

I stretched out my hands from under the snow, groped around, and found two relatively solid pieces of snow. I pushed my hands hard and pulled out half of my body.But the snowshoes were stuck underneath, which increased a lot of resistance. At that time, the binding was too strong, and I couldn't shake it off even if I wanted to, so I had to ask Dajie to come over to help.

At this moment, the sky is already dark, and we can only rely on the meager reflective activities on the snow.I propped myself up with both hands, and Dajie stabbed down a few times with the ski pole, and the snow around the snowboard was smashed down. I felt my feet relax, and my palms pushed hard, and the whole person jumped out of the snow pit. jumped out.

22. If you don't pay attention, you will die
To be honest, the power of nature is so great that you can't even imagine it. Human beings will never know what kind of barriers and traps nature will set up in front of you. You can only break through with your own ability, while human beings The power of nature appears so small and weak in the face of nature.Uncle Xianba warned me, "The snow here will be thicker, and the mountain road is not smooth. There are many snow holes and snow pits. You have to be very careful when walking. Now it is covered by snow, and you can't see anything." We can only move forward based on past experience.”

Dajie and I followed Uncle Xianba carefully, and I didn't dare to take shortcuts anymore. In this place, even if you are capable, you may not be able to make it. The harsh environment makes it impossible for you to follow your own path. Get used to doing whatever you want.

It took another three hours to walk to the slightly flat place near the pass, and the sky was so dark that the whole mountain was covered by a large black cloth.The three of us walked very close, but at a distance of two or three steps, I could only see the blurred back of the person in front of me.Uncle Xianba said: "Put up the tent first, then boil some hot water, eat something, and rest for a night. Everything will be discussed after getting up tomorrow morning."

I took off the heavy alpine tent on my back. This kind of tent is very thick, with good wind resistance and breathability.The wind near the pass is particularly strong, and the wind blows large pieces of snow on the face, just like the baptism of a blizzard.It is really not a wise way to choose this place to set up a tent, but there is no other way. The mountain is too steep. In this halfway up the mountain, it is impossible to go up or down, and there is really no other way to pitch a tent. flat place.

When setting up the tent, the wind was really too strong. I asked Dajie and Uncle Xianba to help hold the two opposite corners of the tent, and stepped on the tarpaulin laid underneath with my feet, and propped up the tent by myself. However, this kind of tent for three or four people is not as light as a single-person tent, and it takes a lot of effort to hold it up.Although the weather was so cold, I was still sweating, and the evaporation of heat made my body temperature drop faster.When it stopped again, the wind blew, and the whole person seemed to be frozen in an ice cellar.Seeing that my lips were purple from the cold, Uncle Xianba knew that I had suffered a lot along the way and had been relying on my better physical fitness to hold on, so he told Dajie to boil water quickly and cook some beef jerky to eat.

I saw that the two of them were too cold. We both wore three layers of thick gloves. When Dajie was picking up the backpack, his hands were shaking all the time. He simply took off the outermost layer of waterproof gloves and put them on. The simple pot set was taken out, and there was a small and portable gasoline stove. Open the gasoline bottle and pour some gasoline into it.Originally, Dajie brought a sealed gasoline tank before departure. He used it once before, and there was not much gasoline in it. He shook it twice and broke it. He had no choice but to bring a bottle. It's a bit cumbersome to use, not like a sealed dozen, but it's better than nothing.

Before I set off, I always thought that climbing the mountain was not difficult. As long as I have good physical strength and speed up the climb, I should be able to climb to the top of the mountain within a day, but after entering the actual mountaineering journey, I realized that this pre-plan was completely unreasonable.No matter how good your physical fitness is, no matter how strong your skills are, the actual road conditions and weather simply don’t allow you to speed up, and I can’t increase my speed either.At first I thought it was superfluous for Darger to bring these cooking utensils, but now I wish he could start a fire as soon as possible.

The oxygen here is already very thin, I felt that all the oxygen molecules seemed to be blown away by the wind, and my heart beat a little faster, so I looked at the climbing watch and calculated my heart rate, which was still within the tolerable range.I want to take off the hat to breathe, but I dare not take it off, because the heat dissipation from the head is almost 60.00% of the heat dissipation from the whole body.

The wind near the pass made the tent rattling non-stop. The wind outside the tent was so strong that the gasoline stove couldn’t be turned on at all. Dajie could only light it in the tent. Uncle Xianba and I helped him block the blowing in from the four corners of the tent. wind of.

When climbing snow-capped mountains, all equipment must be purchased with the best quality, and you must not be stingy. I am glad that the Xianba family is willing to spend money on this aspect.We didn’t drink the first pot of water that was boiled. Uncle Xianba took out an alpine thermal bag, quickly poured hot water into it, tightened the lid, told me to untie my clothes, and stuffed the hot water bag into the underwear on my back The inner layer, so that it can dry the sweat absorbed by my underwear, and tomorrow's life will be easier.

Uncle Xianba said that my physique is too strong, the muscles are very thick, and the inner underwear is stretched too tightly, which hinders blood circulation and space comfort, loses a layer of air convection space, and reduces the warmth of the original underwear Effect.If I don't dry it tonight, it will be unbearably cold by three to five in the morning.I actually understand this very well, but it’s just that I’m suffering on the mountainside of the plateau, and I can’t take off my clothes. Now I have this hot water bottle, which makes me feel much more comfortable. I warmed my back, and Dajie boiled a small pot of water to put the frozen The hard dried yak meat was put in and boiled for a while.

The water could not be completely boiled, the temperature was too low, the wind was strong, and the temperature of the gasoline stove could not reach that high, and we did not share the food. We just fished it in the same pot and ate the half-hard but not soft yak meat. .I thought while eating, we still have a tent here to keep warm from the wind, and we can also cook and eat. What about those people who are trapped on the top of the mountain?They had nothing to eat or drink, and the blizzard continued to blow, coupled with the physical damage caused by altitude sickness and the harsh weather on the top of the mountain, it was hard to say whether they could last until dawn.

I hoped that the night would pass quickly and the sky would light up quickly, thinking: As long as there is a little visibility, no matter what time tomorrow, I will continue to climb, but I don’t know if the snowstorm will stop tomorrow morning, maybe it will Come more violently.I now feel that it was a mistake for me to rush to rescue people as soon as I received the radio signal. Originally, I could turn to the lieutenant colonel in the Shigatse Military Region to send a message. Maybe their troops can carry out rescue. Want to be a hero?

Xuefeng rescue is not something that can be done by one person or two or three people. With the addition of helicopters, the efficiency will be greatly improved. I just think about it this way to comfort myself.In fact, when the retired radio station was given to me by the lieutenant colonel, he probably didn't expect it to be so rotten.The battery of that old radio station was leaking too much, and the signal was also very bad. It may be because the battery was out at that time, so the signal received later was so weak. Weak, the military area can't receive that intermittent weak signal.

When I was thinking about these problems, Uncle Xianba urged me to take the time to rest.Dajie ate and drank enough, packed the cooking utensils, and fell asleep.Where can I sleep?The tent outside was slammed by the wind, the wind in the pass was howling, and the snowflakes were blown by the wind and fell on the tent, making a rustling sound.

I dozed off for several hours in a daze. At five or six in the morning, I stretched my head outside the tent. The wind was so strong that I could feel the sound of snowflakes being blown and hit my face. It was still dark outside. , nothing could be seen clearly beyond a few steps away.

Since last night, I have been fiddling with the walkie-talkie Dajie gave me, hoping to receive the signal of the trapped people from the top of the mountain again, but there is nothing inside, only the noise of wind and rustling.I stretched out the walkie-talkie outside the tent for a long time to test, and twisted the frequency for a long time, but I couldn't receive anything, so I had to retract my head into the tent in disappointment.I'm going to boil some water first, and when Uncle Xianba and Dajie wake up, they can have cooked food to eat, which can shorten the time and continue to climb up as soon as possible.

Under such extremely harsh weather conditions, the simple task of boiling water has become a big problem. I use my body to block the wind blowing in from the outside, but the wind direction is not fixed at all, and the wind blows from different directions. Squeeze in, and plateau lighters don't work well here.After tossing and tossing for a long time, I finally lit the gasoline stove. When the water was half hot, I threw the dried yak meat in and soaked it.Uncle Xianba and Dajie both woke up, Dajie helped me cook the yak meat, Uncle Xianba went out of the tent to check the weather.

It was already seven o'clock in the morning, and it was still very dark outside, but the visibility was a little bit better, at least within ten steps you could see a blurry figure from your back.I told Uncle Xianba to come in quickly and eat the boiled yak meat, and then continue to climb up after eating.Time is tight, if we don't go up, it is estimated that even if those people don't freeze to death and starve to death, high altitude pulmonary edema is very likely to kill them.

Uncle Xianba sighed and said: "Today is really not a good time for mountaineering. I have never experienced such bad weather in all my mountaineering records. If I go further up, the wind will be stronger and I will not be able to stand stably." How can you climb up? You’re lucky if you don’t fall!” I gobbled up the boiled yak meat and said, “Why not? Uncle Xianba, you are waiting for us in this temporary camp. Dajie and I Go up to find someone, the young man has good feet." Uncle Xianba said, "But he doesn't have that much experience." After speaking, he scooped up a piece of yak meat and put it in his mouth to chew, while looking out from the gap in the tent curtain , observing the changes in the sky.

It seems that today's weather will be much worse than yesterday, and basically there will be no major changes within a day. Even if there is any change, it will only get worse, not better.

I insisted on going up the mountain, and I couldn't wait any longer. The people trapped on the top of the mountain might not be able to withstand it anymore. If I waited an hour longer, some people would probably die.Not to mention the fact that the plateau snow-capped mountains are so far away, even if it snows heavily in your house during the winter, you will not be able to stand it if you squat in the yard all night, let alone have no food or drink, and you are always worried that you will be swept down the hillside by the wind.

Dajie said: "There is a feasible way. Everyone is connected to each other with ropes, which makes climbing a lot easier and increases some resistance, but you have to be extra careful. If one person slips, the others will be taken down. "As far as the current situation is concerned, we can't think of any other better way for the time being. We find out the rope, tie it to a suitable position on the body, and then connect the ropes with hooks. We didn't connect them directly with a rope. The advantage of this is that when an urgent problem is encountered, the connected places can be untied in time.

We dismantled the tent and packed everything. Uncle Ba was first, then me, and finally Dajie. We groped and continued to climb.The wind is really strong, and the flakes of snow are so big that it surprises you. The snowflakes are blown by the wind and fly around. You can only see a piece of white flowers in front of you. I turned on the plateau lights worn on the hat, and moved forward while exploring the road.None of us expected that today's road would be so difficult to walk. It snowed all night last night, and now the snow on the mountain is deep, thick and soft, and it is difficult to walk with snowboards on our feet. Pushing you down the mountain, the oxygen is very thin, and every step you take, everyone has to take a breath, and the speed is getting slower and slower.

After persisting for an hour, we climbed 30 meters upwards. Almost every small step we took, we had to take a big step back, not to mention climbing up. Fortunately, the three of them were supported by the connected ropes.

Dajie shouted from behind: "Abba, no, the wind is too strong, we have to turn to the other side and climb up from the leeward direction." Uncle Xianba said: "No, it's too steep there, and everywhere They are cracks and potholes, and if you don’t pay attention, you will die, and the top of the mountain wall there is concave, so it is easy to cause an avalanche. When the time comes, people will bury themselves first before being rescued.”

"However, the wind is too strong here, so we can't climb up at all. Let's turn to the back and use the ski pole to explore. Although the speed is a little slower, it is much better than here." Dajie insisted on his own ideas, I also feel that it is a waste of energy and time to stand here and compete with the wind, so I support Dajie.

Uncle Xianba was about to say something, when suddenly a gust of wind rushed over with the snow curtain, and he lost his footing, and Uncle Xianba was swept down by the wind. Once he fell, the wind continued to blow, and immediately Rolling down the snow slope, I couldn't support my feet at all.I hurriedly stabilized my feet, leaned back, and using the backward force, I tightened the rope with both hands. Dajie took two steps with difficulty, and helped his father up from the snow. It took the three of them several minutes to complete the action.

We had no choice but to turn to the leeward side of the other side of the mountain and climb up. According to Uncle Semba, the leeward side here is steeper than the windward side.This Tianzi Peak is too steep and straight, so three sides are exposed to the wind, and only one side is protected from the wind, and it is also in danger. I really don’t know if those people have taken some dragon and tiger pills to choose this snowy day. When you come to climb a mountain, you really have a problem with your brain.

As soon as we turned to the leeward slope, I found that the situation was very bad. Although the wind and snow were a little lighter and the snow on the ground was thin, as Uncle Semba said, it was very steep and the top was concave. The entire mountain looks like a large smooth area, because the snow has accumulated for a long time, and there is not much fresh snow covering it, so the surface layer is frozen into an ice shell.We untied the connected ropes, replaced the snowboards, and tied the crampons again. Just as Dajie climbed over, suddenly there was a bang under his feet, and a large piece of snow was broken by him. The body sank down suddenly, and got stuck in a crack in the mountain.I called Dajie, told him not to move, and then moved over step by step to check the terrain near his body. This is a natural crack formed by the mountain itself. It stands to reason that Dajie's body can fall directly from the crack. But because the top was covered with snow, and the snow was frozen very hard, Dajie stepped on the thinner half, and the other half was just stuck in his waist.That half of the snow will break at any time, because the snow is too slippery. If I go directly to Ladajie with my hands, my body will have to use a lot of backward force. Once Dajie is pulled out, the force will naturally be There is a change, the foot is slightly unstable, and the two of us will take the free "helicopter" down the mountain together.

Uncle Semba used an ice ax to plan in the snow, found a hard place, laid a retainer, and tied the rope tightly.I tied the other end of the rope tightly around my waist, just in case, and took Darjee by the hand, pulling him out hard.

(End of this chapter)