Xueshan closes its doors and refuses visitors, and “black climbers” fall into a vicious circle

Last week, an investigative report on “black climbing” in high-altitude snow mountains was released. Mountaineering management departments, club operators and guides contacted me one after another, and the response was beyond imagination.

Domestic “black climbing” is falling into a vicious cycle. Due to natural resource protection and search and rescue incidents, almost all domestic 6,000-meter snow-climbing mountains are closed to visitors, and local governments no longer accept climbing applications. There is still a demand for people who want to climb, so “black climbing” has become popular.

Climbers who are “black climbing” Mount Yuzhu. Picture/provided by interviewee

The domestic climbing upgrade chain relies on summit certification: to climb a 7,000-meter snow mountain, you must first have a summit certification of a 6,000-meter snow mountain. Nowadays, due to large-scale closures of 6,000-meter snow-capped mountains, the chain of climbing and upgrading is broken. People who want to comply are “persuaded” to quit or go abroad, and those who want to climb the mountain can only “climb in the dark”.

Of course, some people don’t even know that they are “hacking”. They pay tens of thousands of dollars, commit their lives to it, and make the climb to the summit part of the service. As for whether the leader is qualified and whether the procedures for entering the mountain are in compliance, they don’t know or need to know.

Guides are the fastest group to perceive market changes. On the one hand, the industry is in turmoil, and everyone understands that “hacking” is not allowed. On the other hand, practitioners tell me that the industry is dying. The income of guides depends entirely on the mountaineering season of just a few months. After a number of snow-capped mountains were closed, the club could not pay wages, so it could only neither support nor object to the “black climbing” led by guides. When “black climbing” was born a few years ago, many practitioners hoped to regulate the market and resist illegal climbing, but now they have to participate. Even formal large outdoor clubs are planning to quit because they “need to survive first.”

Several guides mentioned management-level issues. If, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the State Sports General Administration, you are caught leading a team for “black climbing”, your guide and collaborator certificates will be revoked. But in reality, they rarely hear about whose documents have been revoked. The “black climbing” chaos seems to be caused by all parties “turning a blind eye”.

There are also various chaos in the approval process. Climbing the 7,500-meter snow-capped Muztag Peak (hereinafter referred to as “Mufeng”) requires the approval of the China Mountaineering Association (hereinafter referred to as the “China Mountaineering Association”). According to the requirements, it must meet the guide-client ratio of 1:4, and the guide must be a national-level mountain guide certified by the China Mountaineering Association. However, according to our investigation, the national guide certificates used by many clubs to apply for approval are borrowed or purchased at high prices. One of the reasons is that over the past 20 years, the China Mountaineering Association has trained less than 100 mountain guides, while the number of applicants for Mu Feng alone is around 1,000 every year.

Many interviewees raised questions: There are more than just these people in China’s mountaineering community who are capable of leading teams to climb 7,000-meter snow-capped mountains. Does only compliance mean professionalism? “Having a guide certificate/collaboration certificate does not mean that you are capable. Many capable guides do not have certificates.” Practitioners always like to talk about their climbing experience, number of summits and team leadership results to prove the legitimacy of their team to climb Mu Feng.

This idea of ​​”I think nothing will happen if I lead the team” exists on many snowy mountains. In some 7,000-meter-level snow-capped mountains with approved licenses, there are not enough guides. Guides and clubs who think they are capable fabricate materials and lead groups up the mountain. In some 6,000-meter snow-capped mountains, due to lost search and rescue incidents, the local government closed all formal climbing application channels, and eventually tragedies occurred one after another. This creates a lose-lose situation for climbers, guides, clubs, local governments and competent authorities.

On the day the manuscript was published, the Sichuan Climbing Association canceled the cooperation certificates of several “black climbers” Mu Feng. A staff member of the sports authorities told me that the training for a new batch of mountain guides from the China Mountaineering Association has been completed and the market will soon be enriched. They have never said that any mountain with climbing conditions is not allowed to be climbed. What they advocate is that climbers apply for permits in accordance with laws and regulations.

The chaos is not over yet. As long as the mountains are there, people will still set out. Is there really no more detailed and scientific order for the management of mountains? This is a question that all relevant departments need to consider.