In the 1990 Meili Snow Mountain Incident, a Chinese and Japanese mountaineering team disappeared mysteriously, and a diary revealed the mystery

When it comes to the most difficult mountain to climb in the world, many people will think of Mount Everest. However, in addition to being the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest is not even among the top five in the world in terms of climbing difficulty. In the eyes of climbers, K2 K2 and Annapurna 1 are synonymous with terror. But even these two mountains, which are recognized as the most difficult to climb, have been successfully climbed by people, and there is a mountain. So far, no one has successfully reached the summit, and the mortality rate among those who try to reach the summit is 100%. This is the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain "Kawagbo Peak" at the junction of Tibet and Yunnan, China.

In 1991, the Sino-Japanese joint mountaineering team decided to challenge the most difficult peak in the world. They encountered Tibetan people before climbing the mountain and asked them to leave, but they insisted on climbing this mountain, which the Tibetan people call sacred. In the end, the 17-member mountaineering team suddenly disappeared just over 200 meters away from the top of the mountain. Finally, the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain was banned from climbing. What happened to this mountaineering team? Why don't the Tibetan people let them go up the mountain? Today we will restore this famous incident.

Meili Snow Mountain is a huge group of snow mountains located at the junction of Tibet and Yunnan, China, with a total length of 150 kilometers. Meili Snow Mountain has 13 peaks over 6,000 meters, among which the highest peak, Kawabog Peak, is 6,740 meters above sea level. Although it is not as high as many peaks over 8,000 meters above sea level, Kawabog Peak is in the shape of a sharp pyramid and is extremely steep. It is the most prominent part of Meili Snow Mountain in the past millions of years of exercise, and is nearly a kilometer higher than the surrounding mountains. This also illustrates the horror of this mountain.

But in the eyes of extreme mountaineers, this mountain is an excellent challenge. Target: At the end of the 19th century, when the British first came to Tibet, they discovered the Meili Snow Mountain and conducted a preliminary inspection of the mountain. At that time, European and American explorers were conducting crazy expeditions to the North and South Poles around the world, and the British set their sights on Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. Before climbing the world's highest peak, the British believed that the Kawabog Peak in the Meili Snow Mountains, which is only 6,740 meters high, might be a better goal to achieve. In 1902, a British mountaineering team conquered several 6,000-meter-high mountains and later came to Tibet to practice their skills in Meili Snow Mountain in order to accumulate experience and climb Mount Everest. As a result, they encountered a large avalanche just halfway up Kawaborg Peak, causing serious losses. The first ascent of Meili Snow Mountain failed like this.

For many years Kawaborg seemed to have been forgotten. Until 1987, Japanese mountain climbers came here to climb. Like the British before them, they gave up climbing due to an avalanche. In 1988, the American Colench Mountaineering Team also came to Kawaborg Peak. They encountered an avalanche when they climbed to 4,350 meters and then gave up climbing. In other words, in the past 100 years, no one has successfully climbed to the summit of Kawaborg. Among them, the Japanese mountaineering team has attacked Kawaborg Peak the most times and is also the most enthusiastic about it.

As early as the 1970s, two Japanese scholars came here in the name of tourism. They dressed up as tourists and visited the Meili Snow Mountain for three months. We conducted careful exploration and recording here, and finally took away two things from Meili Snow Mountain, a butterfly specimen and a branch. However, this behavior did not attract the attention of the customs officers at that time. A few years later, the two Japanese scholars came to Meili Snow Mountain again and took away the same things when they left. This attracted the attention of relevant Chinese authorities. Through investigation, they found that the butterfly they took away was a four-tailed tricolor butterfly, a rare living fossil found only in Meili Snow Mountain. And that branch is a tree called yew, which is an excellent anti-cancer substance and is only found in China. After that, many people who came to China for inspection in the name of tourism were closely monitored.

In 1990, the Kyoto University mountaineering team in Japan applied to climb Kawaborg Peak, the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain. However, because the previous Japanese scholar incident was not approved at the beginning, it was just the time when Sino-Japanese diplomacy was in a friendly situation. After weighing the pros and cons, China approved Japan's mountaineering activity, but there was one condition. This mountaineering event is jointly conducted by China and Japan. China will send elite mountaineering team members to climb Kawaborg Peak together with Japan. Although all previous climbs to the summit had failed, this time I was full of confidence and believed that I was absolutely capable of climbing Kawaborg Peak. This Sino-Japanese mountaineering team consists of 18 people, 11 Japanese members and seven Chinese members. The captain of the mountaineering team is the famous Japanese meteorologist Jiro Inoue, and the deputy captain is the Chinese mountaineer Song Zhiyi.

He has successfully climbed many peaks over 6,000 meters. Moreover, for this mountaineering event, Japan also secured sponsorship from Japanese medical and biological companies and equipped them with advanced mountaineering equipment and communication equipment. All supplies were in place. The mountaineering team was determined to win, but their activities caused huge controversy in the local area. Because Kawabog Peak has a very sacred status in the hearts of Tibetans, it has always been a taboo place. Local Tibetans strongly oppose any climbing activities, and they may even resort to violence and curses to force these climbing teams to retreat.

The Chinese and Japanese mountaineering teams have made various efforts, but the controversy has not subsided, and local residents have begun to obstruct the mountaineering team.

They made an amazing move. In December 1990, during the cold winter, the Sino-Japanese joint mountaineering team came to the civilian village at the foot of Mount Sacred Mountain. The villagers thought it was an expedition team coming for geological exploration, so they warmly entertained the leader of the mountaineering team. When he said he was going to climb Meili Snow Mountain, the villagers had never heard of this name. When they learned that Meili Snow Mountain was Kawabog Peak, they were shocked and angry. Because Kawabog Peak in Meili Snow Mountain is the first of the four sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism, in the hearts of Tibetan people, Kawabog Peak is the residence of the mountain god. Once someone reaches the top of the mountain, the mountain god will leave him and disaster will strike. So climbing the sacred mountain is a taboo.

Although the Tibetan tried his best to dissuade the mountaineering team, it was impossible to change the mountaineering team’s will. When the weather is good, the top of Kawabog Peak in Meili Snow Mountain will be revealed, and under the sunlight, the golden top will be exposed, which is called Rizhao Jinshan.

It can only be seen for a short period of time in a year. No wonder the local Tibetan people regard it as the most sacred in their hearts. In order to ensure a successful summit, the Chinese and Japanese mountaineering teams spent more than two years on expedition preparations and route planning, found the best route to climb Meili Snow Mountain, and also conducted detailed research on the climate conditions on Meili Snow Mountain. They believe that the end of December is the best window to reach the summit, so they should not give up easily. What's more, the team leader is a famous meteorologist in Japan, and the team also includes geographers and top players who have climbed 8,000-meter peaks. Knowing that the behavior of the mountaineering team could no longer be changed, the Tibetan people made an astonishing move. They mobilized more than 20,000 local people to conduct large-scale prayers in the temple at the foot of the mountain. Instead of praying for the mountaineering team to successfully reach the summit, they hoped that the mountain gods would punish the mountaineering team.

Although the behavior of the Tibetan people has brought huge psychological pressure to the mountaineering team, the team members believe that these are just superstitions of the Tibetan people, and they want to break this superstition. On December 28, the Sino-Japanese joint mountaineering team began climbing Meili Snow Mountain. The weather on this day was very good. The team members were extremely excited and were already looking forward to the joy of reaching the top. If they succeed in climbing to the top, they will create history as the most difficult mountain to climb.

At the beginning, the mountaineering team went very smoothly and made rapid progress. After climbing to an altitude of 3,400 meters and setting up a base camp as a transfer station for going up and down the mountain, four small camps were set up at 4,900 meters, 5,100 meters, 5,300 meters and 5,900 meters respectively. In other words, the fifth camp is only 800 meters away from the top of the mountain. The summit is just around the corner, and we haven’t encountered any strange things as rumored. You know, before this, many mountaineering teams had only reached a height of 5,100 meters, and they reached 5,900 meters easily. The team members are in a good mood, but danger often comes inadvertently.

In fact, an episode has already occurred in this process. When the mountaineering team established a camp at 5,100 meters, there were huge differences between the two countries. The Chinese team members were more conservative and believed that the camp should be built far away from the ridge to avoid avalanches. The Japanese side believes that the climate window period in Meili Snow Mountain is very short, so the camp should be built on the top of the mountain. This can reduce the time spent climbing. Just when everyone was in a stalemate, captain Inoue Wolf decided to give in, and the camp was built in the middle of the sites chosen by China and Japan.

However, not long after the camp was set up, an avalanche occurred in Meili Snow Mountain, and a large sea of ??snow instantly covered everything in sight. When the team members recovered, they discovered that heavy snow had already covered the ridge. If the camp had been built on the ridge, the climb would have ended early. This incident should have attracted attention. It shows that the climate in Meili Snow Mountain is constantly changing. At this time, they should stand still or wait for another day to attack again. However, tens of thousands of Tibetan people at the foot of the mountain are still praying. If they return here, they may not have the chance to come here again to climb to the top and can only complete it once. When the mountaineering team reached 5,900 meters, it was only more than 800 meters away from the top of the mountain. For safety reasons, they decided to send five commandos, including captain Inoue Wolf, to try to reach the summit for the first time. The remaining people returned to the base camp at 3,400 meters to wait for them. When the five team members climbed to 6,470 meters, they climbed to 6,470 meters.

When we were only 270 meters away from the top of the mountain, the weather suddenly deteriorated sharply and a blizzard hit violently. It was extremely risky to climb to the top by force. The five team members waited for four hours in the snowstorm and had no choice but to return. But the scary thing is that the route back was covered with heavy snow, and they couldn't find the route back for a while. The blizzard had reached night and it was impossible to risk going down the mountain. Everyone decided to camp on the spot and wait for the weather to improve. The blizzard continued all night. On the second day, the five team members took advantage of the high visibility in the morning to get out of the car and return to the base camp. This blizzard and the previous avalanche are both warnings to the mountaineering team. Meili Snow Mountain is really full of dangers, and lives may be lost if you are not careful.

The mountaineering team observed at the base camp for a day and found that the weather began to improve. After the previous summit attempts by five commandos, they believed that reaching the summit would be no problem. In this case, Captain Inoue Wolf drafted a telegram of a successful summit and gave the telegram to a Chinese team member named Zhang Jun at the time, asking him to wait until he received the first message of successful summit. A telegram was sent when the time came. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jun became the only survivor of this Sino-Japanese mountaineering activity.

After that, the 17 members of the mountaineering team set out again, but they found that all the previous roads were covered with snow as thick as 1.5 meters. It originally only took one day to reach the height of 5,900 meters, but it took them three days to consume a lot of energy, and the weather began to deteriorate. Zhang Jun, who arrived at the base camp at this time, would contact the team members every once in a while.

On the evening of January 3, Zhang Jun learned that the team members had reached an altitude of 6,400 meters and were already on standby in the tent, preparing to launch an attack early the next morning. But the next day, Zhang Jun was unable to contact any of the mountaineers. He urgently sent a notice to the headquarters at the foot of the mountain, and the headquarters decided to immediately dispatch a helicopter for search and rescue. This was also the American Black Hawk helicopter that China introduced in the 1980s. It was the only helicopter that could perform missions in high-altitude areas. But just as the helicopter was preparing to take off, the blizzard came again until January 7, six days after the mountaineering team lost contact. The headquarters decided to send two rescue teams to the mountain for rescue. However, the weather in Meili Snow Mountain has not improved. Only the Tibetan rescue team reached Camp No. 3 at an altitude of 5,100 meters. When they were preparing to continue climbing, another avalanche occurred in Meili Snow Mountain. Finally, in order to avoid further casualties, the headquarters ordered the mountaineering team to descend the mountain immediately.

This bad weather lasted until January 22, and this kind of weather has not appeared at different times in the past few years. In other words, the climate predictions that the mountaineering team spent several years making are completely untrustworthy here. After that, the helicopter reconnaissance photos along the mountain peak showed that the entire Kawabog Mountain was covered with thick snow, and there was no sign of any survivors. At this time, more than 20 days had passed since the disappearance of 17 members of the mountaineering team, and it was impossible for anyone to survive. The command headquarters announced that the joint mountaineering operation failed. So what exactly happened to the 17 team members more than 200 meters away from the top of the mountain? Have they successfully reached the summit? It was not until eight years later that the mystery was solved by an accidentally discovered diary.

One day in July 1998, a herdsman in Meili Snow Mountain was grazing sheep on a pasture at an altitude of 3,800 meters. He found something in the cracks between the melted ice and snow. After careful inspection, he discovered that these were mountaineering equipment, and he immediately reported the information to the relevant authorities.

So the rescue team came with a large amount of equipment and the remains of 16 members of the Chinese and Japanese mountaineering teams were found. Only one body was missing. Among the relics of these team members is the diary of a Japanese team member, which sheds light on what happened to the mountaineering team that year.

The diary states that on January 1, 1991, the only Japanese female member of the mountaineering team suddenly suffered from a high fever. At night, the team member started saying irrational things, saying they were coming, they were coming soon, and we had to go home. The team members thought he was hallucinating due to a high fever and asked him to take antipyretics and rest. But on January 3, the snowstorm still continued. It was written in the diary that it turned out that he was really here. We can't go down the mountain anymore, this diary is chilling.

Why do I keep mentioning "them"? Later it was thought that these team members were confused due to lack of oxygen and cold. Illusions appeared when I combined with the mountain gods mentioned by the Tibetan people. After the third day, there will be no new entries in the diary. It is speculated that the 17 team members were camping at 6,400 meters and have been waiting for the weather to improve. But an avalanche completely buried them. That's why all the walkie-talkies were unable to contact the team members the next day and they were all killed overnight. After they and all the recording equipment were frozen into a big ice block, the weather improved, and constant avalanches brought the ice block surrounding them to the glacier pasture at 3,800 meters. It took several years for it to melt before it was discovered by herdsmen.

Some people say that the failure of this joint Sino-Japanese mountaineering expedition was due to the vibration caused by the 20,000 Tibetans praying at the foot of the mountain, which triggered an avalanche. Later, after research, it was discovered that the Kawabog Peak in the Meili Snow Mountains is only 6,740 meters high. However, due to the shape of the mountain, the snow on the top of the mountain is not only thick, but also extremely soft. Strong winds and vibrations can easily cause avalanches. In other words, the mountain structure here is not suitable for climbing, and any activity may cause an avalanche. This is why a small avalanche occurred more than 200 meters near the top of the mountain when the five-man commando team arrived. The 17 people who later went up the mountain must have caused larger avalanches due to their actions. Coupled with the effects of global warming, the glaciers in Meili Snow Mountain have begun to degrade. Avalanches will only become more frequent and climbing will only become more dangerous.

After 2001, climbing of Meili Snow Mountain was prohibited, and it became a forbidden area. On the one hand, it is for safety reasons, and on the other hand, it is to respect the beliefs of local Tibetans. This has also made Meili Snow Mountain a mountain that no human has climbed to the top so far. Meili Snow Mountain is called the sacred mountain precisely because of its unfathomable charm and unpredictable magic. As a true climber, you must be in awe of nature and not just conquer it. When encountering force majeure factors, we can only change ourselves instead of trying to change nature.

So the question is, if Meili Snow Mountain is not prohibited from climbing, will it be possible to conquer the Kawaborg Summit with today’s technological level? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area