Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

At this altitude, it’s already extremely difficult for ordinary climbers to fall asleep.

For Li Younan, his high-altitude experience is about 3000 meters, similar to an ordinary person’s experience in some prairie counties of Ganzi Aba.

Li Younan also felt a bit of tension and pain in his temples. Although his blood oxygen was not an issue, it still affected his sleep.

Surprisingly, it took him more than ten minutes to fall asleep.

Fortunately, after looking at his watch, he soon drifted into dreamland.

The next morning, Li Younan woke up naturally.

He had a knack for waking up close to the alarm time if he had plans the next day, even without an alarm.

Looking at his watch, it was a little past 3:40, and the sleep monitor showed he had slept seven and a half hours the previous night, with high quality, deep sleep proportion, and continuity both good.

Li Younan was somewhat satisfied, as only by sleeping well could he be full of energy for climbing.

Stepping out of the tent, it was snowing and windy outside.

Fortunately, since it’s still the climbing season window, this level of wind didn’t affect today’s climb, and the snow actually aided his upcoming skiing.

Li Younan began to organize his gear. Today was a bit special; he left most of the equipment from his large backpack behind, including a sleeping bag, tent, unused mountain stove, pressure cooker, etc., keeping only essential climbing gear, skis, and live streaming equipment.

At this point, Younan’s total load was less than 10 kilograms, like setting off lightly.

He turned on his headlamp, preparing to ascend in the dark.

As Younan restarted the live stream, he was surprised by how many viewers joined despite the time.

Clearly, those who followed him were eager for today’s summit push.

After briefly explaining today’s plan to the camera, Li Younan officially set off.

From here onward, although the elevation gain is just over 600 meters, there are several dangerous sections.

Between the Assault Camp and the famous Second Step is the renowned Yellow Band region.

The so-called Yellow Band region is where the rock layer is yellow; it’s a type of metamorphic rock that appears golden under sunlight.

Though it was already light around five or six o’clock, there was no sunlight then, and the Yellow Band was covered by a lot of snow and wind, with only a few protruding rocks visible.

At this point, the terrain had become extremely steep, with most slopes exceeding fifty to sixty degrees.

This part was less dangerous than the detour before, as the route line from C3 was intact, allowing Li Younan to climb while holding the line, conserving much energy.

And on this path, one can indeed see dead bodies everywhere. To put it bluntly, in this terrain and altitude, a single fall could be fatal.

Even for someone as strong as Li Younan, seeing so many corpses stirred indescribable emotions within him.

The nearest corpse to Li Younan was right by the route line, lying with its head down beside it.

The body seemed to have hung upside down at this altitude; once head-down, it quickly led to cerebral edema and death.

Younan felt a bit heavy-hearted.

However, he thought about many other things.

Unlike most ordinary people, for Li Younan, reaching here—the most terrifying death zone on Everest—posed little risk.

If he were to die on Everest, it would only be due to doing something reckless like dancing on the edge of a cliff, doing backflips, and falling off with eyes closed.

But others here are extremely vulnerable; even a slightly faster walk can be fatal.

Yet, at this moment, he felt neither proud nor triumphant about climbing Everest easily.

To him, reaching Everest wasn’t something to boast about.

Because it truly wasn’t difficult for him.

However, the significance of this journey was extraordinary!

What is the purpose of travel, after all?

Apart from relaxation, a fundamental motivation, Li Younan valued an important aspect of travel...seeing the variety of humanity.

Here, he watched how those who spent lavishly on Everest climbed the mountain.

He directly perceived how fragile humans are in front of nature.

These spiritual insights were the most precious gain of his journey.

The world saw him as impressive, but at that moment, Li Younan felt increasingly tranquil.

Starting from 8,450 meters, he reached the Northern Ridge traverse.

As widely known, the ridge is the highest protruding line between sloping sides of a mountain. If the mountain is viewed as an axe blade, the ridge traverse is the sharpest edge of the ridge.

The remaining over 400 meters involve moving almost entirely along this knife-edge.

On one side are sharp rocks, on the other a north face cliff several thousand meters deep, with almost no chance of survival if you fall.

Li Younan needed to move laterally across snow- and ice-covered mixed terrain.

Fortunately, the snow had stopped by then, and the sun even appeared in the sky.