The Climbers (攀登者)

Meteorology Team to Ascent Team.

That sound... Something is wrong.

Calling Base Camp.

Calling Meteorology Team.

Ascent Team, does anybody copy?

Please respond if you hear this!

Please respond if you hear this!

Year 1960. The height of the Great Chinese Famine.

China faced a critical moment in border negotiations over Mount Everest.

A climbing team from a neighboring country was preparing to summit from the south.

China decided to form the Chinese Mountaineering Team.

It was the first time that mankind would summit Mount Everest from the north.

Every winter,

demoiselle cranes undergo the most challenging migration on earth.

Facing fierce storms,

thousands of them will die.

But they still persist

in flying over the highest peak in the world,

Mount Everest.

This is Fang Wuzhou.

When we first met,

he was a climber on the national mountaineering team.

Our story begins with him.

Professor.

I've read some foreign literature.

Why did mountaineers in the West

refuse to acknowledge that your team reached the summit of Mount Everest?

Did the Chinese really make it to the summit?

YEAR 1960

MOUNT EVEREST NORTH FACE 6,800 METERS

18 DEGREES CELSIUS,

10.4M/S WIND SPEED, 9.75 PERCENT OXYGEN

Avalanche!

- Retreat! - Go!

Run!

Run!

Quick!

Get up!

Hide behind that rock!

Quick!

Dawa!

Captain.

- Captain! - Captain!

- Captain! - Captain!

- Captain! - Captain!

Captain.

Oxygen.

I won't be needing it.

Listen to me.

This is our mountain.

We must reach the summit.

Wuzhou, you're the captain now.

Get to the top.

Let the world see...

the strength of the Chinese.

Promise...

Promise me.

Promise me.

Yes, Captain.

FIRST STEP 8,500 METERS

28 DEGREES CELSIUS,

23.5M/S WIND SPEED, 6.15 PERCENT OXYGEN

SECOND STEP 8,680 METERS

33 DEGREES CELSIUS,

28.3M/S WIND SPEED, 5.35 PERCENT OXYGEN

Songlin!

No path.

The path ends.

It's downhill here too.

Up ahead...

There's no path either.

Wuzhou, we...

- We... - We are at the top!

Yes, we are!

Songlin.

We're at the top!

May 25, 1960.

4:20 a.m., Beijing Time.

The Chinese Mountaineering Team successfully ascended the North Ridge

and summited Mount Everest!

The whole world

will remember this day!

Long live China!

Long live China!

CERTIFICATE FOR SUMMITING MOUNT EVEREST

NATIONAL TEAM SUMMITS WORLD'S HIGHEST PEAK

NO MOUNTAIN TOO TALL FOR THE CHINESE

THE HIGHEST POINT

NATIONAL TEAM SUMMITS WORLD'S HIGHEST PEAK

My name is Xu Ying.

The year Fang Wuzhou summited Everest,

I was a student at the College of Meteorology.

He told me

that he had something to tell me when he returned from the summit.

We used to meet at this abandoned factory.

Hardly anybody comes by.

We liked to call it No Man's Land.

We used to walk and talk here.

We never imagined that

what we started here

would become a story with no ending.

Look at this.

These are my notes from the memoirs of my mountaineering idol, Mallory.

Check out the section I marked.

"I traveled a thousand miles to Venice

all in pursuit of the woman I love, Ruth.

Her crystal clear eyes

gazed upon the 325-foot cathedral walls of St. Mark's Basilica,

but she never glimpsed at me.

Not even for a second.

I climbed the cathedral with my bare hands,

pulled myself up with my agile limbs,

and stood atop it.

Ruth, who never noticed me before

witnessed my daredevil maneuver and daring courage.

At the moment I was caught by the police,

I captured her heart.

Climbing brought us together."

When we were coming down from the summit,

we lost our way at 7,900 meters.

Can you imagine how cold it was?

There were icicles in our nostrils.

We were out of food.

All we had to eat was ice.

Our guts and stomachs nearly froze.

We couldn't keep our eyes open.

But if we closed our eyes in that wind and snow,

they would stay closed forever.

But I wouldn't give up.

I couldn't just close my eyes.

I had to stay alive.

There was something I still had to do.

Xu Ying.

There's something I want to tell you.

Xu Ying, I want to say...

Fang Wuzhou!

We received a letter from Zhirinovsky!

It's at Songlin's place.

Get down from there!

We need to report to Commissar Zhao.

Everyone is waiting for you!

What does the letter say? Show me.

Zhirinovsky?

Who is he?

The Soviet Mountaineering Team's coach.

He was our climbing teacher when we studied in the Soviet Union.

Read it.

"To be acknowledged by the global mountaineering community,

two conditions must be met.

First, physical evidence left on the summit.

Second, 360-degree photos taken on the summit.

I believe that you reached the summit,

but why are there no photos?

Dear friends, I must say that this is a great pity.

The global community has raised doubts,

but I believe you were brave enough to summit.

Best wishes."

A successful summit requires photographic evidence.

Yes, the coach said

that is the international practice.

Didn't we bring a camera up there?

I was the photographer.

I dropped the camera.

Why are there no photos?

We had to save Songlin's life.

All right.

Forget the Soviets.

They like to stir up trouble.

Our victory today

and our achievements tomorrow

don't need anybody else's acknowledgment.

Yes, sir.

Soon after,

our country entered a harsher era.

The mountaineering team was disbanded.

The three summiteers went their separate ways.

Qu Songlin went to work at the training camp.

Jiebu returned to his hometown to look after sheep.

And Fang Wuzhou

was sent to work at a factory boiler room.

Sometimes, he teached.

He couldn't climb anymore,

but he could still talk about his mountaineering experiences.

In 1924, the famous British climber, George Mallory,

attempted to summit Mount Everest.

In the end,

the farthest point he reached was 800 feet away from the top.

In 1960, the Chinese Mountaineering Team reached the top.

We were viewed unfavorably by the whole world,

but our final distance from the top...

was zero feet.

Mr. Fang,

why do people climb mountains?

Humans are destined to walk into the future,

the deep ocean,

the Himalayas,

even outer space.

Through the endless exploration of the unknown world,

we march into the future.

The mountains go into the sea