Amazing story! I had never heard it before. Thank you for providing the reference for further reading....has it ever been published in an English translation?
Apart from the six succesfull expeditons to this great peak the author mentions, there also have been a few that were less fortunate, (One can also raise the question how "succesfull" the summiting teams were, given the huge death toll that was suffered). A Japanese attempt in the eighties led to one of the most gruelling ordeals ever to be suffered in mountaineering history.
The expedition suffered setbacks from the beginning, and it was only near the end of their period, that they finally managed to get in position for a summit bid. Being stretched to the limit, only two man embarked on the final attempt, Matsuda and Sugawara. Things started to go wrong, when they took much longer than was anticipated, but finally a radio message came through: They were only 50 meters below the summit but had decided to give up, because they were totally out of food and drink and badly exhausted and dehydrated. It seems that was it as the radio went dead forever. The team not being in shape to mount a rescue operation got up one more time to camp two putting a wreath there and a message saying, "we will never forget you Matsuda and Sugawara"
However Matsuda and Sugawara were not yet dead, the were staggering and stumbling down the treacherous slopes, their speed being snailish. But upon reaching a well provided lower camp, they were able to replenish themselves somewhat and sleep for 24 hours. After continuing their descent things did not get any better, constantly losing their way and losing important item after important item, like handshoes, axes and so on. Matsuda even lost one of his boots, replacing it with the case of his photo camera. Day after day went by and when after almost a week Sugawara announced to Matsuda that he was going to rest for a while, that was the last anyone ever saw or heard of him. It remains a mysterie what happened to him, whether he fell, froze, just gave up or commited suicide.
Matsuda, now alone, badly frozen at both hands and feet, kept struggling downwards, and in his very bad condition even managed to get safely down a vertical absail above base camp. Great however was his dissapointment when the advanced base camp was completely empty. But at least there was some food left. Trying to eat something however, he collapsed in agony: Several ulcers had pierced his stomach and for the rest of the time he had to settle for just some gulps of water. Struggling further down into the deserted valley, he finally found the stone shelter the expedition had used on the way in and here he collapsed, finding this place also deserted and without food. No more able to go on, on the first morning, he could still crawl to a nearby stream to have a soothing drink of water, but when he tried so the next morning, his power gave out, and he lay down to die, halfway to the stream.
Only hours after Matsuda gave up, he was found by a local herb gatherer who was convinced it was a corpse he was finding, judging the stench of decay that hung around. So, great was his surprise that the "corpse" was still breathing and had a heart pulse. Chances of saving the starving man with rotting hands and feet seemed slim.
Within some hours help was organized, and incredibly Matsuda survived the rough transport, strapped on a horseback and arrived in the hospital, just weighing 39 kilogram! Nearly 2 pounds of maggots were removed here by the doctors from his decaying limbs. But Matsuda survived and his ulcers healed after treatment, it was however impossible to save anything from his hands or feet.
Maybe the most incredible about the whole story is the comment of the man himself when he was recovering: "I want to go on climbing, I don't think now I will be able again to ascent the Himalayan giants, but I have set climbing the 50 highest peaks of Japan as my new goal"!!!!!
Luckily our sport does not produce to many stories like this! Unfortunatly however most of us are neither blessed with Matsuda's mental resistance, nor his physical endurance.
For those interested in the whole story: It is from Zhou Zheng's "Footprints on the Peaks", Beijing, 1995
Amazing story! I had never heard it before. Thank you for providing the reference for further reading....has it ever been published in an English translation?
"The highlights of alpine climbing in China during the autumn of last year were the two new routes in the Daxue Shan’s Minya Konka Range, by American Kyle Dempster and Scot Bruce Normand." (Mountain World - may 2011, issue 75 - http://www.climbmagazine.com/getfile.php?type=archives&id=557 )
I'm trying to get information about Konka's biggest satellite peak called Mt. Zhongshan Feng or Mt. Sun Yat-sen (Alt=6886m), I've heard that this peak was finished by a team from Switzerland in 1930s, but I didn't find any record(yes, no record) about the climbing, even any climbing report/record of it. Do you know something about the climbing history of that peak? thx.
The names Zhongshan or Sunyatsen apparently make it difficult to find anything useful on the web. In the book by Eduard Imhof I found Sunyatsen on the map (with 7010 m height given), so it was known already in the 1930s. But the book gave no hint about climbs of the secondary peaks as far as I got through it now.
On the other hand, I found an article in the American Alpine Journal, written by Swiss mountaineers:
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198228300/Asia-China-Peaks-East-of-Gongga-Shan-Minya-Konka
They claim the first climb of 6886m high Sunyatsen in 1982.
Hope that helps, best regards
Hartmut
Thanks, you did much help
Yeah the name Zhongshan or Sunyatsen makes it rather difficult while searching the name on the Internet
And reading the report really shocked me. It's such an climbing, tons of foods and finished more than ten unclimbed peaks of Konka massif for one time?...wow
But since then the mountain seems remaining untouched up till now, 34yrs later.
A local Chinese post shows that no one ever reached the top of Zhongshan mountain.
http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KXiYzoxfe9CINgKq2Hba4Q
Also, I'm in many Chinese climbing forums and no route info on that mountain too.
Sharon - Sep 23, 2003 10:18 pm - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentAmazing story! I had never heard it before. Thank you for providing the reference for further reading....has it ever been published in an English translation?
gordonye - Oct 8, 2002 5:16 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled Comment29.60, 102.10 got it from highalpex.com
dmiki - Dec 18, 2010 3:08 pm - Hasn't voted
I think the coordinates are rather29.59611, 101.87922 (or 29.595833, 101.879167 according to wikipedia)
Johan Heersink - Sep 22, 2003 12:12 pm - Voted 5/10
Untitled CommentApart from the six succesfull expeditons to this great peak the author mentions, there also have been a few that were less fortunate, (One can also raise the question how "succesfull" the summiting teams were, given the huge death toll that was suffered). A Japanese attempt in the eighties led to one of the most gruelling ordeals ever to be suffered in mountaineering history.
The expedition suffered setbacks from the beginning, and it was only near the end of their period, that they finally managed to get in position for a summit bid. Being stretched to the limit, only two man embarked on the final attempt, Matsuda and Sugawara. Things started to go wrong, when they took much longer than was anticipated, but finally a radio message came through: They were only 50 meters below the summit but had decided to give up, because they were totally out of food and drink and badly exhausted and dehydrated. It seems that was it as the radio went dead forever. The team not being in shape to mount a rescue operation got up one more time to camp two putting a wreath there and a message saying, "we will never forget you Matsuda and Sugawara"
However Matsuda and Sugawara were not yet dead, the were staggering and stumbling down the treacherous slopes, their speed being snailish. But upon reaching a well provided lower camp, they were able to replenish themselves somewhat and sleep for 24 hours. After continuing their descent things did not get any better, constantly losing their way and losing important item after important item, like handshoes, axes and so on. Matsuda even lost one of his boots, replacing it with the case of his photo camera. Day after day went by and when after almost a week Sugawara announced to Matsuda that he was going to rest for a while, that was the last anyone ever saw or heard of him. It remains a mysterie what happened to him, whether he fell, froze, just gave up or commited suicide.
Matsuda, now alone, badly frozen at both hands and feet, kept struggling downwards, and in his very bad condition even managed to get safely down a vertical absail above base camp. Great however was his dissapointment when the advanced base camp was completely empty. But at least there was some food left. Trying to eat something however, he collapsed in agony: Several ulcers had pierced his stomach and for the rest of the time he had to settle for just some gulps of water. Struggling further down into the deserted valley, he finally found the stone shelter the expedition had used on the way in and here he collapsed, finding this place also deserted and without food. No more able to go on, on the first morning, he could still crawl to a nearby stream to have a soothing drink of water, but when he tried so the next morning, his power gave out, and he lay down to die, halfway to the stream.
Only hours after Matsuda gave up, he was found by a local herb gatherer who was convinced it was a corpse he was finding, judging the stench of decay that hung around. So, great was his surprise that the "corpse" was still breathing and had a heart pulse. Chances of saving the starving man with rotting hands and feet seemed slim.
Within some hours help was organized, and incredibly Matsuda survived the rough transport, strapped on a horseback and arrived in the hospital, just weighing 39 kilogram! Nearly 2 pounds of maggots were removed here by the doctors from his decaying limbs. But Matsuda survived and his ulcers healed after treatment, it was however impossible to save anything from his hands or feet.
Maybe the most incredible about the whole story is the comment of the man himself when he was recovering: "I want to go on climbing, I don't think now I will be able again to ascent the Himalayan giants, but I have set climbing the 50 highest peaks of Japan as my new goal"!!!!!
Luckily our sport does not produce to many stories like this! Unfortunatly however most of us are neither blessed with Matsuda's mental resistance, nor his physical endurance.
For those interested in the whole story: It is from Zhou Zheng's "Footprints on the Peaks", Beijing, 1995
Sharon - Sep 23, 2003 10:18 pm - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentAmazing story! I had never heard it before. Thank you for providing the reference for further reading....has it ever been published in an English translation?
dmiki - Dec 18, 2010 3:16 pm - Hasn't voted
some more infohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minya_Konka
gregort - Jul 19, 2016 6:30 pm - Hasn't voted
new routes"The highlights of alpine climbing in China during the autumn of last year were the two new routes in the Daxue Shan’s Minya Konka Range, by American Kyle Dempster and Scot Bruce Normand." (Mountain World - may 2011, issue 75 - http://www.climbmagazine.com/getfile.php?type=archives&id=557 )
gregort - Jul 19, 2016 6:37 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: new routesbut not directly on Minya Konka, just in the massif - Mt Grosvenor and Mt Edgar
Radium - Sep 6, 2016 12:47 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: new routesI'm trying to get information about Konka's biggest satellite peak called Mt. Zhongshan Feng or Mt. Sun Yat-sen (Alt=6886m), I've heard that this peak was finished by a team from Switzerland in 1930s, but I didn't find any record(yes, no record) about the climbing, even any climbing report/record of it. Do you know something about the climbing history of that peak? thx.
Hartmut Bielefeldt - Sep 13, 2016 4:07 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Zhongshan (Sunyatsen)The names Zhongshan or Sunyatsen apparently make it difficult to find anything useful on the web. In the book by Eduard Imhof I found Sunyatsen on the map (with 7010 m height given), so it was known already in the 1930s. But the book gave no hint about climbs of the secondary peaks as far as I got through it now.
On the other hand, I found an article in the American Alpine Journal, written by Swiss mountaineers:
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198228300/Asia-China-Peaks-East-of-Gongga-Shan-Minya-Konka
They claim the first climb of 6886m high Sunyatsen in 1982.
Hope that helps, best regards
Hartmut
Radium - Sep 26, 2016 1:33 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Zhongshan (Sunyatsen)Thanks, you did much help
Yeah the name Zhongshan or Sunyatsen makes it rather difficult while searching the name on the Internet
And reading the report really shocked me. It's such an climbing, tons of foods and finished more than ten unclimbed peaks of Konka massif for one time?...wow
But since then the mountain seems remaining untouched up till now, 34yrs later.
zfz380122903 - Jan 9, 2017 2:53 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Zhongshan (Sunyatsen)A local Chinese post shows that no one ever reached the top of Zhongshan mountain.
http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KXiYzoxfe9CINgKq2Hba4Q
Also, I'm in many Chinese climbing forums and no route info on that mountain too.
Radium - Mar 7, 2017 10:13 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Zhongshan (Sunyatsen)I'm afraid that collection is not credible enough.
微信推文太过随意了，资料也缺乏来源。
JinWenHui - Nov 2, 2018 6:02 am - Hasn't voted
konkaAt 4:45 PM on October 18, Beijing time, Chinese climbers li zongli and tong haijun completed the new route from north wall to northeast ridge.