Tsering Tashi from Shigatse recently underwent meticulous planning and an arduous climb to successfully reach the top of the 7,546-meter-high Mt. Muztagh Ata in Xinjiang. This is the first time a Tibetan amateur climber has summited the mountain; previously, only expert climbers from Tibet had successfully reached the peak.

Tsering Tashi is a little over 30 years old. He started to get involved in outdoor activities in 2010, and by 2013, he had joined with several others who shared his interests, creating the Shigatse Outdoors Association. Members of the association all have many outdoor experiences; the association’s main even is the “exploring the unusual path”.

When Tsering Tashi got involved in mountain climbing events in 2014, he successfully reached Base Camp at 6,000 meters to receive his 6,000 meter certification. “This experience made me realize that mountain climbing is not as scary as I imagined,” Tsering Tashi said, “Someday, I’d like to climb Mt.Qomolangma.”

For this trip, he drove by himself from Shigatse to Kashgar, Xinjiang, which took four days, and climbed Mt. Muztagh Ata with a group of teammates.

Tsering Tashi recalls that they all left base camp at 4:40 in the morning on July 25. After climbing for 8 hours, Tsering Tashi finally stood on the summit of Mt. Muztagh Ata.

After staying on the summit for a short while to enjoy the view and take pictures, Tsering Tashi started the descent along with a guide. He clearly remembers that during the descent, as he was looking around at the other mountains he gradually began to hallucinate: “I felt as if there was a zoo in front of me, with wolves and lions, and also a lot of animals I couldn’t see clearly.” Tsering Tashi finally reached base camp again after 5:00 in the afternoon.

Afterwards, Tsering Tashi learned that 17 people from the expedition summited successfully, and that he had become the first amateur climber from Tibet to summit Mt. Muztagh Ata. As for Tsering Tashi’s climbing plans, Mt. Qomolangma is still his ultimate goal. He knows that to summit the world’s highest mountain, he still has a long way to go.