Huashan's Lotus Peak climbed!   ·  16 July 2009

Right now I am on assignment in China and what a very interesting assignment it has turned out to be!

On Friday (10th July) Leo Houlding (UK), Carlos Suarez (Spain) and Wang Jin Ming (China) succeeded in making the first ever ascent of main 600+ metre cliff on the West Face of Lotus Peak, aka the West Peak, of Mt Huashan.

Mt Huashan

Mt Huashan is one of the five sacred mountains in China; it is of major national and historical importance. The team of Berghaus sponsored climbers gained special permission to attempt the cliff which had seen several previous attempts in the past.

The main 600m high face of the West Peak of Mt Huashan.

I abseiled down 160 metres and photographed the action higher on the route, some of it in the rain. I was mightily impressed by Leo’s leading; keeping his cool through a lot of hard, dodgy and run-out climbing. Carlos lead two hard pitches lower down but Leo took the lead for the rest of the route, being pressed for time to finish before dark.

Carlos Suarez, Leo Houlding and Wang Zhi Ming during the first ascent of the main 600m+ cliff on the West Peak of Mt Huashan, China.

Leo Houlding, first ascent of "The Northern Celestial Masters", Lotus Peak, Mt Huashan

Carlos Suarez, Leo Houlding and Wang Jin Ming after the first ascent of "The Northern Celestial Masters", Lotus Peak, Mt Huashan

On Saturday the local authorities hosted a magnificent celebratory dinner. I can’t fault the Chinese efficiency in producing a giant banner using a photo I’d taken on the mountain less than 24 hours earlier.

Climbing photographer Simon Carter with one of his images from Mt Huashan just a day after it was taken.

The climbers were presented with sashes and swords!

The climbers were presented with bouquets of flower, “Huashan Hero” sashes, and impressive engraved swords.

There has been a huge amount of media interest in this achievement over here. Already over 35 online sites have published reports of the news. Some of the links I’ve been sent are below. My pics are being widely seen!

http://www.xawb.com/gb/news/2009-07/12/content_1496487.htm
http://news.cnwest.com/content/2009-07/12/content_2214435.htm
http://epaper.xplus.com/papers/shxrb/20090712/n3.shtml
http://bbs.hsw.cn/redirect.php?tid=877885&goto=lastpost
http://www.shaanxi.cn/Html/2009-7-12/120139.Html
http://news.china.com.cn/chinanet/07news/
http://www.youxiake.com/?do=blog&event=spread&id=1495
http://news.xinmin.cn/rollnews/2009/07/12/2224680.html
http://www.sanqindaily.com/News/20090712/60202.html
http://www.xian-tourism.com:82/gate/big5/www.xian-tourism.com/article/?type=detail&id=13161
http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20090712/1909384.html
http://xa.hsw.cn/system/2009/07/12/050237862.shtml
http://sports.163.com/09/0711/17/5DV82C3I00052VFC.html
http://sports.qq.com/a/20090711/000326.htm
http://www.huashan16.com/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=272
http://www.shx.chinanews.com.cn/news/2009/0712/shx_chinanews_8401.shtml
http://bbs.hangzhou.com.cn/redirect.php?tid=5534022&goto=lastpost
http://www.xian-tourism.com:82/gate/big5/www.xian-tourism.com/article/?type=detail&id=13161
http://news.hshan.com/msnews/2009/07/1209384033.html
http://www.itpub.net/redirect.php?tid=1189145&goto=lastpost
http://mm.gd.vnet.cn/sports/sports_detail.aspx?news_uid=dVKA8NVdYJmf9c
http://bbs.koubei.com/thread_239_6710_1.html
http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/travel/1/224657.shtml
http://bbs.club.sina.com.cn/thread-140-0/table-126098-4710.html
http://bbs.sxtvs.com/redirect.php?tid=175341&goto=lastpost&sid=td86Ss
http://www.hwyd.com/bbs/dispbbs.asp?boardid=98&id=16941
http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20090712/1909384.html
http://bbs.scol.com.cn/dispbbs.asp?boardid=66&id=632652&move=next
http://www.wj001.com/html/Sports/2009-7-12/1738005279.html
http://news.youdao.com/top?item=88951a8418f1b7f4
http://club-life.news.tom.com/item_722_33847_0_1.html
http://www.sxdaily.com.cn/data/wwxwdd/20090712_9876608_1.htm
http://xian.qq.com/a/20090712/000012.htm
http://bbs.scol.com.cn/TopicOther.asp?t=5&BoardID=66&id=632526
http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/2009-07-12/09364477717.shtml

Things have been super busy for me of late but when things soon settle down I’ll have a lot of other recent news and blogging to catch up on (just returned from 10 weeks shooting in Europe etc).

— Simon Carter

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Comments

  1. Yo Simon,

    Great to see you still getting all the sweet assignments, can’t wait to see the shots!!
    I’m back in the Blueys for a month from Oct 16th, gonna shoot a bunch and I figure it’s time you got on the other side of the lens again so lets go have some fun in the Grose!

    -J.

    — Josh Caple · 13 August 2009, 18:19 · #

  2. The Northern Celestial Masters 5:12+ or E6, 14 pitches, 13 hrs, 10/07/09

    >50 Officials and journalists.
    … And in a country with a mega-population, that other countries are vying for trade with!
    ~> Your start into that market has been auspicious indeed(!), and I expect, Wang Zhi Ming will become a folk legend if he is not already!

    Congratulations to the team for their ascent and well done Simon for ‘capturing’ the history of it.

    — Rod. · 27 August 2009, 12:37 · #

 
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