On May 15, 2019, He Honghu finally made it to the top of Mount Qomolangma with a height of 8,848 meters after more than 11 hours of climbing. She became the first Chongqing woman to conquer Mount Qomolangma and the first to conquer Qomolangma of that year.

Challenge one high-altitude mountain  every year

At first sight, it isn't easy to connect this petite woman with the title of the first Chongqing woman who ascended Qomolangma. Besides, she is also the founder of an artistic tourism company. Speaking of the difference between the two roles, He Honghu said, "Qomolangma is merely the highest mountain for a climber. In our work and daily life, there are more 'mountains' to be conquered."

Her company was founded in 2004 by chance. She enjoys traveling and people around her were curious about her trips, like where did she go, and can they go travel with her. So she came up with the idea of starting a company that provides customized travel services for these people.

After more than a decade of development, the business of her company now covers the whole country, serving a number of domestic art schools, including Central Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, China Academy of Art, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, and Hubei Institute of Fine Arts.

In 2007, when she reached the top of a mountain that is more than 5,000 meters high, He Honghu was wowed by the scenery in front of her: the golden sun was rising amidst a sea of clouds and lofty mountains. "I've seen a lot of scenery, but at this height, it is completely different. So I set a ten-year goal -- to challenge one high-altitude mountain peak every year."

But climbing snowy mountains is not an easy task for women. Equipment such as mountaineering boots, oxygen cylinders, harnesses, Jumar clamps, crampons, and ice axes add up to about 30 or 40 kilograms.

To improve her physical fitness, He Honghu practices karate three or four times a week to strengthen her muscles. At the same time, she does aerobics such as running regularly to enhance her cardiorespiratory fitness. She even puts on a mask to breathe in less oxygen during running in the stimulation of high altitude places where the air is thin to improve her lung capacity.

Since 2007, He Honghu climbed the peaks of Que'er Mountain of Sichuan Province, Muztagh Ata of Xinjiang, and Manaslu of Nepal, the eighth highest mountain globally, getting herself physically prepared for climbing Qomolangma.

Chongqing Hot Pot Raise me up

In early April 2019, He Honghu departed from Chongqing to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and arrived at the Qomolangma Base Camp located in a region 5,364 meters above sea level on April 16.

After nearly a month of adaptive training and waiting, she went with the mountaineering team in the wee hours on May 12 and headed to the mountaintop. They were the first civil team to depart.

"It was a gamble, betting that the weather would not turn bad, that the Sherpa road repairing team would have repaired the road before May 15, and that members of Sherpa Collaboration would not get injured or fatigued in transporting supplies." He Honghu recalled.

At 8:30 a.m. local time on May 15, 2019, He Honghu finally made it to the top of Mount Qomolangma, which is 8,848 meters high after more than 11 hours of climbing. She thus became the first Chongqing woman to ascent Qomolangma and was also the first woman to ascent Qomolangma of that year.

"In fact, we only stayed there for 10 minutes, and the excitement did not last long after we reached the top. I was not thinking about how happy I was, but about whether I had enough energy and oxygen because it was more dangerous to go down than to go up."

Before going down, He Honghu saw a 19-year-old Sherpa Collaborator totter after taking off his oxygen mask for only a few minutes. He could not even fasten his safety harness.

"I also suffered from a lack of oxygen on my way down. It was terrible. You can feel yourself slowly dying when hypoxia occurs." He Honghu recalled, "I almost suffocated to death just because I could not spit out the phlegm, can you even believe that? In that 10 minutes, I felt real fear for the first time."

When she was exhausted, she thought of Chongqing hot pot while walking, "beef tripes, duck intestine, so delicious.", to help herself concentrate.

When she was finally back to the Camp, she was still worried because she still felt feeble, "I could not fall into a deep sleep at night, because I was afraid of not waking up. This isn't a joke. An Indian I've known before did not wake up in the Camp after coming back from the top."

Passion drives her

Over the past two years, He Honghu had to cancel her planned trip to the United States to climb the highest mountain of North America, Mount McKinley, due to the pandemic. But she then turned to rock climbing and ice climbing. She visited almost all famous climbing fields in China and rediscovered the fun of sports.

He Honghu found what's interesting about this sport after trying it, "You can feel the limits of your muscles and strength almost every time you climb."

"Rock climbing is a unique sport. Unlike skiing, which stays as long as you learn how to do it. However, you can hardly pick up rock climbing once you stop practicing for some time. So whenever I am free on weekends, I would ask some of my friends to go to the climbing field."

"I may not be that hardworking, so I give myself lots of room for improvement. For example, I can pace myself through interests and hobbies at work. In that way, I will not find my work that hard, and vice versa. But o matter how much you love your hobbies or work, your passion determines how far you can go," said He Honghu.

Find a new goal to conquer

He Honghu's entrepreneurship experience did not go smoothly. The debts of her company piled up to the million mark after thriving for some time. But just like mountaineering, you cannot always make it to the top, but you have to go all out. Today, the staff number of her company has increased from less than 10 to more than 50.

Since she now lives far away from snowy mountains, she can only continue rock climbing. But her mountaineering skills come in handy in the city. The journalist saw her WeChat moment that on February 15, the Lantern Festival, she was asked by her friend to save a kitten trapped for more than 20 days on a retaining wall that is more than 10 meters high in Yuzhong District. She succeeded by rappelling down from the wall. Afterward, this tough little buddy was adopted by her friend and was named "huzai (lit. tiger cub)," which is quite a right word.

He Honghu told the journalist that she has been invited and is ready to join the Chongqing Volunteer Team for Disaster Prevention and the "Mountain City Snow Leopards" Emergency Rescue Team. This woman who ascended the top of the world seemed to have found a new goal for rock climbing.