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The Life And Death In Aotai
浏览次数:664次 更新时间:2022-02-23

By Xiangjun


The disappeared hiker


The car set off from Xi'an, all the way westward, passed the Qinling Mountains. Three hours later, the wheels stopped at Tangkou Village. A small road stretched into the distant mountains, the top of which was covered with thick clouds and heavy fog. Is this the starting point of the Aotai Line? No! Xiucai Cheng's home is the first stop in the heart of many backpackers.

 

Ten years ago, Xiucai Cheng, who lives at the village entrance, opened the House of Backpackers to welcome hikers from all over the world. After ten years of prosperity and witnessing the death of dozens of lives, this enthusiastic and generous farmer hung up one phone call after another as October 1st, 2021, was approaching and business was approaching. With his hands behind his back, he looked towards Ao Mountain and turned around with a long sigh as he decided not to host backpackers anymore.

 

There are No Crossing sighs outside his home on every bulletin board and electric pole in black and white like an invisible net woven around this small village under Ao Mountain. There were no more dazzling hikers anymore, and the once lively scene disappeared into thin air. Xiucai Cheng and Tangkou Village had the quietest National Holiday in more than ten years. But the mountain top wasn't quiet.

 

The ban had been posted for three years, magically, new notices for missing people were constantly added next to it: one person was lost on September 27th, and another was lost on October 3rd. ...... In the photo, the missing man was posing with thumbs-up. Many brilliant and confident figures were disappearing into the vast mountains behind him.

 

If someone looked upward and could see through the thick clouds halfway up the mountain, then they would see that Kaiwen Cheng, a villager of Tangkou Village, and the Qinling Rescue Team were crossing the mountain in the wind and snow from the opposite end of the highest mountain beam of the Qinling.

 

In coordination with Xiucai Cheng at the feet of Ao Mountain, Kaiwen Cheng's Daye Sea Host was the last stop on the mountain and the only stop with people. At 1 p.m. on October 8th, a young boy stumbled through the door: "Quick! I ran into someone halfway down the road which had an accident and is still alive ......"

 

"Could it be him?" They looked at the photo taken by the help-seeker, and a middle-aged man was sitting cross-legged on the ground wrapped in a white raincape, a red cloth covered half of his head, revealing half of his pale face. They could feel how cold and wet he must've been through the photo.

 

"It's really Feilong Wu, who had been lost for 12 days." Old Cheng was shocked, and he went to look for him as soon as he learned the news before the National Holiday. They searched for two days and one night until the middle of the Aotai line - 2800 camp. They went down the beam and entered the ravines. After traveling in the mountains and forests for 70 minutes, they almost found him.

 

There was no one in the dense forest but an empty pack of wet tissue, a food bag, and a tattered moisture-proof mat. On September 26th, three people tried to cross Aotai and tried to retreat from the north slope halfway but were blocked by a landslide unexpectedly. On 27th, two people returned to the right path and went straight to the end. Feilong Wu, who was in poor health, was left alone. On 30th, when Kaiwen Cheng brought people to find the campground three days ago, Feilong Wu disappeared.

 

"Is anyone there?" A shortcut through the mountains and forests covered by fog startled a burst of crows to caw.

 

Another bad deal was added to the Aotai line. The beam runs through Mount Taibai, the highest peak of the Qinling Mountains, and Ao Mountain, the second-highest peak. Both sides of the beam are ravines bifurcated like blood vessels, dense forests like sweat hairs. A person disappears in it is like a fallen leaf without a trace.


 

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Cross path

Accidents can not be forbidden; footsteps can not be stopped. During the National Holiday in 2021, Xiaomu, a 22-year-old boy, traveled through the roaring wind and pouring rain to climb up Plane Beam alone. He, who was going as soon as possible, saw the monument for people who died in the Aotai line, and it was a landmark for him. He felt that those who encountered trouble in the Aotai line were as distant as legends and did not think he was about to bump into a one, a breathing one.

 

In the wilderness of the mountains, a strange shout came faintly from the fog. It was a strange sound that sounded like people. Xiaomu was startled, but he still built the courage to find it, then he froze.

 

A red cloth was floating like a ghost in the yellow pine forest. At first, Xiaomu was too scared to go forward. Then the red cloth was lifted; it turned out to be a pale man wrapped in a white raincoat sitting cross-legged on the ground, shivering constantly.

 

"What's happened to you?" "I got lost. Cold." The middle-aged man answered while shivering, and then he was in a trance.

 

It was 13:00 on October 5th, and Feilong Wu did not know that the news about him being lost since September 27th was spreading like wildfire in outdoor forums. Nobody at the bottom of the mountain knew that Feilong Wu, who had been missing for nine days, was in the middle of Aotai, and his life was hanging by a thread. Xiaomu, who happened to be passing by, became the only person who saw him.

 

Like being sent by God, the burden of a person's life fell on Xiaomu's shoulders. He barely had time to think. "Don't freeze. I'll go get help right away." While waving goodbye, he accelerated his pace. As he was walking away, something didn't feel right. He needed at least two days to get to the Daye Sea Host. The man didn't look good, and his sleeping bag was soaking wet, plus he didn't even have a tent. Would he be alive by then?

 

A shortcut went across Xiaomu's mind: here is a road to retreat, and he could go down the mountain for help in a few hours. But withdrawal meant he couldn't finish crossing Aotai, and all his hard work would be in vain for just a stranger. However, a man's life was at stake; if he couldn't wait, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

 

Two little people began to fight in his mind. After Xiaomu had walked for a kilometer, he gritted his teeth and turned back, "Forget it. It's more important to save his life first."

 

The chance of life seemed to come when the warm-hearted boy turned back to Feilong Wu, who was so weak that he could only crawl. He built a tent and boiled water. Feilong Wu, who did not eat for several days, received the Xiaomu's Jianbing, and his eyes glowed, and his life seemed to be saved.

 

The shadow of death still hovered. Xiaomu darted as if he was on a critical mission, but the track to get down the mountain in a few hours was blocked by a sudden landslide. He was knocked down repeatedly by the flood and was trapped in a pile of rocks in the water all night. Xiaomu was freezing, shivering, and realized that he was also in danger.

 

After days of rain, the difficulty of retreating far exceeded his expectations. Only 2 hours away from the mountain feet, but Xiaomu could not cross the river. For the first time, he felt the cruelty of nature, and floods surrounded him like fierce beasts; the only way out was the Daye Sea Host, which was still two days away.

 

The first recourse failed. The night before continuing the trip, two men, who were 31 years apart, huddled in Xiaomu's single tent, chatted with each other. At this point, Xiaomu realized that the man was not a typical backpacker. Feilong Wu came to trail run in Aotai with only a 20L backpack, like running bare-handed.

 

Trail running was another high-risk challenge that trended in Aotai in recent years. People hiking in heavy backpacks need five or six days to cross, while some pursue speed can quickly cross within a day or two in light backpacks. And fast requires light clothing, once encountered extreme weather or unexpected circumstances. Xiaomu could not help but think of the Silver Cross Country Running in May. During that race, 21 people were died due to loss of temperature. "You are too risky, right?" "I was too careless this time."


 

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Another life

"I was too careless this time." This man who suffered ten days in the mountains repeated this exclamation throughout the night several times. Yet, he was still full of hope to live. He thought about when the rescue came, how he would get down the mountain, how to charter a car to go home. He had a son at home who was in his senior year.

 

The sun dispersed many days of rain and fog. The following day, Feilong Wu climbed out of the tent and had slightly recovered. He could speak without shivering. He sat cross-legged back in the larch forest and still had the mood to appreciate the scenery. "The scenery here is so beautiful."

 

"I have to go, and I need the tent for the night. ...... What else do you need?" "I just need a little hot water." Xiaomu left the thermos cup filled with hot water and half a pack of food and rushed to Daye Sea Host to get help with only a few Jianbing.

 

It was October 7th, and young Xiaomu didn't feel they had said goodbye forever. "The sky turned clear. He was in much better shape, and he just needed to hold on for another two or three days. Everything looked hopeful."

 

However, Aotai's weather changed fast. The rain started pouring in the afternoon of the 7th and continued until the night of the 8th when Kaiwen Cheng and the Qinling rescue team went up the mountain. The coldest current since winter began to hit on the night of the 9th, and by the morning of the 10th, the grass was frozen, and ice was everywhere.

 

In the extreme cold, a group of 13 people raced against time. At noon on October 10th, they finally arrived at the 100 meters point of the gentle slope under the South Heavenly Gate, but it was still too late. Feilong Wu took off all his outer layer of clothing, leaving only a layer of black trail running compression garment. His hands and feet were soaked and white, and he was lying alone in the pine forest after the snow.

 

The life that struggled for more than ten days passed away in the storm. The abnormal behavior of undressing, in the end, should be the manifestation of the loss of temperature. The thermos cup left by Xiaomu, who rushed to seek help three days ago, was still full of water.

 

"Another life lost." The bad news came; Xiucai Cheng shook his head and sighed. He tore off the notices for missing people and burned them to ashes. During the National Holiday, days of heavy rain washed away bridges down the mountain. He had never seen such a huge flood in forty years. "The weather was worse on the mountain. He would have been saved if it hadn't rained so heavily."

 

The weather up in the mountains changed, from the night of October 2nd. Flash floods blocked rescue teams that tried to go up the mountain. The rare gale blew away five tents in an hour in the mountain camping site. On the 3rd, nearly 30 backpackers retreated from the water hole. If they continued, they would have met Feilong Wu a day later, a day or two earlier than Xiaomu, and the leader also carried a satellite phone, only if the weather didn't change.

 

"If the mountain hadn't been closed, he wouldn't have died." In Xiucai Cheng's point of view, Aotai is more dangerous today. After being closed, the number of backpackers plummeted. It meant greater risk because there would become no man's land. "In previous years, there were three to five hundred people on the road, so he could not have waited so many days for someone to appear......"



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Guardian of the mountain 

When I arrived at Daye Sea Host on the top of the high mountain in wind and snow, Kaiwen Cheng had returned from the rescue and had not yet moved on. We slept together on the bunk in the mountain. In the darkness, dark red cigarette butts were lighted on and off again and again. He sighed time after time and smoked one cigarette after another. At the end of September, people searched twice and missed Feilong Wu. After October 3rd, Feilong Wu's evacuation road was blocked, so he stopped at the necessary road through Aotai, day after day, until he died.

 

"If we could look again in those days, we must have found him." However, people stopped searching in the mountains before Xiaomu reported the news on the 8th.

 

"Old Cheng, please go find him again." Someone begged on Wechat on the 4th, Kaiwen Cheng did not feel good. Like opening a free "hospital," accidents happened in Aotai year after year, villagers, who were eager to help, were also tired and afraid. They started to charge 500 CNY per person per day five years ago.

 

This 53-year-old divorced man had been lost for more than seven days, and no one continued to pay for the search. Old Cheng was heartbroken when no one volunteered to continue the search. What's more heartbreaking was that his 44-year-old brother accidentally fell when he went up the mountain to rescue people and died in the mountains six months ago. "The more you look in this mountain, the more afraid you become. Even someone paid, not many folks were willing to rescue ......"

 

Every time there is an accident, people start to complain about the waste of taxpayers' money. But mountain rescue has been weak so far, so rescue personnel that has been in and out of Aotai time and time again, civilian rescue teams' voluntary assistance, and people hired by families are more timely and effective.

 

During the National Holiday, a rare heavy rain blocked the civilian rescue team under the mountain. One person's life and the last golden rescue window passed away in front of their eyes.

 

They could not carry the body down the mountain, so eventually, the family entrusted the villagers with 20,000 CNY to bury Feilong Wu on the spot, right in the larch forest where he had exclaimed how beautiful it was.

 

Old Cheng had saved people so many times, this was the first time he buried someone in Aotai, and they were the same age with a different fate. A new pile of dirt formed deep in the mountains on white snow, and four villagers lit wax incense to respect the gods of the four directions. They sent the stranger away in the snow and wind, without a friend or relative present.



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Who's Qinling?

"Life is really tenacious and fragile." Xiaomu received this news on the way home and couldn't sleep during the night on the train. Before that, he did not think much of Aotai, so he went alone because he could not get a companion and went forward despite the wind and rain until he met an actual life-and-death situation.

 

"I won't be so reckless in the future." He still loves the mountains, but he wants to learn more skills next and hopes that the regret of being unable to call for help in time won't happen again.

 

"This is the mountain that I love so much, I want to share it with others, but with contradiction, I would rather people forget it." Graynight had written his concern down at the beginning of the road, but these concerns had come true little by little and took away people's life one by one. "We couldn't stop hurting for people, but also the mountain."

 

But compared to the changes on the mountain, he was more touched by the renovation down the mountain when he returned. New attractions and tourism real estate made this place more prosperous. The road that backpackers have been walked is insignificant, and more social forces are transforming the mountain and people.

 

This reminds him of the words written at the end of Walking Among Qinling, which seemed to come true. "Media's public stunt, places' interest, individualism, desire for money, and commercial development, may soon change the mountain I know and love into something else, and forget all about, at the end, whose Qinling is this ......"

 

No matter whose Qinling this is, only the family of Kaiwen Cheng left on Taibai Mountain of the Qinling Mountains to guard Daye Sea Host in the winter.

 

For more than ten years, groups of backpackers had traveled through the Aotai's wind, snow, and rain and finally saw this alpine lake. They might be excited, eager, in pain, in distress or tears, because arriving here means coming back to earth, and the end is near.

 

Although this earth means a simple reception station and two Taoist temples. Although the Taoist temples are empty, and the Taoist priests have left the mountain long ago. But in the reception station, the old Cheng, who has been guarding the mountain for 35 years, will guard until he is too old to climb. It is destined that people will continue to go up the mountain with different desires, and they are going to the same destination: Baxian Tower, which is 3,767 meters above sea level - the highest point on the eastern half of the Chinese mainland.

 

For thousands of years, Taibai Jinxing, Li Bai, Taoist devotees, herbalists, countless tourists have walked on the last section of the road towards the highest point of the mountain. Now a "no crossing" warning sign is installed intentionally. The wind tells the life and death that had happened in Aotai, which may be abrupt, majestic, or tragic.

 

When people Look west through the warning signs, the snow is covering the mountains and beams, the sea of clouds is rolling like waves. The sealed Aotai line is like a silver dragon, stretching across the north and south of the country, seemingly asleep, and no one knows when the new blizzard will start.


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