China's top cliff hanger and former national champion Liu Xinan
fell to death after conquering a 6,033m peak in Sichuan Province,
Chinese mountaineering officials told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Liu, 26 and a native from Changchun, conquered Dangjiezhenla I
peak located in Batang county of Ganzi, Sichuan, with his "Knife
Blade" climbing team on March 29. While descending to the height of
5,700m, Liu unexpectedly fell a vertical height of 300m and died
later.
Liu's climbing of Dangjiezhenla I had been approved, said Gao
Min, vice secretary of Sichuan Mountaineering Association (SMA),
who also expressed his condolences.
Liu won the first prize in men's climbing during the 2000
China's national extreme sport event. Since then Liu had performed
well in several other equivalent sport events, and he was entitled
national sports master later.
"I was shocked. It was a great loss for sport climbing of our
country," said Chen Jun, a climbing expert and coach of the
climbing team of Jilin University.
Chen was the first person who taught Liu basic techniques of
climbing. According to Chen, Liu was hard-working and staid. The
incident was probably due to exhausting strength.
Chen also expressed his concern for the recent fever of outdoor
exploration. He said, extreme sports like mountaineering and
climbing have attracted a great amount of young people in China,
who are eager to seek excitement and challenges, and the number of
incidents involving injuries and deaths have risen accordingly.
In order to avoid similar tragedies, Chen said that people must
prepare well before taking part in extreme sports.
"Firstly, they should get approval from local mountaineering
associations. Secondly, they should be trained under the guidance
of experts or coaches. They also need to check their equipment from
time to time and pay attention to weather forecast." he added.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2007)
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