The internationally recognized Chinese alpinist, Yan Dongdong, has been killed in a crevasse fall in the Chinese Tien Shan.

With two regular climbing partners, the accomplished Zhou Peng, and film maker Li Shuang, Yan (surname) had just made the first ascent of a peak near to Chulebos (6,769m), immediately to the west of the Xuelian Massif.

Although it was previously reported that they climbed Chulebos, it appears they could find no safe route on this mountain and settled for a different, lower summit.

At 6:15pm on the 10th July the three had descended to 4,400m and were only 100m from their Camp 1 on the glacier, when Yan fell unroped more than 20m into a hidden crevasse.

Zhou lowered a rope but Yan was obviously badly injured, drifting in and out of consciousness. Communication was poor. Zhou believed Yan was clipped in and started to pull him out, but in the process Yan fell a further five metres into a pool of water.

Zhou descended and managed to get the rope attached to Yan, then climbed out. However, his efforts to extract Yan were to no avail and Chinese mountaineer died at around 11:00pm

Zhou and Li dug a small shelter next to the crevasse and waited out the night. Next morning they descended to Camp 1 and then on to base camp, where they were able to transmit the tragic news by telephone.

Born in 1984, Yan began climbing in 2002 when an undergraduate at Tsinghua University, Beijing. On graduation in 2005 he became a professional translator, working freelance so he could organize his time in the mountains. Amongst other works he was responsible for translating Mark Twight's Extreme Alpinism into Chinese.

He spent 18 months at the Chinese Mountaineering Association's National Centre and in May 2008, as part of his conventional mountaineering career, he reached the summit of Everest from the north as a member of the Chinese Olympic Torch expedition.

In 2009 he formed part of the official search and rescue team sent to Mt Edgar in Sichuan's Minya Konka Range after the disappearance of Americans Jonny Copp, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson.

It was at this time that he and a group of young Chinese alpinists began to think "outside the box". Chinese mountaineering has been typified by large expeditions tackling relatively non-technical peaks in classic Himalayan style, but Yan and a group of friends began to attempt more technical ascents, as small parties, in alpine style.

In the autumn of 2009 he joined Guy McKinnon (New Zealand) and Scot Bruce Normand in the Western Nyanchen Tanglha, where he made five ascents of 6,000m peaks.

Only two weeks later Yan joined Zhou Peng in the Siguniang National Park to make mountaineering history. Their ascent of Free Spirits, up the centre of the South Face of Siguniang (6,250m), arguably marked the first time that a Chinese pair has made an alpine-style first ascent of a big technical route on home ground, and on a coveted line that had previously been the goal of several strong parties.

The partnership was strong. Zhou has led WI6 and 5.12, making him probably the first Chinese capable of top-class technical grades to get really serious about climbing in the high mountains.

Yan continued to make important first ascents: Wuse Shan (5,430m; 18 pitches to 5.9+); Dongxung (6,095m); a moderately technical new route on Abi (5,694m). He then set another benchmark in Chinese mountaineering by making the first winter ascent (in alpine-style of course) of Tibet's 7,206m Nojin Kangsang with female alpinist Li Lan.

In 2011, with Zhou Peng and Li Shuang, he visited the Minya Konka Range. With Zhou he made the first ascent of the north face of Reddomain (6,112m), and all three climbed a new route on Xiao Gongga (Little Konka, 5,928m) at M6.

However, the highlight of the trip was the much acclaimed Liberal Dance on the west face of Jiazi (6,540m) by Yan and Zhou. This was the second ascent of the mountain, the 1,500m route having difficulties of M6 and WI3.

Yan and Zhou had become perhaps the first Chinese alpinists to gain widespread acclaim from the international mountaineering community. Yan became a North Face sponsored athlete in 2010, and this year both Yan and Zhou gained a Mugs Stump Award to join American Steve Su (who they had met on the Edgar rescue) on an expedition to attempt San Lian (6,684m), the highest unclimbed peak in the Minya Konka Range.

Yan's command of English made him an ideal contact in the world of Chinese climbing and he was candid about the difficulties Chinese alpinists face in their own country. His revealing article Free Mountaineering, published in the American Alpine Journal, takes an inside look at modern Chinese mountaineering.

Chulebos, which the three Chinese approached via the Muzart river to the south, was previously unvisited, but was noted by Bruce Normand during his first explorations of the Xuelian Massif in 2008, and the following year when with Jed Brown and Kyle Dempster he made the first ascent of Xuelian West (awarded a 2010 Piolet d'Or). Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden explored the approaches to Chulebos in 2010, during an expedition in which they made the first ascent of the north face of Sulamar.

« Back