In August a Chinese team including veteran climber Wu Peng made possibly the third ascent of the southeast ridge of Pomiu, first climbed by American Keith Brown in 1985 and repeated in 2010 by Russians, who found ca 1,500m of climbing up to 6c. They summited after four days of climbing through cold, wet weather, with little food and water. Rappelling the ridge from the summit, they reached a ledge at ca 5,200m, at midnight and during a storm. The ropes were frozen and could not be pulled, so they sat for the night. Wu Peng seemed hypothermic, shivering and mentally confused. Next day, as the other two members were pulling the ropes, he fell into a gully on the south face. A rescue team found his body six days later at 5,050m.

Wu Peng (b. 1972) is best known for developing the Baihe (White River) climbing area, two hours’ drive from Beijing. Some of his alpine rock routes, such as Rising Wind Horse Flag and the Shark’s Fin, both with He Chuan, have been reported in the AAJ. He opposed excessive bolting, especially bolting next to cracks, but he also put great effort into sourcing reliable bolts, and if you have clipped a bolt throughout most of China, you’ve probably benefited from his work. He also founded the Internet climbing forum Rock Beer (http://bbs.rockbeer.org), the oldest in China.

Wei Yu, He Chuan, and Huang Maohai, China