First Chen–Chiang summit

Transcription

I think everyone can get nervous. As I'm standing here I feel more nervous than walking alone on a 7000-meter peak or hanging on a sheer cliff with no protection at all. Today I am so glad to have this opportunity. Actually, I could not fall asleep last night over the rehearsal yesterday. Jason greeted me with "Hello." He was sitting right in front of me and said "Are you ready?" "Show us your talk for 18 minutes." I was somewhat taken aback. Does everyone really deliver a prepared speech? Moreover, this is so not my style. Because, you know, being a so called explorer usually means having no idea what to do and what will happen the very next second. How could I be expected to prepare my talk the day before? That's almost impossible. So, I created my slides and mailed them to Jason. Because he pushed me all week. "Hurry up and make sure you send me the slides." Then I finished it, with a lot of thought and fonts and sent it to him. However, when I got back home last night and took a look at what I wrote, I couldn't figure out what I was trying to write. That's why I deleted it yesterday. Forget it, I will go without slides. I decided to talk in the same way of an exploration. What does that mean? It means that I have no idea what I am going to say at all, and neither will I know how you are going to respond to it. However, I'll still talk for 18 minutes. It is just like a mountain path up ahead which I've never seen before, on a mountain that I've never encountered. Then, someone says, "Zhan, it's your turn." I was left with no choice: "OK, let me try climbing." With no protection and I've never seen this path before. For such a case, I would use the word "solo," which is our technical term for mountain climbing. It is also called "climbing alone," climbing solo without protection or anything, but yourself. That's the way to do it. So, I kept thinking till 11 PM last night. And I thought, "I am going to do the solo, too." "I will just quit thinking and improvise." So, I hope I can finish "climbing" successfully in the next 18 minutes. Alright, there is something I'd like to share with everyone. Let's first watch a video. It lets you see the height of the world. The entire time we went along the river, in the direction opposite its current. The people here are strangers yet also appear familiar. Because on their land, I saw the innocence which I used to have. Can I find my lost innocence in this place? Through an unknown journey. To reclaim my lost self. And to carve the route of my pilgrimage while making a prayer of Islam. Time and space gradually stop as the icy river froze over. I entered into the world with nothing but mountains around. And I will soon become part of it. Both life and death are celebrations with no rules. To make life vivid, fascinating and insane sane and reasonable. There will be no bounds at an altitude of 8000 meters. There will be no bounds between people and mountains. Before reaching the peak, we've already been through the unfinished journey. Pictures offered by: Atunas 2011 Broad Peak Mountain Climbing Team. Broad Peak, we will be back. OK, thanks. This is the mountain we climbed this year during our summer vacation. It is 8051 meters above the sea level and the world's 12th highest peak. Its name is Broad Peak, it's located in Pakistan, one of the peaks of the Karakoram Range. It is right beside K2, the world's second highest peak and also considered the most difficult mountain to climb. Broad Peak is right beside it. What we are promoting now is what we've been promoting from 2006 to 2009. We inspired the teams from Taiwan to climb the highest peaks in the seven continents including the one in Antarctica, Vinson Massif, and Mount Everest, which is the highest peak of Asia, and the highest peak of North America in Alaska, etc. I am the overall organizer of the project. I didn't reach the summits of all the mountains. Actually I didn't reach the summit of any mountain. I helped coordinate an expedition to climb three mountains and I was in Taiwan the rest of the time, pushing ahead and carrying out the plan. In 2009, we finished climbing 7 peaks and took a one-year break. Since last year, we started to promote a project to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. It's only because it's like this that I get this chance to share it with you guys. I think, today I may not... Today you may have seen a lot of dreams. To people, a dream, means never giving up and always sticking to something. Once you find a direction, you just go along with it. Pretty easy, isn't it? It sounds pretty easy. Those words are not wrong. However, is it really that easy? I hope you can come back to reality. Is it really that easy? Now if everyone watched the video, you saw that our team was climbing for free with everything sponsored by an outdoor company. Did you think the video was beautiful? Anyone wants to join us? Anybody? Please hurry up. Today and tomorrow will be the deadline, really. The deadline is December 19th. We will select members for next year. Anyone? Anybody here? No? No one here has a dream? You guys watched the video for such a long time. Even after a whole day of talks, still no dreams? Why? Because you may already know that there is a price for that. A price to pay for that. So today, I want to bring you back to reality. The question is what the price of the dream is, and what is the price of exploration. The answer is, it is not as beautiful as you imagined. There is a mountain for us to climb from which we will return with glory and respect. It is absolutely not like that. There are very few people here who know me, right? Although I didn't reach the summit and I am not very famous, I believe some people know who I am. Because I've been thinking about telling everyone why I climb and why I explore. But I couldn't find the answers, because I suddenly realized that mountain climbing, climbing for exploring is the world's least productive thing to do. I can't think of anything which is less productive than that. See, it takes me 2 months to climb a mountain. To climb 8000 meters, I will have to spend 2 months in the base camp, climbing up and up from there. It will take 2 months, and before that, I train abroad, for maybe a month. There will also be a lot of running, weight training, climbing and so on, which will take a lot of time and money. It a half to one million NT dollars for a person to climb a mountain. It will probably take several millions NT dollars for a team. Except for money and time, what else is there? You will be separated from your families and risk your life doing it. For what? Nothing. I will not be paid when I return. Take this talk as an example. I get only NT $2000 for transportation reimbursement. So you won't make money. Mountain climbing is unprofitable, isn't it? We won't make anything. And in Taiwan, we are not famous, but it's different abroad. For example in France, Slovenia, Italy, maybe when those who reach all 14 eight-thousanders come back, there will be a big nationwide parade to welcome the climbers. Not in Taiwan. When I came back, there was no one. No one will carry us on their shoulders and parade us around, right? So mountain climbing won't get me any fame or profit, it's dangerous, and a risk to my life. Don't you think this is the world's least productive thing to do? These days, I really am wondering what I am going to share with everyone about such a dangerous subject? There isn't much to share about, is there? So... Then why? It is so not productive, utterly unproductive. It is something that sounds rather dull. But we still have to put so much effort into it. And money. Most importantly, we are risking our lives to do it? This is very serious. I'm not going to give you any promises of grandeur. Right after coming back from Broad Peak, we had a sharing session. I am the team leader, and I gathered the team members. Has anybody been there? I interviewed the team members, asking them to share their experiences of the climbing. Then, I originally intended to share something as the team lead. But we were running out of time, so my sharing was skipped. The others were able to finish. It seems we still have 5 minutes left. May I ask for a little more time? So that I could share something practical. Which was the time when we were about to climb Broad Peak. Right before I left, I am married, I have a wife and 2 kids. One is in kindergarten, the other one in second grade. Right before I left, my wife was really... She couldn't bear to let me go and constantly cried. She asked me not to go. At that time, I was... Because my job is kind of... Mountain climbing to me is kind of special. It is more than just a job. It's kind of like my job, and it is also like something I pursue. So it is driven by a mixed purpose. When I was already about to leave, my wife became depressed all of a sudden. She was very distressed and hoped that I wouldn't go. Because it was going be 2 months. More than that, I would have to withstand a lot of pressure, pretty much risking my life. This is something that really happened. My wife is now in the audience. Of course I am here to encourage her. After that, I was always thinking and asked myself in my heart why was I going to do that? Actually, one thing I want to say is that is not what you think, that all dreams, such as those we saw in the video, can be achieved by simply working up your courage, going forward and being fearless and then you are able to achieve it. If that is so, it is not a dream. So... Help me. How should I convince myself and make my family feel the same way? Actually I didn't have to go. I could have stayed instead. A dream is actually not something we have to achieve. Or we will become paranoid. Then, why do I go? Actually because I know that going to climb may not be a bad choice. It could be bad or good. But it is not necessarily bad. It is actually a way to find your true self. So, when we were doing it, when we were climbing, we are getting a better chance to learn what truly goes on in our minds. Because our daily life is way too complicated. For example, I felt not used to the life here since I arrived. I was living in Yilan. There are so many people, so many things. The materials, sounds, lights, streams of information, are overwhelming, so I will get lost in all the customs. It's actually the same as the relationships. So, I am pretty sure that if I go, no matter what the cost is, if I go, when I am in the mountain, I will be able to see the power, enthusiasm and value of life better. After I came back, I could actually feel, live, and continue my life better, including my family life, etc. That means I will live better from my heart and can be more perceptive of the truths about relationships between people. The relationship between two people can be unlike ordinary people's, which is like acting, weeping at the drop of a hat or something like that. It could be very positive between individuals, between you and your lover, you and your wife, you and your kids. The relationship between individuals can be sincere, can be real, doesn't have to be like the way we should hug each other all day long and be afraid or worry that someone doesn't love someone. Or taking care of your kid to show him how you love him, and things like that. The relationship between individuals can actually be sincere. So when you are climbing the mountain, you can see a lot of things in a more real and better way. However, it requires courage to do so. Take me climbing this mountain as an example, I am not perusing something unrealistic like reaching the summit. We want to show people why they should go climbing. I am not just asking them to go. We won't ask everyone who has a family or who is a daughter or son to climb the mountain over and over again regardless of how dangerous it is. What we are actually trying to promote is the idea that through the exploring process, you could find out why we are living, why we want to live. When we are switched off from our ordinary life situations, when you live somewhere far away but pure, a place where you have only yourself, a place where it is hard for you to live, you will clearly understand why you want to live and what the motive of your life is. Then when you come back, you are clear about why you want to live. Then, you could live in a better way. Moreover, you will be brave because you know why you are alive and you can see your true self. You could be a real man. For example, Seediq Bale. You could be a real man. Why did Seediq Bale confront death although he knew that he was going to be beheaded? I don't know if anyone has thought about it. It is the same as mountain climbing. We know it's dangerous, but we're still going to do it. Why? Because we are not even afraid of death. To make our lives more valuable, we would like to sacrifice our lives. When we are not even afraid of death, we are not going to commit suicide, but when even death cannot get in the way of living a more enthusiastic life, when death is not a reason, will there be anything we can't do? So, exploration is the way that I choose to face my life. Then, I hope, that you can also find your own ways of life. Thank you. (Applause)