Travel Notes | Hiking in Xiling but we didn’t reach the top

Tuesday:

Me: Brother Long, we can arrange to go to Xiling Mountain this year.

Brother Long: Arrange.

Friday:

Brother Long: Let’s go.

Our small outdoor group is so capable of execution.

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Lingshan Mountain is a famous mountain peak around Beijing, the most famous of which is Dongling Mountain. In addition to Dongling Mountain, there are Beiling Mountain, Xiling Mountain and Nanling Mountain, but none of the latter three are "authentic" Lingshan Mountains.

Several Lingshan Mountains are located in the area from Mentougou to Zhuolu, and are tentatively called the Lingshan Group. Next to the Lingshan Group is Xiaowutai, close to the Taihang Mountains. These mountains, together with the Tea Mountains I have visited before, are located to the west of Beijing and are among the best mountain landscapes around Beijing.

It’s summer in Beijing, and on the day of departure, the temperature can reach as high as 30°C.

The picture below shows the descent point to Xiling Mountain. The railings of the fire protection forest have been put down.

The passability of our car was not particularly good, so we hiked the last almost one kilometer of dirt road.

What we plan to take is a circular route, about 12km. The right and left sides of the picture below are the outbound and return roads respectively, and in the distance (not the green one) is Xiling Mountain.

The climate in the valleys in the north should be very pleasant in summer, but today the sun is strong and it is a bit sultry.

When they reached the end of the dirt road, the car could only go so far, and the group entered the dense forest.

‍The new friend we brought this time is Luyao, who has lived in a plain city since she was a child. It is said that this is her second time in the mountains.

Luyao thought she was climbing a hill in the park, but she found out that it was a big mountain without hardened roads, and she was very physically exhausted.

The forest is very shady and comfortable to rest.

Walking through the dense forest, we came to a small meadow. The meadow is still dry and yellow, and some new grass has just appeared.

When looking at satellite images of mountainous areas, a small patch of earthy yellow may appear among a large expanse of green, making people mistakenly think it is a desert, but in fact it is an alpine meadow area.

Since the meadows in the mountains always turn green last and turn yellow first, when the satellite images are taken, most of the grass is still yellow, so it shows a "desert color". In fact, this is often a good campsite. In midsummer, the meadows are flat, the view is wide, the flowers and plants are dense, and it is a pleasure to camp.

There are many stones that were moved by people on the ridge, which should be the Great Wall in ancient times.

Looking at the top of Xiling Mountain from our position.

I can’t recognize the names of the wild flowers on the grass. I’m the kind of person who won’t be able to survive a miracle of self-rescue when bitten by a poisonous snake in the wild, because I know too little about plants.

It was cloudless in the morning, and by afternoon, marshmallow-like clouds appeared in the western sky.

We are heading towards the top.

There are more and more clouds, and the shadows are cast on the mountains, which is a layered feeling unique to mountains.

Standing on the cusp of the storm, Brother Long holds onto the spinning sun and moon.

The picture below is the top of Xiling Mountain. The clear ridgeline is our planned hiking route.

The trees on the hillside are not yet fully summery and still have the yellow color of spring.

A wide angle shot of the mountain ridge.

The clouds became thicker and thicker. The clouds in the distance were cumulonimbus clouds, and it was raining a few kilometers away.

A large number of clouds moved over and covered Xiling Mountain.

We walked forward and prepared to have lunch after the next small peak.

Luyao walked carefully on the rocks for a long time and finally collapsed from exhaustion. However, the others were breathing evenly and everything was fine.

Behind this mountain, the wind became stronger. Because she was tired and hot from climbing, Luyao put on her down jacket at our request.

Another flower that cannot be called famous.

Continuing forward, Saddle is where we have lunch.

The so-called lunch is water, bread, and ham sausage. This grass looks pretty good, but there are a lot of flies.

There was thunder nearby at this time. Judging from the sound delay, the distance was about 2-3km. What is less optimistic is that the rain clouds are coming in our direction and are getting bigger and bigger.

We took shelter under a big rock, but the rock couldn't protect us from the rain. The rain became heavier, so we had to retreat. We walked down through the woods.

Raincoats are arranged.

The rain quickly turned to hail, which was the first outdoor hail experience for most of us.

The hailstones on the ground turned out to be so round.

This sign is very interesting. It seems that someone once planted special plants here.

The dense forest is a bit quiet.

Another unknown flower.

We walked out of the forest and came to a slightly open area. The clouds opened a hole, and the sun shone through the gap. We thought this was the end of the rain.

shoots.

Luyao's equipment was particularly insufficient. She didn't have a jacket or a scratch-resistant raincoat. I brought the down jacket and it was already completely wet. But she was particularly excited after walking through the forest, and her whole mood changed.

+1 for unknown flowers.

Pass through the dense forest and come to the valley area again.

The rain seemed to have stopped, everyone took off their hats and wore their clothes open.

Rush down the mountain.

There is still a piece of ice that has not melted.

Unknown flower++.

The rain became heavy and crackling again, and Brother Long provided Luyao with a survival blanket, which reminded me of The King of Two Golden Gongs on Tea Mountain.

I finally walked out of the mountain and found several rooms carved out of the stone mountain, but I didn't know what they were for.

In the end, we walked through the dirt road that almost turned into a creek and returned to the car. Almost everyone was soaked to the skin and their shoes were clacky. Only my feet are still dry , and my body and are basically dry, except for the collar, cuffs and the inner layer of clothing that accidentally leaked out.

This is the power of the whole body Gore Tex fabric.

I still had a piece of wet clothes in my bag, so I quickly put it on Luyao. She was already a little chilly and dizzy, but she recovered after returning to Beijing.

My girlfriend felt very lucky that I forced her to wear a jacket in the morning. After all, she avoided a severe beating from nature.

The news in the past two days was originally two earthquakes. When we got out of the mountain, our mobile phone signals recovered, and the news of Yuan Longping's death was overwhelming. As atheists, we also had to think about something.

Something else happened that day - a major accident during Baiyin cross-country running, in which many people were killed. Their experiences are similar to ours, with sudden changes in weather, but their environment is much harsher.

Although the northwest is also the north, the natural conditions are much worse than those in northern China. I have been to the northwest before and then returned to Beijing. In comparison it feels like Beijing is just like the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, this cross-country run was on a plateau, which added to the difficulty. Disadvantages of hypothermia and hypoxia.

In addition, cross-country runners generally do not carry too much thermal equipment with them. After all, they come for performance and therefore pursue lightweight. Even if you bring equipment, you will mostly use it at supply points. Perhaps the sudden change in weather was so sudden that many people suffered from hypothermia before reaching the supply point or even had no time to descend.

The specifics of what happened will take more time to sort out, but there are plenty of warnings for those who enjoy the outdoors.

The harshness of the wild environment should never be underestimated. It is always right to check the weather in advance and be fully prepared. Last week I went camping in Chashan. The lowest temperature in the weather forecast was close to 10℃, but I still prepared for -20℃ and reminded my friends. We encountered strong wind and graupel weather on the mountain, which was not reflected in the weather forecast. The temperature at night was below 0℃, and with the strong wind, the body temperature was even lower. However, we still successfully set up camp and slept. A peaceful sleep.

It may be a coincidence that you have a godly friend who can still wear short-sleeves in an environment of 0 degrees Celsius, and often goes into the mountains with confidence without bringing enough warm equipment. But you have to have an idea yourself. When doing outdoor activities, you need to take into account the decrease in temperature and increase in wind caused by the climb in altitude. You also have to take into account the inaccuracies of weather forecasts.

"Those who die are those who love to run away" and "a waste of social resources"...

You always have to configure your equipment according to the extreme situation, or have a plan when the situation exceeds expectations to avoid dying outdoors and becoming social news. The news is also filled with a lot of comments like the above.