Beware! Outdoor adventures can lead to death or injuries
An outdoor adventurer abseils down the 410-meter-high Dishuitan Waterfall in Guizhou Province in 2013 in this file photo. The waterfall is not a developed tourist site but has become popular with independent travelers. Two backpackers died recently while trying to perform the same feat there.
It took almost two days for rescuers in southwestern China’s Guizhou Province to retrieve the bodies of two backpackers who died while trying to abseil down from Dishuitan Waterfall.
The two travelers were among a group of six adventurers trying to descend from the falls in remote, difficult terrain that slowed rescue efforts, according to local government officials.
The tragedy came amid a summer of outdoor sports accidents across China. Other deaths were reported in the western province of Qinghai and in Tibet.
The Chinese Mountaineering Association said its incomplete data show there were 942 people involved in 272 outdoor sports accidents last year, leaving 69 dead, 105 injured and five still missing.
In the Dishuitan Waterfall mishap, the rescue team included the local county emergency management department, fire brigade and a nonprofit civilian organization called Blue Sky Rescue.
The two dead people were a woman in her 30s and a man in his 70s, both from the city of Chongqing. Fellow travelers told rescuers that they planned to abseil down a side of the waterfall with no water flow. The woman, surnamed Zhang, was the first to try, but halfway down, she was drawn into the waterfall’s cascading flow.
The man, surnamed Wang, was an experienced adventurer who similarly got trapped in the turbulent waters. Wang Yi, leader of Blue Sky Rescue’s Guizhou team, said when they arrived at the scene, they found Wang’s feet entangled by Zhang’s rope.
The 410-meter-high Dishuitan Waterfall is not a developed tourist site, but it has become popular with luyou, or “donkey friends” — a Chinese term that refers to independent travelers. Its popularity has been enhanced by videos posted on TikTok.
In a separate accident, police in Qinghai this week identified a body found on July 13 in the Hoh Xil nature reserve as young traveler named Li Kaiyang, who was cycling around the country.
The Hoh Xil reserve covers 45,000 square kilometers, encompassing China's largest area of uninhabited land, with an average altitude of more than 4,600 meters. It is home to several endangered species, including the Tibetan antelope, Tibetan gazelle and wild yak.
Authorities were alerted by friends who kept in contact with Li online. They said he didn’t carry enough food, water and self-rescue gear on his trip. The announcement came 24 days after the lone body of a female undergraduate student was found in Hoh Xil on August 1.
On August 16, Yu Wenjun, a well-known luyou nicknamed Fei Yu, or “flying fish,” was found dead on a mountain hiking trip in Tibet.
Mountaineering and trekking accounted for 90 percent of all outdoor adventure accidents last year. The Chinese Mountaineering Association accident report shows 163 mountaineering mishaps, with 32 deaths, three missing and 59 injuries. Eighty-two trekking accidents left 21 dead, 34 injured and one missing.
What is behind such unsettling statistics?
Han Zijun, one of China’s foremost mountaineers, who had reached the summits of many of the world’s highest peaks, attributes the numbers to the growing popularity of outdoor adventure.
“Not many of them have the sense to systematically learn about what they are doing,” she said. “Some people just think of outdoor adventure as a kind of entertainment and don’t heed the risks.”
She also said that some so-called “professionals” who lead outdoor adventure activities aren’t properly qualified.
“Earlier this year, there was a group of kids that got lost during a hike near Shenzhen,” Han said. “The people leading the group were not professionals. They had merely done the hike once or twice.”
Governments should provide tougher supervision over these activities, she added.
“Criteria should be set for those who want to be the guides of outdoor adventure sports,” she said. “For example, one can be a mountaineering guide only after passing certain exams or meeting certain standards.”
Some people just think of outdoor adventure as a kind of entertainment and don’t heed the risks.
Han Zijun/Mountaineer
Remote areas beckon outdoor adventurers because they are off the beaten tourist track and offer challenges for those who like to explore the unknown.
Exciting video clips on social media, which mostly show the glamor of outdoor adventure but often fail to point out hidden dangers, can cause people to underestimate their abilities, Han said. Dangers can range from natural disasters such as landslides to lack of human preparation.
Before she scaled Mount Everest, Han spent two years in preparation.
“Before you set off, you should study the weather forecasts of the place you are going and you should map out a safe route,” she said. “There is a lot of information available and advice from those who have gone before. Most of all, you need to be honest about your own physical capabilities.”
Han said the adventurers should never enter the areas banned to visitors, but she stopped short of advocating that authorities close a whole mountain area if there has been an adventuring death.
“Mount Siguniang in Sichuan Province sets a good example,” she said. “Those who want to hike or camp are asked to register at its service center, allowing administrators to keep track of people.”
Wang Haifeng, called “North Pole” by his team members, is a hiking guide with domestic online tourism service Youxiake, which is under the administration of the tourism authority. He said the majority of designated hiking routes are safe and accidents are more likely to happen when people veer from those routes.”
Yet, even low-risk routes may pose risks such as heatstroke, fractures, sprains or bruises, and drowning, he said. High-risk routes pose greater dangers, like hypothermia, and altitude sickness.”
“There’s a trend among some luyou to want to go into areas that are dangerous or banned from entry,” he said. “Maybe they think that’s the ultimate challenge for outdoor sports, and then they risk their lives.”
Wang said regional governments should completely close off extremely dangerous areas and keep tight management over them.
Liu Deyan, a tourism researcher and associate professor at Shanghai Normal University, said when luyou get in distress, it often costs a lot of money to rescue them.
Some local authorities say that those who enter prohibited zones and then get in trouble should bear the cost of their rescues.
“Free rescues are a burden to tourist sites,” Liu said. “I once heard a report that the rescue services at Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province were called out up to 400 times a year.”
The management committee of Huangshan Mountain scenic resort area implemented rules in 2018 requiring people to pay for their rescues. Other scenic spots, like Daocheng Yading Nature Reserve and Mount Siguniang, have adopted similar measures.
Liu predicted that more scenic spots will devise payment plans for various levels of rescues. Adventurers are being warned that they will be responsible for costs if they venture into areas not open to the public and run into trouble.
“Outdoor adventure organizers must inform tourist site administrators of their planned routes and register the names of those in their groups,” Liu said.
(Chen Xuyang also contributed to this article.)
