Wuhan university student summits Mount Qomolangma

Zhou Qianlong with his mountaineering team. [Photo/WeChat account of China University of Geosciences]

On the morning of May 21, Zhou Qianlong, a master's student at the School of Physical Education of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), reached the summit of Mount Everest (also known as Mount Qomolangma) (8,848.86 meters) from the northern slope.

Zhou Qianlong with his mountaineering team. [Photo/WeChat account of China University of Geosciences]

Born in 2000, Zhou Qianlong is a national first-class mountaineer and an outdoor extreme sports photographer. He began climbing snow-capped mountains in his senior year, and has summited peaks over 7,000 meters multiple times, including Cho Oyu (8,201 meters), the world's sixth-highest mountain.

This time, Zhou Qianlong joined a university mountaineering team to climb Everest, conducting high-altitude biological research and completing alpine photography as a member of the imaging team.

He said climbing snow-capped mountains is challenging but rewarding, and that reaching the summit of Everest is not the end of his journey, as he will continue to scale new heights in both science and life.

Zhou Qianlong with his mountaineering team. [Photo/WeChat account of China University of Geosciences]

China University of Geosciences has a glorious history of Everest climbs. On May 24, 1960, alumnus Wang Fuzhou, along with other team members, set out from their camp to reach the summit of the world's highest peak on May 25. He was the first Chinese athlete to summit Everest.

On May 19, 2012, four teachers and students from the university's mountaineering team reached the summit. This was the first independent mountaineering team organized by universities in China to achieve this feat.

Starting in 2012, the university initiated the "7+2" mountaineering scientific expedition, aiming to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents and also trek to the North and South poles. Over four years, the expedition was successfully completed, creating a legend in the history of Chinese university sports.