Sleepless Mountain (3)

Logically, both Mita and I, having just returned to the country, should have rested sufficiently for a while. However, given the mountaineering accident involving the joint expedition team, Mr. Kitai, who led the team, was Mita's former mentor from their university days. Furthermore, Mita and Kiyoko, Mr. Kitai's only daughter, were in a somewhat ambiguous relationship. As soon as we arrived at the border, without even returning home, we boarded another plane. We joined a search and rescue team and headed to China. Unfortunately, the journey was long and coincided with the Lunar New Year period, so snow remained un-melted everywhere along the way. By the time the search and rescue team finally reached the base camp location, a week had already passed since the incident. In terms of rescue, it was almost certain they had perished. However, Mita still held onto a sliver of hope, believing a miracle might happen. Upon arriving at the base camp, we quickly rendezvoused with the Chinese rescue team. After receiving a briefing, we rapidly divided the ascent routes and waited for favorable weather to head up the mountain. Our team, besides Mita and myself, included Chen Ming and Wang Yi from China. Both were seasoned mountaineers, having recently succeeded in an unassisted Everest ascent. After some deliberation and yielding to each other, it was decided that Chen Ming would be the team leader, and Mita would be the liaison. We were scheduled to depart the next day at 0300, heading towards the missing team's C2 position via the R1 route on the U Glacier.