Interview with Lei Wang: 7+2 is her Dream

Lei Wang may be about to accomplish something by her calculations only nine other people have done thus far: stand on top of the 7 Summits and ski the last degree to north and south poles – assuming she summits Everest about 3 months from now.

Growing up in China, Lei spent her weekends catching fish and shrimp but not thinking of climbing mountains and adventure. Her dream was to be a doctor, a scientist or maybe a writer. Her parents never considered her hidden passion for exploration.

But all that changed when she stood on top of Kilimanjaro. Something spoke to her and she went on to climb five more of the seven summits and ski to both poles. When she discovered that no Chinese woman had climbed the 7 Summits, her resolve was set.

She attended Beijing’s Tsinghua University graduating with a degree in computer science and then moved to the US in 1995 to attend UNC-Chapel Hill. After a few years in the workplace, she returned to school and graduated from Wharton Business School with her MBA. But at this junction in life, she choose climbing and adventure over the traditional post-MBA route. Lei said of her decision:

“Pursuing a dream, even if I may fail, is better than not trying at all. Life only becomes full of life when you live it with passion. How do you have passion without a dream?”

Lei is a small woman, 5 ‘2″ 120lbs so carrying a 60lb pack proved to be a challenge. She trained hard and added marathons to her regime. This taught her mental toughness as well as improved her endurance.

Her learning curve to Everest has not been easy. It took three climbs to reach the summit of Aconcagua. She was turned back by weather on Denali only to summit finally in the midst of a whiteout. She tore the MCL/LCL in her left knee while training on Mount Adams. And she learned valuable lessons on Carstensz Pyramid and in Antarctica

On Carstensz: … keeping yourself focused and disciplined when you repeat the process so many times, that your mind tends to wander – risking a fall, especially when you’re tired and want to get down quickly. A good climber needs to keep their cool in all situations, be disciplined to follow the proper procedures and stay alert and focused all times, especially after a long day.

In Antarctica: To adapt to life in Antarctica, you have to stay warm. You have to carefully manage the layers so you don’t sweat too much while moving, yet cover up every inch of your skin to avoid frost bite.

In spite of all these lessons and courage, Lei Wang has yet to confront one of her biggest challenges – inform her parents she is climbing Mt. Everest a month from now.

Lei took a moment to share her story and dreams with me.

Q: As a child in China, were you ever exposed to mountaineering?

No. Athletic activities belong to Olympic elites in normal people’s mind, and mountaineering is a completely foreign subject to a bookworm who grew up in city. Everest was as far as the moon.

Q: You came to US and received your MBA from prestigious Wharton University. Why did you start climbing instead of working on your career?

I saw a glacier mountain for the first time in my life when I signed up a trip to Cotopaxi (Ecuador) out of curiosity. It was part of school’s leadership and teamwork training program. Though I took it with a tourist’s mentality and didn’t give too much thought after the trip, it was the starting point of my future adventure. In later years, after watching some documentary movies and reading books about mountaineering, I found my heart totally captured by those adventures. Nothing has ever drawn me so strongly in my past life, so I just followed the call.

Q: The movie, Touching The Void frightens most people away from mountaineering. Why did it inspire you?

When I was watching that movie, I was feeling more admiration than fear. Such heroic behavior was superhuman to me and unknown, but I admire it. So I started to wonder if I, a normal person, can do something challenging. That’s how I decided on Everest.

Not only do I want to see how far I can push myself, I also want to be able to show others that anyone can do this with proper training and vision. There was something more to life than just toiling away. Living a life of boredom is just as bad as living a life in fear.

Q: Lei, please tell us what the Chinese saying “you zhi zhe shi jing cheng” means  and why it is important to you.

It translates to “one with determination will achieve his/her goal”. This is a very commonly used motto when we were growing up in China. Parents and teachers always encourage kids with this saying to set a higher goal for life and go for it. So it’s in my blood. Of course, later on, with more experience, I also learned about the balance between making smart decisions and being determined.

Q: You had a low blood oxygen saturation on Aconcagua, does that concern you given Everest is another 6000’ higher?

Yes, this is a concern for me. I think more time in acclimatization process would help.

Q: Pulling tires seems to be popular training technique these days. Tell us why you pull tires in your training program.

I adopted this training technique when I was training to ski to the poles, where you would be pulling a sled of 100+ lbs every day. It was the closest form one can simulate the motion in normal setting. It builds endurance in legs and in core muscles. My personal trainer, David Memont of MyStrengthDiscovery, highly recommends me mimicking the movements that I’m going use in my expeditions as much as possible. Focus on functional training as opposed to just bodybuilding exercises.

Training for a low oxygen environment requires me to be very efficient in using oxygen, and Dave has been increasing my workload so I can manage increasing loads in intense situations.

Q: You obviously have the physical strength to climb, tell us how you prepare for the mental challenges of high altitude mountaineering?

In altitude mountaineering, the mental challenges include loneliness and uncertain outcome. It’s very hard to communicate with others under such situation; you don’t have teams cheering around you as you have in a race. You are your own cheer leader and you are the only one you can talk to when you are suffering and are not sure what happens next.

The summit is normally not visible before you step on it, and you keep on wondering if a storm would move in, or something unexpected can happen that keep you from reaching the summit. All you can do so to keep a positive attitude no matter what happens and keep pushing yourself. When I’m doing my lonely training in cold winter or in dark night, I talk to myself the same way.

What I’ve learned is that you have to be very self motivated and focus on the task at hand. Mountaineering is more like a marathon than a 100m sprint. You have to mentally set yourself a series of small goals to yourself, and push yourself to achieve them. It’s not just to summit, but to reach the next cornice, or the next belay point…

Q: You were concerned about telling your parents you were going to Everest. Have you told them yet and how did it go?

Still not yet. I will talk to my brother next week first. It’s not that I am scared, or problems with our communication. Climbing was a foreign subject to me just a few years ago, and it was a completely foreign subject to all my family all their lives. For parents who worked hard all their lives to give their daughter the education, set her on a track of great career and normal life, climbing as a passion for life is very hard for them to understand. They are starting to understand that what I want in my life is different from social norm. They are slowly coming to accept it and try to support me. But I worry that they can’t sleep and worry too much if they know what I am really into. I worry about putting them through too much stress.

Q: You are an inspiration to everyone Lei. What message do you want to tell anyone considering a difficult goal?

It can be broken down to three aspects:

• Have a vision: What do you want to achieve ?
  Set goals: By what time do you want to achieve your vision?
• Do your research first, know the path that can lead you closer to that goal and what you need to learn. It may be very difficult to see the direct line connecting current starting point to that goal, but set your eyes on the small step right in front you with the faraway goal in your mind. You will move closer toward that goal with each step you take.
• Get help: Figure out how you are going to achieve those goals. What resources do you need? I realized that I can’t do everything myself and needed to have help from others. The bigger the goal the harder it is to do it yourself…It was with the help from my friends and sponsors that I came this close to my goal.

Q: Any other thoughts for your followers?

Everyone has his/her own challenges in everyday life. Set a goal and make a plan, then keep your faith to work towards it. No matter how unimportant that goal may appear to other people, it is your goal and it takes effort. You will be the one to enjoy the reward and happiness when you reach your goal with your own effort. And HAVE FUN while doing it!!!

Once Lei completes her vision, she wants to continue climbing and perhaps go for a full crossing to both the north and south poles. Lei also told me that she is “interested in having more women involved in future trips and to motivate more normal people to participate, instead of focusing on personal pursuits”

I think we will be hearing a lot about Lei for a long time.

Best of luck Lei. She is climbing with IMG. You can follow her on her blog.

Climb On!
Alan