Mountaineer Chang Yuan-chih falls to death on Mont Blanc

Mountaineer Chang Yuan-chih falls to death on Mont Blanc

2024-06-28

Professional mountaineer Chang Yuan-chih fell to his death on Thursday, when climbing Mont Blanc in France. He was 36. Chang lost his footing due to heavy snow and fell 250 meters off a cliff. News of his death has shocked his friends in Taiwan. His family has traveled to France to handle his affairs.

Voice of Tsui Tsu-hsi
Writer
We’re shocked. Yuan-chih was the very model of good technique – he was a paragon in his field. So this tragedy truly has stunned the mountaineering community. We’re all extremely shocked and upset.

Chang Yuan-chih (Aug. 13, 2014)
Archival footage of mountaineer
On the mountains, you often have to acclimatize to harsh environments and extremely harsh conditions. You might even face life-threatening situations. After you experience these things, you go back to your everyday life and discover that you can face a lot of challenges with extreme equanimity.

A photo of Chang shows him in full climbing gear, as he and his team prepared to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. He died shortly after the photo was taken. Chang was a seasoned mountaineer who successfully scaled Aconcagua, South America’s tallest mountain. He also took on the challenge of climbing K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, without supplemental oxygen.

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台灣職業登山家張元植攀登法國白朗峰墜崖身亡

2024-06-28

台灣職業登山家張元植，27號早上7點半，在攀爬法國白朗峰時，因為積雪失足，又沒有綁登山繩，墜落250公尺深的懸崖，不幸身亡。消息傳回台灣，好友都很震驚，家屬也前往法國處理後事。

[[聲音來源:登山作家崔祖錫]]
“我們是非常震驚，因為其實這個元植，無論在技術層面，都算是一個典範了，典範級的人物，所以這件事的確是在登山界，大家都非常震驚和難過”

[[已故台灣登山家 (2014.08.13) 張元植]]
“(在山上)要常常去習慣惡夯的環境，或是很惡夯的情況，甚至碰到跟生命，可能跟失去生命相關的東西，經歷過這些東西之後，再回到日常生活，其實碰到很多困難都會很淡定”

張元植的最後身影也曝光，全身設備，準備攻頂白朗峰，沒想到一小時候，就傳來噩耗。36歲的張元植，不但完成中央山脈大縱走，還有南美最高峰阿空加瓜，更挑戰無氧攀登世界第二高峰K2。

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