Fouffeen Mountain Summits:the Dreams and Glory of Chinese Mountaineers

As the first mountaineering team to challenge the fourteen world's highest mountain summits,these Chinese mountaineers have finally realized their dream.They are all ethnic Tibetans and have gone through hardship and dangers over the years;some of them have even contributed their lives to the realization of the project.Finally,three of them have accomplished it and set a marvelous record in world mountaineering that is unprecedented.

Modeling visitor use on high elevation mountain trails: An example from Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

Increasing use on mountain summits has both social and ecological implications.High numbers of visitors climbing mountain summits can be a safety issue,particularly in areas where terrain or elevation leads to queueing that may cause time delays.Estimating visitor use levels at site specific locations en route to summits is needed to understand the potential benefits and impacts of visitor use in these locations.However,it can be difficult to obtain reliable and robust data to estimate use and develop statistical relationships because of the remote and harsh climates on mountain summits,as well as the financial and personnel requirements involved to collect the data in remote locations.In 2015,data were collected on the higher stretches of the Keyhole Route on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park,USA(RMNP)to better understand use levels near the summit and to explore potential statistical relationships to trailhead use data that are relatively easy to collect.Strong statistical relationships from robust regression analyses were found between trailhead use counts and daily and hourly use totals on the"Homestretch"which is a final section of the Keyhole Route.Additionally,a strong statistical relationship was found between total daily use and maximum hourly use on the Homestretch.The results suggest that trailhead counts are an accurate and reliable means from which to estimate use levels on upper portions of the Keyhole route.Moreover,this research demonstrates the usefulness of an approach using proxy variables to estimate visitor use along remote peaks where data collection can be difficult.These types of data can elucidate various options and decisions for park management teams who are charged with deciding if and how to manage high use areas.

The Mountain Summit Auspicious Clouds and Dreams—Recapping the Moment of the Olympic Torch Relay Leg at the Mt.Qomolangma

The Beijing leg of the 2008 Olympic torch relay be-gan in spring.Along with the citizens in other cities,we were longing for a distinctive and stun-ning torch relay in terms of the route and the many colorful cer-emonial activities. The unprecedented plan to ex-tend the torch relay to Mt. Qomolangma will surely attract at-tention from all over the world.

Assessment of alpine summit flora in Kashmir Himalaya and its implications for long-term monitoring of climate change impacts

In an era of climate change,the availability of empirical data on alpine summit vegetation in the Himalaya is still scarce.Here we report the assessment of alpine summit flora in Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary,Kashmir Himalaya.We employed a globally standardized Multi-Summit Approach and four spatially isolated summits spanning an elevation gradient of 210 m(between 3530-3740 m a.s.l.)from natural treeline to nival zone were studied.Sampling of the summits was carried out in the year 2018 to collect floristic data together with records of soil temperature.A total of 142 vascular plant species were recorded in the sampled summits.Majority of the species were of herbaceous growth form and with perennial life span.Based on Raunkiaer’s life form,hemicryptophytes were the most dominant followed by therophytes and phanerophytes.The summit flora showed the predominance of narrow-endemic species,with broad-and non-endemics declining with elevation.A significant relationship between growth form,Raunkiaer’s life form,and the degree of endemism with elevation was observed.Both species diversity and soil temperature showed a monotonic decrease with increasing elevation.Interestingly,soil temperature clearly determined the magnitude of species diversity on the summits.Furthermore,based on floristic composition,the lowest summit had the highest dissimilarity with the rest of the summits.The present study employed globally standardized protocol to scientifically assess the patterns of plant diversity on the alpine mountain summits of Kashmir Himalaya,which in turn has wide implications towards long-term monitoring of climate change impact on alpine biodiversity in the rapidly warming Himalaya.