Vietnamese people have just conquered Mount Everest: Climbing high to reach... the depth

Nguyen Manh Duy has a sympathetic face, a slow but passionate voice, and his skin is a bit gray in some places due to frostbite. At the age of 41, he has just finished his "double summit" journey of 2 peaks in the Himalayas: Everest, 8,848 m - the highest peak in the world (morning of May 11, 2025) and immediately after that Lhotse, 8,516 m - the 4th highest peak in the world (morning of May 13), marking his 10-year milestone of reaching the Himalayan peaks.

RISK WITH CAUTION

The origin of Duy's dream is actually in the blood of a guy who came from a journalism background and is also a "backpacker". Duy used to have 10 years of experience carrying a camera everywhere to search for topics to write reports, partly to satisfy his "petty wanderer" blood. "Back then, I had a "mountain addiction", every weekend I would "ride alone" straight to the Northwest, especially Ha Giang . Until the time that I thought was predestined, I had my first trip to Tibet on May 29, 2014. The reason I remember this day clearly is because it coincided with May 29, 1953, one of the most memorable milestones in the history of mountaineering when humans first set foot on Mount Everest. Since that moment, the silent calls from the mountain have been constantly ringing in my head...", Duy recalled.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Duy successfully conquered Mount Everest

To conquer Everest, Duy successively crossed heights from over 6,000 m to over 8,000 m. "My principle, which is perhaps also the ultimate principle for a mountain climber, is to take risks with caution, and never rush into any stage. Perhaps that is why when I took my first steps on Everest, I was filled with confidence," Duy said.

Amateur climber Nguyen Manh Duy's face is darkened by frostbite after conquering the world's highest mountain peak

PHOTO: NVCC

The arduous journey of a mountain climber turned journalist

Photo: NVCC

The journey of conquest also gives climbers profound philosophies of life , such as perspective. "Always looking forward is what climbers need to do. Because if you look back or down, even experienced people will feel dizzy. Of course, sometimes when we rest, we can look both up and down to observe the whole journey. For me, each step is the most important, steady and steadfast in each step, even if it is slow, we will still reach the destination...", Duy said. And Duy's destination, after the "roof of the world" is to conquer other peaks over 8,000 m. "The world has 14 peaks, I have only conquered 3", Duy said.

The great challenge of life

Photo: NVCC

Duy said that before the words Everest appeared in his mind like a dream command, he stood from the top of the neighboring mountain looking at the "roof of the world" in the mist, and sometimes stood for a long time at the foot of Everest and asked himself: "When?". The person who just conquered Everest said that if there was a biggest fear in him, it was not not reaching the destination, but not being able to set off. And on the mountain climbing journey, courage sometimes is not the determination to continue, but... turning back.

EVEREST - PARADISE AND BATTLE

"Space and time on high mountains are really different, especially on peaks above 8,000 m, where the amount of oxygen to breathe is only 30% compared to the ground. Space and time, especially on summit push days (efforts to reach the top) give me interesting experiences because those are very long climbing days, usually departing in the evening or at night and trying to reach the top in the early morning. That is the safest time to go. When you live and are awake for almost 24 hours a day, you also see time differently. Being high up also helps us observe space from a very different perspective. In "heaven", its beauty is very strange... Being on top of the "roof of the world", even almost seeing the curve of the earth's shape, it is a very wonderful feeling", Duy said calmly but clearly with joy.

To climb to the top, Manh Duy had to face countless dangers.

Duy watched Everest by director Baltasar Kormákur, the film selected to open the 2015 Venice Film Festival. The film tells the story of a real disaster that happened in Everest in 1996, when a fierce snowstorm took the lives of 8 climbers, with the chilling message "The closer you get to the top, the closer you are to death". Duy said he cried when watching Everest in the scenes that tested the viewer's mental toughness, not because of fear but because he felt sorry for his "comrades" and their families.

Former journalist Nguyen Manh Duy (right) proudly stands next to the national flag on top of Everest at 9:09 a.m. on May 11, 2025.

PHOTO: NVCC

The road to the top of Everest is not only filled with the terrifying howling of the wind, the sharpness of the rocks and the minus tens of degrees cold, but as in Free Solo - the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary film asserted: "The human body is not born to survive at the operating altitude of a 747 aircraft". The road to the top of Everest sometimes has moments of silence when the conqueror's eyes are struck by the image of corpses lying on the snowy mountain. "My feeling at that time was not necessarily fear but sadness. Sadness because I saw my friends who shared the same dream but unfortunately remained in a place where their families often had difficulty bringing them home, because the cost for this was up to more than 85,000 USD. They were not failed heroes, they even reached their destination, or almost reached their destination, they were just exhausted on the way back, or almost reached the top...", Duy emotionally said.

Unforgettable journey in life

There were also moments of silence when standing in front of the wind graves at the memorial site, located at an altitude of 4,500 m, where relatives of the deceased climbers left heartbreaking farewells. Among them, Duy always remembered the words of a climber's wife: "The important thing is that you have fulfilled your most beautiful dream and now, from the roof of the world, you can see everything appearing so beautifully, just as you wanted...".

Manh Duy and his family

Photo: NVCC

The journey to conquer Mount Everest of the Hanoi boy somewhat reminds me of the footsteps of Shimamura, the Tokyo boy who conquered the snowy peaks three times in Snow Country by Japanese writer Kawabata. The beautiful and breathtaking writings about the silence at the sacred mountain peak: "All around is white snow, the sound of the snow freezing into ice seems to echo from deep within the earth. The stars are so numerous that it's hard to believe, looking up, you can see them clearly against the sky, as if they are falling continuously at an unreal speed...". As for Duy, to him, that is the call of the mountains.

Go to the end of that call, you will meet yourself!

MILESTONES ON THE JOURNEY TO CONQUER EVEREST

- In 2014, Manh Duy set foot on Everest Base Camp for the first time; then in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2022, he set foot on Everest Base Camp in both Nepal and Tibet.

- Has made many journeys to all Himalayan regions: Ladakh, Sikkim, Kashmir, various trekking routes such as Annapurna Circuit, Upper Mustang.