Tragedy that forever binds Uygur mountain guide to Hong Kong

Aishan, a Uygur mountain guide in Urumqi , has led many tourists into the beautiful mountains of Xinjiang over the past 10 years. The 35-year-old had his first camping experience in the wild when he was 11, and scaled the 5,445-metre glacier Bogeda Peak when he was 25. In 1998, the mountain took on an extra meaning for Aishan when three Hong Kong climbers disappeared there, forging an unexpected bond between him and Hong Kong

How did you become a climbing guide?

I grew up in a farm area in Yili , in western Xinjiang, a Kazakh area but where most of the people were Han. At the time, they were always showing films outdoor for the public, and since I understood Putonghua, I was a frequent goer. Some of these films were about climbing, and one that left the strongest impression was an American film called Glacier Rescue Team. Those films made climbing look fun and heroic, and they inspired me to take up climbing.

I moved to Urumqi when I attended primary school. Living in a city did not stop me from venturing into the wild. I organised the first camping with two Han classmates when I was 11. It was all very primitive - we didn't have sleeping bags or anything like that. We pooled together some money to buy a used army backpack from the flea market, took a cotton duvet from home, a plastic sheet in case there was rain, several naans, and a ceramic milk pot - without permission from my mother.

We stayed one night in a nearby mountain, made our own fire and cooked. When we returned, my mother was not upset about my staying out but was furious to see her pot charred. However, she slowly came to accept my love for camping - as long as I took the same pot every time. My father is a factory worker, and my mother a housewife - neither have ever climbed. But my father influenced me through his respect for nature.

At university, I studied to become a physical education teacher, which I did for six years at a primary school. In 1997, I decided to make what I love into a career and became a student of the renowned climber Hu Fengling. About 10 of us became the first mainland climbers to reach the summit of Bogeda Peak that year.