Chinese mountaineer was prepared to die - but not from terrorist gunfire in Pakistan
Yang Chunfeng just 3 peaks short of climbing world's top 14 when terrorists cut him down
Yang Chunfeng 1968-2013
Yang Chunfeng dreamt of conquering the world's 14 highest peaks. But the dream was cut short on Sunday when terrorists struck in northern Pakistan.
Ten people died in the dawn massacre at the foot of Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth-highest mountain and the western anchor of the Himalayas.
Yang told friends before leaving for Pakistan that he would "complete the 14 mountains or lie on a snowy mountain forever", according to mainland media reports.
His family planned to fly to Islamabad early today to bring his body back to Urumqi , Xinjiang , according to one of his business partners, Ma Liya.
Yang, a thin ethnic Han in his mid-40s, was one of the mainland's most notable mountaineers and its only civilian to have climbed 11 of the 14 highest peaks. He was also a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and once owned a clinic in Urumqi.
He got a taste for climbing mountains in early 1998 when he scaled a 4,700-metre peak in Xinjiang. In an interview with the Xinjiang Metropolis Customers Daily in 2011, he recalled nearly slipping and falling to his death on that climb. But when he saw the view from the summit, he fell in love with the sport.