Hong Kong’s first polar guide on front line of climate change, a testament to power of following your dreams
- Wilson Cheung Wai-yin’s goal to climb every 4,000m peak in the Alps leads to a chance encounter in a mountain hut that sparks a life in the polar regions
Wilson Cheung Wai-yin ’s passion for alpine climbing and drive to pursue his dreams has led to a unique life as a polar guide. And now, the Hongkonger is using his skills and experience to collect climate data in Svalbard, Norway, a task that leaves him hopeful and hopeless about the planet’s future in equal measure.
Cheung graduated from Baptist University in the mid-2000s with a degree in physical education. But he could not find a job so he moved to Switzerland to work as a mountain hut keeper. He wanted to develop his alpine climbing – a form of mountain climbing that is light and quick, with minimal gear to reduce time on the mountain and therefore risk. He soon set his sights on climbing all 82 peaks of 4,000m in the Alps.
One day, a French team passed through his hut and they just happened to be polar guides.
“I was very lucky,” Cheung, 34, said. “They saw an Asian guy working in the altitude huts, in the mountains. There was a lot of Chinese tourists going to Antarctic and Arctic, and they needed a Chinese-speaking expedition guide in both regions. The next day, I got a ticket to go to Antarctic to work. Now, I have over 10 years as a polar expedition leader in the Arctic and Antarctic.”
Year after year, he went back to the high Arctic regions. He became passionate about the vast continent and sea ice, but saw change that worried him.
