Wang Jing () is a Chinese

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, author, entrepreneur and member of

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

in the United States. Wang Jing is best known for her feat in becoming the fastest woman in the world to complete the

Explorers Grand Slam The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits (Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson, and Puncak Jaya or Kosciuszko). Purists also include a sub ...

(Last Degree) in 143 days (4 months and 23 days) and the fastest woman to climb Seven Summits with an assist from helicopters (combined

Mount Kosciuszko Mount Kosciuszko ( ; Ngarigo: , ), previously spelled Mount Kosciusko, is mainland Australia's tallest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. It is located on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National ...

and Carstensz lists in 138 days, which is 4 months and 18 days). The

involves reaching the highest peak on every continent plus at a minimum of skiing the last degree (111 km) to the North and South poles. Wang Jing recorded this adventure in her book ''Silence of the Summit'', which was published in English in December 2018.

Toread

Wang Jing is the chairwoman, CEO, and co-founder of Toread Holdings Group Co., Ltd. In China. The company offers outdoor products including clothing, shoes, and equipment, and went public on Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2009. It was named by Forbes Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion in 2014.

Mountaineering

On January 15, 2014, Wang Jing reached the South Pole, marking the start of her Explorers Grand Slam journey. The

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

Jing climbed included

Vinson Massif Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Carstensz Pyramid Puncak Jaya (; literally "Glorious Peak") or Carstensz Pyramid, Mount Jayawijaya or Mount Carstensz () on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth. The mountain is located in the Sudi ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

, Elbrus Summit of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Denali Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...

of North America and

of Australia – covering both the Messner and Bass lists of the

. Wang Jing and a team of Sherpas caused controversy by becoming the only team to reach the summit of

after the

2014 Mount Everest ice avalanche On 18 April 2014, seracs on the western spur of Mount Everest failed, resulting in an ice avalanche that killed sixteen climbing Sherpas in the Khumbu Icefall. This was the same icefall where the 1970 Mount Everest disaster had taken place. ...

that killed 16 Sherpas. Because Jing and her team used a helicopter to get from Base Camp to Camp 2,

Elizabeth Hawley Elizabeth Hawley (9 November 1923 – 26 January 2018) was an American journalist, author, and chronicler of Himalayan mountaineering expeditions. Hawley's ''The Himalayan Database'' became the unofficial record for climbs in the Nepalese Himal ...

put an asterisk next to her ascent marking it aviation assisted, followed by the Nepalese government providing her with a summit certificate for "her successful ascent in a time of crisis and uncertainty." As of 2016, helicopters now carry loads for Sherpa to Camp 1 as a matter of standard practice. Jing received the title "International-Mountaineer 2014" and also "Nepal-China goodwill ambassador-2015" from the Nepalese government.

Everest Future Foundation

Wang Jing established the Everest Future Foundation to improve the standard of living of the Sherpa community, more specifically, building their schools, monasteries, hospitals and contributing to other welfare activities. One example is the Khumjung Gompa, a monastery located in the Khumjung village at the foot of the sacred peak of Khumbila at an altitude of 3,790m. This monastery is an important source of spiritual guidance to the local communities. On the 25th of April 2015 when an earthquake struck leaving the monastery severely damaged, locals did not dare enter the monastery with the fear of sudden collapse. The Jing Foundation donated 13,000,000 Rupees to support the reconstruction of Khumjung Gumba. This donation will go a long way in funding the reconstruction of this important building in 2017. Jing has also donated to the Nepalese health and educational sectors in order to raise their current standard. Along with this, she participated in activities cleaning up garbage in the Qomolungma high-altitude named "Clean The Mountain".

Books

Wang Jing has also authored two books based on her mountaineering experiences, ''Life at Altitude'' and ''Silence of the Summit''. The first book was first published in Chinese in 2013, telling Jing's story from a sportswear businessperson to a mountaineer. The second book, ''Silence of the Summit'', was published in Chinese in 2016, focusing on her expedition in 2014. The English edition of ''Silence of the Summit'' was published in 2018.

Expeditions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Jing Living people Chinese summiters of Mount Everest Summiters of the Seven Summits Explorers of Antarctica Explorers of the Arctic Female polar explorers Female climbers 1975 births