Meet My Next Guest, Sun Bin, China's Mountaineer Extraordinaire!

My next guest on the Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim Show will be taking you, me and our global listening audience to new heights -literally!

Thanks to Beijing AmBridge International Culture Development Ltd. (AmBridge), the show's title-sponsor, I was able to meet one of China's most ambitious and passionate mountain climbers, Sun Bin.

And you will, too, over the next three Saturday broadcasts scheduled for April 16, 23 and 30. 

Sun Bin has nearly 20 years of world-wide mountaineering, rock climbing and ice climbing experience. He is the first Chinese mountaineer athlete to be sponsored for California-based The North Face. 

He first started his climbing adventures as a member of the Peking University Mountaineering Association in 1997. Sun Bin subsequently joined the Chinese Mountaineering Association in 2000. For the next six years he was the chief designer of training programs for rock climbing, ice climbing and mountain guiding in China, as well as certification programs- a first in Chinese history. 

From 2006 to 2008 Sun Bin joined the Beijing Olympic Committee, serving as project manager of the torch relay on Mount Everest. During the test event in 2007 he summited Mount Everest. 

Since then Sun Bin has climbed and guided others on an amazing assortment of expeditions.  In 2008, he made a film about ice climbing in Shuangqiao Gully titled Dragon Breath. In 2009, he acted as the main role for the movie Summit Memory from the story of climbing Mt. Xixiabangma. In 2009, he translated the book Extreme Alpinism by Mark Twight to Chinese and published for all the Chinese climbers. In 2011, Sun Bin set up a new route on south face of Mt. Siguniang (6250m), and made a documentary, Return to the Peak. 

In 2012, he set up a non-profit organization,  Summit Outdoor School, to provide courses for mountain guides, local guides, and university students. 

Four years ago Sun Bin was featured in the “Go Wild” campaign, a collaboration between The North Face and Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai: 

“The North Face’s Go Wild campaign is a breath of fresh air that encourages city dwellers to break free from the eating-drinking-shopping-sitting in front of a screen rut and to replace it with tranquil or thrilling experiences in the great outdoors.” 

Check out this YouTube clip about trad-climbing  and this Chinese language film, 去野-孙斌, featuring Sun Bin on Tudou.com. 

Presently, Sun Bin and his team are in Norway preparing for an expedition to the North Pole, to be followed by one to Denali Mountain in Alaska, USA. 

So, mark your calendars! Get ready to "go wild" over mountaineering with Sun Bin. This is an interview series you will not want to miss.