The mountain patrol leader's first tumble in 2024—

2024 third patrol. Last week I was under the weather and didn't make it to the mountain patrol. This week I finally managed to come, but I got up late and didn't leave until nine o'clock. Traffic jams all the way, and by the time I entered the park it was already ten, missing the sunrise and only getting a 'sun shining overhead, warming my whole body'. Upon entering the park, I went straight to the mountain trail to start climbing. The weather today was so-so, with poor visibility. There's a very clear reference for judging visibility, which is the CBD skyscraper cluster located on the East Third Ring. If you can see this city landmark clearly from the mountain, it means the visibility is quite good; if it's blurry, it means there's light fog and visibility is slightly poor; if you can't see the CBD skyscrapers at all, it means the visibility is really bad, and today was just like that. With bad weather and poor visibility, and no sunrise to see, I had no choice but to speed up and hurry on my way, at most observing the situation on the mountain path. In the past, there were very few tourists climbing the mountain on weekdays during the off-season, and in the morning you could meet some regular fitness enthusiasts, but mostly older people who exercise by climbing. If it's a weekday during the off-season, it's basically hard to see other climbers; however, today I found the mountain path to be quite lively, feeling like there were quite a few people ahead and behind me, overtaking a group of tourists every so often, and those tourists were mostly middle-aged or even young people, which was a bit unusual. Thinking about it, it makes sense. Now with rapid unemployment and difficult job hunting, middle-aged people who lose their jobs find it very hard to find new employment, and even young people getting laid off is common, with no job they just wander around; and most of the unemployed naturally wouldn't want to spend five hundred bucks to go to an amusement park, so they might as well spend five to climb a mountain. Don't ask me how I know, I'm one of them, and even the 'senior' kind, otherwise how could I possibly patrol the mountain more than a hundred times a year? Since there was no scenery to see, it only took me 32 minutes to reach the summit today, at least five minutes faster than in the morning when you can watch the sunrise. After walking around the summit, I started to descend, choosing a small path in the middle of the forest. After passing Meishi, I turned right at a fork, towards the Xiangshan ancient trail, but I didn't expect it to be such a difficult path. This small path is on the shady side of the mountain, and with cliffs and trees blocking it, it's hard to see the sun all day, so the snow accumulates and doesn't melt, and gets gradually trampled into ice. The road is very slippery, with several downhill corners being particularly treacherous, with no place to step without slipping. I didn't expect that, during the days of heavy snow, I didn't fall at all, but now almost a month after the snow, I actually fell over a dozen times on this secluded mountain path, which can be counted as my first tumble in 2024! Fortunately, halfway through I met a big brother wearing anti-slip hiking boots, walking very steadily. He saw me falling all the way and quickly came up to help me down the most difficult slope, and advised me to find a stairway to descend before he continued climbing. I'm really thankful for this kind-hearted big brother!