After I registered my trademark (TFS) and founded my studio, I started sharing my work on several professional outdoor websites in China.

 At that time, several active outdoor websites included Lvye in Beijing, doyouhike in Shenzhen, and the Equipment Forum in Shanghai. The most active and commercial one was undoubtedly the 8264 Outdoor Forum which has been established for more than 20 years.. It was a platform for outdoor enthusiasts to communicate. 

In order to promote my brand, I often posted content about tent making on these forums and shared my understanding of tents. I remember that the combined clicks on the content I posted were as high as several million.

One day, I received a forum message from someone who said, "Hello, do you know The Free Spirits? His ID is TFS Dongdong." I looked through his profile and found that he was Yan Dongdong himself.

I immediately replied to him, telling him my understanding of his and Zhou Peng's climbing experience and my admiration for their climbing spirit, and said that I would work hard to make the best products, and also hoped to carry forward their climbing stories.

Yan Dongdong agreed with my point of view. After the conversation ended, he left me an email address and asked me to meet at the Beijing ISPO exhibition that year. I happily agreed.

That winter, I came to the ISPO Outdoor Exhibition in Beijing. As soon as I arrived in Beijing, I went directly to the exhibition.

At the agreed time, I met Yan Dongdong and Zhou Peng at the booth. They were sharing their climbing stories and were nominated for the Golden Rhino Award and the Golden Ice Axe Award.

At that moment, I had just started my business, and I felt an inexplicable sense of distance. I suddenly didn't have the courage to communicate with them. I walked around the exhibition and left the exhibition silently.

Not long after, I heard a sad news: Yan Dongdong, Zhou Peng, Li Shuang and others were climbing the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang when Yan Dongdong slipped and fell into an ice crack. Zhou Peng and others tried to rescue him many times but failed. Dongdong was trapped in the mountains forever.

This news made me very sad and regretful. I immediately contacted my friend Feng Ruoyin in Beijing and got his help.

He contacted Zhou Peng. Later, I made a special trip to Beijing to visit Zhou Peng. Later, we also carried out some small cooperation in Zhou Peng's outdoor mountaineering training, which made up for a regret in my heart.

This memory touched me deeply, especially my hesitation at the ISPO exhibition that year. Thinking back on it now, it is an eternal regret. However, being able to continue their spirit and climbing philosophy through products is also a kind of consolation.

Later, I saw someone share the memorial service held by Tsinghua University for Yan Dongdong on the Internet. There was a very meaningful passage in the memorial service:

The theme is about free mountaineering, “you make your own decisions, take risks and consequences; you choose your own route, not following others; when you reach the place you want to go through your own efforts and feel the beauty of nature, that will be the best reward for all your efforts.”

This passage is similar to our life journey, so I keep it in mind.