When the UTMB finals starting list was revealed last week, we were thrilled to see how much trail running talent is going to be lining up in Chamonix in just a few weeks' time, but a little disappointed by the omission of Fuzhao Xiang – turns out she's got loftier goals in mind this year.
The Chinese trail running star recently placed a very admirable second at this year's Western States, marking her second consecutive silver buckle at the California race. Her 2024 time of 16:20:03 was the third-fastest female finish in history. She placed fourth at the 2023 UTMB race around Mont Blanc, but DNF'd last year, so we were hoping to see her come back for some redemption.
Over the weekend, however, Xiang revealed she's currently switched out her trail running shoes (the Hoka Rocket X Trail shoes if we're being exact) for crampons as the 34-year-old posted a video of herself on the summit of Muztagh Ata, a 7,000m peak in China.
Standing at 24,757ft (7,546m), Muztagh Ata is located at the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and Xiang says it took her just over 13 hours to reach the summit, where she encountered 43mph (70km per hour) winds.
"The original plan was a no-oxygen speed ascent, but in the final 100 meters I chose to breathe supplemental oxygen in response to how my body and the weather felt. It was both a fresh challenge and a brand-new beginning," says Xiang.
Though for experienced mountaineers, the mountain is considered one of the easier 7,000m peaks to climb, Xiang reveals that for her, it's just a training run, really: "Next peak: Mount Everest—see you there."
We don't yet have any details on when Xiang plans to summit the world's highest mountain, but we'll be cheering her on during this next chapter.
