Philip Ling

Philip Ling is an Australian high altitude mountaineer. He first came to recognition in March 2006 when he was involved in what became one of the highest ever successful high altitude rescues of two injured Sherpas while climbing Mt. Pumori, 7167m in Nepal.

A year earlier, in 2005, a severe weather storm forced him to turn around from Camp 2 while climbing the same mountain. The next day, his expedition teammate, Alex Chen, slipped and died while descending from the summit. His body was never recovered.

Later that same year Philip successfully summitted Mt. Cho Oyu, 8201m in Tibet without using supplementary oxygen. Due to the nature of Cho Oyu's large summit plateau, there were inherent risks climbing without supplementary O2, namely the large amount of time required to be spent in the death zone to reach the true summit. On the morning he set out from Advanced Base Camp for the summit of Cho Oyu, he witnessed first hand what later became known as the Nangpa La shootings.

He is seen in the TV documentary which details the continued persecution of the Tibetans by the Chinese Army and cold blooded killings. This documentary is shown globally and showing the war crimes being committed by the Chinese Army. He is part of an international team of mountaineers who frequent Himalayas and Alps. He is a devoted environmentalist and conservationist. Australian by birth and German by heart, he is a frequent visitor to Nepali and Tibetan mountains. His widespread interest in eastern religions and philosophy has led him all over the world.

In 2007, while climbing in the Lhotse Couloir above Camp 4 on Mt. Lhotse, 8516m, he witnessed the death of Pemba Doma Sherpa who fell from near the summit while descending.