At 8.30 am (Singapore time) on 25 May 25 1998, two members of the Singapore Everest team – Outward Bound School instructor Edwin Siew and systems analyst Khoo Swee Chiow – accompanied by four Nepalese Sherpas, successfully summited the 8,848-metre-high Mount Everest. It was the team’s second attempt, after a gruelling nine-hour moonlight ascent that had begun at 11.30 pm the previous night.[1]
The triumphant ascent was taken along the three-kilometre-long Hillary Route (also known as the South East Ridge route or the South Col of Everest via Nepal), and follows in the footsteps of the very first Everest summiteers, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, on 29 May 1953.[2]
Five climbers from the team – Edwin, Swee Chiow, Justin Lean, Mohd Rozani Maarof and Robert Goh – had made an earlier attempt on 19 May, but failed to reach the summit due to heavy snowfall and gusty winds blowing at up to 70 km per hour near the peak. Their maiden attempt were further stymied by the absence of rope along the treacherous section from the South Summit to the peak, as proceeding without the safety of fixed lines would almost invariably lead to certain death under such inclement weather conditions.[3]
For their remarkable and historic feat, the Singapore Mount Everest team was conferred the Singapore Youth Award (Sports and Adventure) by the National Youth Council in July 1998, as their “exemplary dedication, discipline and determination to be the first Singapore team to conquer Mount Everest serve[d] as an inspiration to all Singaporeans”.[4]
As part of the rigorous and intensive preparation, the team began training four years earlier in 1994 with weekly climbs up 25-storey Housing and Development Board blocks of flats carrying 20-kilogram backpacks, circuit training on Bukit Timah Hill, rock-climbing at the Dairy Farm cliffs, and overseas training on the Swiss Alpine and Himalayan ranges. The last training expedition to the 8,200-metre-high Cho Oyu peak in Tibet in August 1997 was used as a simulation test to gauge the team’s ability and performance on an 8,000-metre peak.[5]
The idea of sending a Singapore team to scale Mount Everest first took root in 1990, when the then president of the Mountaineering Society of Singapore applied for a permit to climb Everest in 2000. The application was rejected, as the Nepalese government only allowed applications from the respective country’s registered national alpine association. In 1993, a revised application was sent by David Lim, under Singapore’s newly formed national climbing association, the Singapore Mountaineering Federation, and the application was finally approved in May 1994, granting Singapore a permit to climb in 1998.[6]
The 12-member Singapore Everest Team comprised the following:[7]
Climbers
(profile as at 1998)
David Lim, 33, multimedia executive and president, Mountaineering Society of Singapore (expedition leader)
Justin Lean, 24, National University of Singapore undergraduate
Robert Goh Ee Kiat, 32, defence engineer
Mok Ying Jang, 30, doctor
Lim Kim Boon, 32, rock-climbing consultant
Khoo Swee Chiow, 33, systems analyst (summiteer)
Mohd Rozani Maarof, 30, mechanic
Edwin Siew, 28, Outward Bound School instructor (summiteer)
Leong Chee Mun, 33, physical-education teacher, Raffles Junior College
Support team
Shani Tan, 39, anaesthetist (expedition doctor)
Bruce Niven, 62, police consultant (base-camp commander)
Johann Annuar, 23, engineering undergraduate (expedition communications officer)
References
1. At 8.30 am, two S’poreans reached Everest peak. (1998, May 25). The New Paper, p. 12; Tee, E., & Lim, A. (1998, May 26). Success on Mt Everest. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. Lim, A. (1998, February 26). Deadline: Mid-May. The Straits Times, p. 29. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
3. Lim, A., & Tee, E. (1998, May 21). ‘Another team foiled bid for top’. The Straits Times, p. 44; Lim, A. (1998, May 20). S’pore team’s first bid at Everest peak fails. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; The Straits Times, 26 May, 1998, p. 1; Wong, S. (1999). To the vertical end of the earth: The story of the 1st Singapore Mount Everest expedition (p. 135). Singapore: Landmark Books. Call no.: RSING 796.522095496 WON.
4. Ho, D. (1998, June 30). Everest team bags award. The Straits Times, p. 23; Who reached the summit first? (1998, May 28). The Straits Times, p. 31. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Woon, W. T. (1997, June 20). Never rest, Everest... The New Paper, p. 15; 25-storey runs routine training for team. (1997, July 7). The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Wong, 1999, pp. 44, 52.
6. Wong, 1999, pp. 33–35.
7. The Straits Times, 7 Jul 1997, p. 3; Defying the ‘death zone’ to prepare for Mt Everest. (1997, August 26). The Straits Times, p. 35. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Wong, 1999, p. 56.
The information in this article is valid as at 2014 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.