One Giant Leap

Yes, we climbed Mt Everest and we summitted the mountain. But beyond the support of sponsors, individual donors, family and friends, there is a group of people whom we are grateful for – our sherpa guides.
 
From the acclimatization climbs to the actual summit push, our sherpas have been with us, climbing, toiling, cheering us on. We would like to recognize them for their efforts which made a tremendous difference in our Everest expedition. To us, they are the true heroes behind the mountain. Here, we would like to mention by name, the sherpas who were with us on the final summit push, and thank them for their relentless help and support:
 
Panuru Sherpa (Lihui’s sherpa guide)
Jamling Bhorte (Esther’s sherpa guide)
Kami Sherpa (Jane’s sherpa guide)
Dawa Tenzing (Joanne’s sherpa guide)
Dawa Nuru (Peh Gee’s sherpa guide)

Five years of preparation, training and fund-raising paid off when the NATAS Singapore Women’s Everest Team (NATAS-SWET) put the first Singaporean women on the top of the world.

On 20th May 2009, the first summit team saw success when members Lee Lihui, Esther Tan and team leader Jane Lee stood on the summit of Mt Everest at 8,850m. 48 hours later, team members Joanne Soo and Lee Peh Gee added to the resounding success and reached the world’s highest peak. Team co-leader, Sim Yihui did not ascend due to recurring chest pains.

All members of the team are safely back at Everest Base Camp and are currently making their way back to Kathmandu.

The NATAS Singapore Women’s Everest Team would like to thank our Patron, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, and our generous sponsors and supporters, without whom this journey and resounding summit success would not be possible. We would like to specifically thank:

Title Sponsor: National Assocoation of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS)
Main Sponsors: TruMarine, Lee Foundation
Supported by: Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO)
Official Health Supplement: Centrum
Official Eyewear: Smith Optics
Gear Sponsor: Marmot
Training Venue Supporter: SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre
Product Sponsors: SingTel, SilkAir, Yeo’s, BUFF, PowerBar, Polar, Kyocera, Greenpac, NPE, Sin Mue Mue
Suppporting Organisations: Singapore Sports Council, National Youth Council, Singapore Mountaineering Federation, National Library Board, People’s Association Youth Movement, Singapore Pools, Tote Board, Central Narcotics Board
Cash Sponsor: Hyflux

We would also like to thank individual sponsors who contributed to our journey.

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to our coach and Base Camp manager, Mr Lim Kim Boon, who was a constant source of guidance and encouragement throughout our journey.

We look forward to returning to Singapore at the soonest!

On 22 May 2009, the NATAS Singapore Women’s Everest Team added to their historic success by placing two more members on the summit of Mt Everest, the highest peak on earth at 8850m. Joanne Soo age 39 and Lee Peh Gee age 32 reached the top of the world at 5.31am and 5.56am respectively – Nepal time. The two girls are making their way back to camp 4.
 
Jane Lee and Lee Lihui have arrived back at Everest Base Camp yesterday afternoon while Esther Tan is scheduled to be back later today. Look out for a more detailed press release from the Everest Base Camp.

On 20 May 2009, a historic feat for Singapore was achieved when the NATAS Singapore Women’s Everest Team reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest peak on earth which stands at 8850m. Lee Li Hui age 27, Esther Tan age 26 and Jane Lee age 25 of the NATAS Singapore Women’s Everest Team stepped on the top of the world at 3.45am, 3.54am and 4.43am respectively – Nepal time, making the team the first Singaporean women to reach the world’s tallest mountain. The second summit team are currently on the way from camp 2 to camp 3 and they plan to go for the summit on 22 May.

The second team consists Joanne Soo and Lee Peh Gee. The third member Sim Yihui experienced chest pains while on the way up the Khumbu Ice Fall and had to turn around. She is well and currently back at basecamp

After a bout of turbulent weather which saw Everest Base Camp covered in 7cm-thick snow, the weather finally looks set for a summit window.
 
The last couple of days saw the entire Khumbu region, including surrounding towns like Pangboche and Pheriche experience high precipitation and winds. Even though this is not entirely weather to celebrate about, we remain hopeful here at Base Camp – because every inch of snow is an indication of the jet streams passing over us and the coming of good weather.
 
We’re sticking to the two summit-team strategy for this push so that we have higher chances of success. The first summit team will set off on the morning of 15th May, while the second summit team will head off a couple of days later. Hopes burn bright within the team, and we’re going to give this our best shot!

The team’s summit attempts have been postponed, due to weather changes. The weather window we were aiming for on the 11th and 12th of May got smaller, due to winds picking up as jet stream passed over the top of Mt. Everest. As stronger winds picked up in both the east and the west, the team and the rest of the IMG climbers (climbers with the mountaineering agency we’re partnering with) who were aiming for the same summit window decided to postpone the summit attempt and come back to base camp to wait for a more favourable weather window.

We took this opportunity to stay at Camp 2 (6,500m) for a couple of nights to optimize our acclimatization, and we’ll be keeping active at base camp with hikes to nearby mountains to stay fitting fit for the summit push. Word has it that there may be a weather window towards the end of May, we’ll keeping our eyes open for that.

Sure, it was a disappointment for the team that our first summit attempt has been foiled, but to put things in perspective, this expedition has been 5 years in the making – what is waiting for a few more days for the summit push?

It’s crunch time! The acclimatization cycles are complete, the weather’s looking good and we’re feeling more prepared than ever. At the crack of tomorrow’s dawn, we’ll be headed for the summit push, towards the top of Mt Everest at 8,850m. Stay tuned, we hope to bring you good news from the top of the world!

You may not have seen him in our pictures, or notice him at the airport send-off, but Mr Lim Kim Boon is an integral part of the team.

Kim Boon is our capable Base Camp Manager, training coach, advisor, team liaison officer, and our beloved 7th member. He is one of the pioneers who started the rock climbing sport in Singapore back in 1980s, and has been actively involved in our sport climbing and mountaineering scene since.

Kim Boon has been with us since the formation of the team 5 years ago, and has been selfless in imparting his advice and skills. He was Advisor to the 2005 NUS Centennial Team and a member of the Premier Taxi Everest Without Oxygen Team in the same year. Currently based in the UK, Kim Boon has been conducting ice-climbing courses in Sichuan, China since 2003. We’ve been to several of his ice-climbing courses which have proven greatly beneficial to our climb on the Lhotse Face up to Camp 3.  

Last but not least, it is because of Kim Boon that we’re able to call Everest Base Camp our comfortable ‘home’ for the past few weeks. From great advice to nifty improvements to our living conditions, we’ve been blessed by Kim Boon’s presence.

Thank you, Kim Boon!

Two days ago, we returned from Camp 3 (7,100m) on Everest, therefore completing the last of our acclimatization cycles before the summit bid!

At 3.30am on 26th April, we set off once again up the Khumbu Icefall. This time round, our objective was to get to Camp 3, sleep one night there and climb up towards the Yellow Band the next morning. Camps 1 and 2 are now familiar places to us, we stayed one night at each camp before heading up the Lhotse Face towards Camp 3 on the 3rd morning. A bit of background here: the Lhotse Face is a sheer face of near-vertical ice stretching 800m – the terrain on this face is extremely steep and climbers have been known to experience difficulty kicking into the hard and dry ice on this section.

It was a long and tiring plough up the Lhotse Face towards Camp 3. We took about 8 hours to get to our tents, which sits at the highest section of the entire campsite. Once we’ve settled into our tents, we had a bit of dinner before retiring for the night. We slept without oxygen and woke up early the next morning for our short climb towards the Yellow Band, a horizontal section of rocks that sit below Camp 4.

We toggled with the oxygen systems that we’ve learnt to use at Base Camp, and strapped on the 7.5kg oxygen bottle onto our backpacks to begin the climb. We journeyed for about 1.5hours before we reached the bottom of the Yellow Band and turned back towards Camp 3. Once back at Camp 3, we packed up and left for Camp 2 and subsequently, Base Camp.

We’re currently recuperating at Base Camp, waiting for weather reports of favourable weather windows for us to make the summit bid. While waiting, we’re abiding by the principle of ‘active rest’, where every other day, we hike up to surrounding peaks like Pumori and Kala Pattar. This is important for us to stay active and healthy for the summit attempt.

We’re thankful to be safely back at Base Camp. Just yesterday, we witnessed a major avalanche on the Khumbu Icefall which saw the left section of the icefall crumble down. It happened a day after we’ve returned, at the same time we would’ve been travelling through the icefall. This is a timely reminder for us that climbing is a humbling sport. Climbers don’t conquer Everest, they survive this giant of creation.

At this point, we’d like to wish our naming sponsor, NATAS (National Association of Travel Agents Singapore), a very happy 30th anniversary! Although we’re not able to join in the celebrations physically, we’re with you in spirit and hope to bring back good news!

At the crack of dawn on 15 April, we set off for our 2nd acclimatization cycle, which brought us to Camps 1 (6,100m) and 2 (6,500m). This was the first time on this climb that we’d be reaching an altitude of 6,500m. We had with us our Sherpas, Kami, Jamling and Dawa. We headed up the Khumbu Icefall at 5.30am, traveling through the giant blocks of ice in semi-darkness. Climbing in the morning also meant having to endure low temperatures, and it was through this blanket of sub-zero coldness that we journeyed through multiple crevasses and vertical sections with the use of ladders.

The sun hit us around 9am in the icefall, and the sun’s rays started taking a toll on our energy. We had to stop every now and then to hydrate and consume food. We also had to remove the warmer pieces of clothing on us to help with our ventilation system.

Camp 1 is rather exposed to the elements and we stayed in our tents mostly to stay out of the howling winds. The next day, we moved off around 7am for an acclimatization hike up to lower Camp 2. That helped us stay active at altitude which is an important factor in our acclimatization cycle.

We climbed up to Camp 2 the following day, up the Western Cwm. Temperatures are known to be blazing hot in the cwm because we’re traveling through the basin of a valley, where most of the heat gets trapped and reflected. Therefore we started early in the morning around 6am to avoid the heat. Even though the terrain wasn’t particularly steep, every step we took was draining because of the high altitude. We arrived at Camp 2 in time for an early lunch, and helped set up the tents which we would call ‘home’ for the next 3 nights.

From Camp 2, we were able to behold the magnificent Lhotse Face, which we will be climbing up to reach Camp 3 (7,400m) on our next acclimatization cycle. We’re heading up to Camp 3 within the next week, and we hope to bring you more updates when we return from Camp 3 in about a week’s time!