Third time's the charm for Singaporean climber Khoo Swee Chiow
Mr Khoo Swee Chiow on top of Kangchenjunga. He is the first South-east Asian to have scaled the world's three highest peaks. PHOTO: KHOO SWEE CHIOW/ FACEBOOK
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Ng Huiwen
nghuiwen@sph.com.sg
Singaporean adventurer and mountaineer Khoo Swee Chiow has become the first South-east Asian to scale the world's three highest peaks - Mount Everest (8,848m), K2 (8,611m) and Kangchenjunga (8,586m).
In a statement on Friday, Mr Khoo, 55, said he reached the summit of Kangchenjunga on his third attempt on May 15.
The mountain lies between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim.
Mr Khoo first attempted to climb Kangchenjunga in 2017, but turned back at 8,000m because of a shortage of rope. The next year, he was about 280m shy from the summit when he again had to abort the climb due to deep snow and dangerous conditions.
Mr Khoo posted on Facebook last week: "15 May 2019. Kangchenjunga summit. Finally, after 3 attempts. Hard to put into words my emotion. Thanks for your prayers. #daretodream #donotgiveup".
He also shared photos of the breathtaking Himalayan mountain range from the top.
Mr Khoo, a member of the first Singaporean team to scale Everest in 1998, said Kangchenjunga is on a par with K2 in terms of difficulty. He climbed K2, which is on the China-Pakistan border, in 2012.
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K2 is known to be far more dangerous to climb than Everest because its routes are steeper and the weather significantly colder and less predictable.
Around 7,000 people are said to have reached the summit of Everest so far. Only 420 have scaled Kangchenjunga.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on May 26, 2019, with the headline 'Third time's the charm for Singaporean climber'. Print Edition | Subscribe