http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/414832/1/.html
Singapore's first women's Everest team all set for expedition
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 12 March 2009 1732 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
Singapore Women's Everest Team: (From left) Esther Tan, Joanne Soo, Lee Peh Gee, Sim Yi Hui, Jane Lee and Lee Li Hui.
Video
Singapore's first women's Everest team all set for expedition
SINGAPORE: It's all systems go for Singapore's first women's Everest team. After five years of planning and training, the six women are all set to live their dreams. They will leave Singapore on March 21 to scale the world's highest mountain.
The mountaineers are taking with them 420 kilogrammes of supplies for the two-and-a-half month expedition.
Team member Lee Li Hui said: "We'll actually have green bean soup, barley as a dessert now and then... Bah Kut Teh and Chicken Rice Mix (for meals), because for the Nepalis, they eat rice and curry. We can't get used to it... we can eat more when it is locally flavoured."
They are going to need all the energy they can get, with the conditions they will be facing. These include risks of altitude sickness, frost bite and even an avalanche.
Sim Yi Hui, another member of the Singapore Women's Everest Team, said: "Some of the dangers that we will face will be the very high winds. On Everest, winds can go up to 150 km/hr, and in very high winds, usually there is a white out - which means that the area is completely white because the clouds are in, the visibility is not very good and you can't really see what you are climbing."
To prepare for the Everest climb, the adventurers have been running 50 kilometres every week and climbing Bukit Timah hill and 30-storey buildings with their 18 kg backpacks several times each week.
They have also had seven mountain expeditions. The team scaled the 8,201-metre Cho Oyu in 2007. So what drives them?
Jane Lee, a member of the Singapore Women's Everest Team, said: "Everest is a symbol of achievement, it's a symbol of life's greatest goal. In fact, within the team we have this informal motto, which we call climb your own Everest.
"It's a message that we tell people that we meet that each of us has our own dream to follow, our own Everest. So, for us, Everest is a literal mountain."
- CNA/ir
Singapore's first women's Everest team all set for expedition
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 12 March 2009 1732 hrs
Photos 1 of 1
Singapore Women's Everest Team: (From left) Esther Tan, Joanne Soo, Lee Peh Gee, Sim Yi Hui, Jane Lee and Lee Li Hui.
Video
Singapore's first women's Everest team all set for expedition
SINGAPORE: It's all systems go for Singapore's first women's Everest team. After five years of planning and training, the six women are all set to live their dreams. They will leave Singapore on March 21 to scale the world's highest mountain.
The mountaineers are taking with them 420 kilogrammes of supplies for the two-and-a-half month expedition.
Team member Lee Li Hui said: "We'll actually have green bean soup, barley as a dessert now and then... Bah Kut Teh and Chicken Rice Mix (for meals), because for the Nepalis, they eat rice and curry. We can't get used to it... we can eat more when it is locally flavoured."
They are going to need all the energy they can get, with the conditions they will be facing. These include risks of altitude sickness, frost bite and even an avalanche.
Sim Yi Hui, another member of the Singapore Women's Everest Team, said: "Some of the dangers that we will face will be the very high winds. On Everest, winds can go up to 150 km/hr, and in very high winds, usually there is a white out - which means that the area is completely white because the clouds are in, the visibility is not very good and you can't really see what you are climbing."
To prepare for the Everest climb, the adventurers have been running 50 kilometres every week and climbing Bukit Timah hill and 30-storey buildings with their 18 kg backpacks several times each week.
They have also had seven mountain expeditions. The team scaled the 8,201-metre Cho Oyu in 2007. So what drives them?
Jane Lee, a member of the Singapore Women's Everest Team, said: "Everest is a symbol of achievement, it's a symbol of life's greatest goal. In fact, within the team we have this informal motto, which we call climb your own Everest.
"It's a message that we tell people that we meet that each of us has our own dream to follow, our own Everest. So, for us, Everest is a literal mountain."
- CNA/ir
