Mt. Everest 2005: Two Teams: National University of Singapore 2005 Everest Expedition and 3 man Singapore Expedition without oxygen expedition

©EverestNews.com

Update from the three man expedition without oxygen (Climbers Robert Goh, Lim Kim Boon and Edwin Siew)

5 April: Today is the first day with warm sunshine and little wind. We took advantage of the weather to take lots of photos with sponsors flags and clothing. A punja has been planned for April 7, an auspicious day, according to the Sherpas. Meanwhile, the ice doctors have been laying the ladders cross crevasses on the icefall, a treacherous steep stretch of broken and shifting ice blocks .

3 April: Arrived at Everest Base Camp, which sits on the Khumbu Glacier. The camp is surrounded by boulders, loose rocks and sandy slopes.

28 March: The team summited Island Peak (6,130m) today, arriving at the summit at about 11.20am local time. The climb was to help the guys acclimatize to high altitude and to prepare for the icefall at Everest leading to Camp 1 and Camp 2. On summit day, the weather was good, with bright sunshine, but there were high winds of up to 80kph. The climbers were pleased with their performance as they were not tired and suffered no AMS, which meant they had been well prepared

16 March 2005: Kathmandu: Spent the whole of yesterday sorting and repacking gear, writing postcards and unwinding. Tomorrow, we will fly to Lukla from where we will begin our trek. We will be heading first for Island Peak (6,180m) which the team will climb, to acclimatize before Everest. Estimated date of arrival at Everest Base Camp is 3 April. More reports will follow after that. Do join us on our journey.

Background

The National University of Singapore is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the university this year. As part of the festivities they will be sending a team, made up of students, staff and alumni to the summit of Everest.

Mountaineering took on a high profile at the university in 2002, after Dr. Robert Goh led a successful ascent with students up Mount Xixabangma (8000m). The success found in the first year of the Make It Real program has made it possible for the University of Singapore to have confidence in their Everest team.

Student participants in the Make It Real program go through a rigorous year learning expedition planning and mountaineering skills, with training climbs in Nepal and New Zealand.

In 2002 invitations went out to join the Everest expedition, the response from students, staff and an alumnus was overwhelming. They narrowed the applicants down to 30 based on past mountaineering experience and held an over-night physical and mental assessment of the candidates. This process narrowed the group to 13 and has since been cut to 6 team members. 

The team will also be accompanied by veteran climbers Dr. Robert Goh, Lim Kim Boon and Edwin Siew. These three climbers will be assisting the University expedition as well as making an attempt to be the first climbers from Singapore to summit without the aid of bottled oxygen.

Climbers Robert Goh, Lim Kim Boon and Edwin Siew: Edwin first put Singapore’s flag on the summit of Everest six years ago along with Khoo Swee Chiow. On this mission the groups goals are two fold, they hope to be the first team from Singapore to summit without the assistants of oxygen and they hope to work together with the students climbing from the National University of Singapore to help make their expedition a success.

In training to climb Everest this March without the aid of oxygen, Goh and Boon climbed Cho Oyu without supplemental oxygen. The trip was a success. Cho Oyu is just 650m lower then Everest, the climbers are confident in their abilities. The students from the University will climb with the aid of oxygen. The members of this expedition are excited not just by the opportunity to climb Everest for themselves, but to play an active role in helping to cultivate a new generation of mountaineers in Singapore.

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