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Tag: Mount Everest

  • 30 Year Old Trainee Teacher, Yusrina Ya’akob, Is First Ever Female Malay Singaporean To Reach Everest’s Summit

    30 Year Old Trainee Teacher, Yusrina Ya’akob, Is First Ever Female Malay Singaporean To Reach Everest’s Summit

    Trainee teacher Yusrina Ya’akob has become the first Singaporean to summit Mount Everest this year after she reached the top of the world’s highest mountain on Monday (May 22), expedition company Everquest Expeditions confirmed.

    The 30-year-old successfully climbed a dizzying height of 8,848m above sea level at 9.40am on Monday, after more than 50 days of trekking.

    For Ms Yusrina, the feat is especially sweet after her failed attempt to summit Everest in 2015, which was meant to commemorate Singapore’s 50th year of independence. She was one of the leading members of the Aluminaid Team Singapura Everest 2015 which had to abandon the climb halfway following a powerful earthquake that struck Nepal.

    For this year’s attempt, Ms Yusrina teamed up with Singaporean climbers Jeremy Tong and Dr Arjunan Saravana Pillai. The trio’s expedition is supported by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National Institute of Education (NIE).

    Mr Tong and Dr Saravana, who were both attempting to summit Everest for the first time, were unable to reach the top as they were both unwell.

     

    Ms Yusrina started her summit push from Everest’s base camp last Thursday and reached the top one day ahead of schedule after taking advantage of good weather conditions.

     

    Before her latest expedition, Ms Yusrina told Channel NewsAsia that she embarked on this second attempt because she wanted to “face the mountain again”.

    “I would not have been able to get over it (the disappointment) if I did not try again … because the situation that forced us to abort our expedition was not because of a lack of ability but a natural disaster,” she added.

    With her triumph, Ms Yusrina has become the first female Malay Singaporean to conquer Everest.

    Editor’s note: The article originally stated that Ms Yusrina was the first Singaporean to summit Mount Everest since 2009. This was wrong. Pilot Felix Tan had conquered the mountain last May. We apologise for the error. 

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Trio Bids To Be First Singapore Team To Scale Everest Since 2009

    Trio Bids To Be First Singapore Team To Scale Everest Since 2009

    Three Singaporeans are set to embark on one of the world’s most perilous expeditions in a bid to become the first Singapore team to scale Mount Everest since 2009.

    Dr Arjunan Saravana Pillai, Ms Nur Yusrina Ya’akob and Mr Jeremy Tong will depart Singapore for the Himalayas on Sunday (March 26) and will have up to early June to reach Everest’s summit.

    The trio, whose expedition is being supported by Nanyang Technologyical University (NTU) and the National Institute of Education (NIE), have so far raised more than S$150,000 for their journey.

    For Ms Yusrina, 30, the coming trip will assuage the disappointment of a failed attempt to climb Everest back in 2015, which was meant to commemorate Singapore’s Golden Jubilee.

    The trainee teacher, who is pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Physical Education at NIE, was the co-leader of the Aluminaid Team Singapura Everest 2015 team who had to abandon their climb halfway after a powerful earthquake struck Nepal that year.

    “Having made it more than halfway up the mountain two years ago, I was disappointed that the team had to abort the climb. But had we departed just one day earlier, we would have been in a much more dangerous situation higher up the mountains,” she said.

    Her team members of the team are also experienced mountain climbers.

    Dr Saravana, 47, a teaching fellow from NIE has more than a decade of climbing experience, have climbed several peaks, including the 6,400m Mount Kang Yatze II in India.

    Mr Tong, 26, a graduate of NTU’s Sports Science and Management programme, became the first Singaporean to summit two Central Asian peaks above 7,000m last year — Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan (7,134m) and Peak Korzhenevskaya in Tajikistan (7,105m).

    However, the team, who hopes their mission will help promote a resilient and can-do spirit among Singaporeans, acknowledged the huge challenge Everest will present.

    “Beautiful as she is, Everest is also extremely unpredictable and volatile, which leaves climbers with a sense of humility and respect for the mountain,” said Dr Saravana.

    The trio consulted other Singaporeans who climbed Everest in the past, including Mr David Lim, who led the first Singaporean expedition that summited Everest in May 1998, and the Singapore Women’s Everest team — who were the last Singapore team to successfully scale Everest back in 2009.

    “We also trained for the past year, including two to three hour runs up Bukit Timah Hill and high-rise public housing blocks. We also do our own strength and fitness regimens, and rock climbing to improve our technical skills,” said Mr Tong.

    Ms Yusrina, added that her past experience on Everest will help the team plan better. “It’s not so much the mountain that you conquer, but yourself,” she said.

     

     

    Source: Today

  • Singapore Team Abandoned Plan To Scale Mount Everest, Returns Home

    Singapore Team Abandoned Plan To Scale Mount Everest, Returns Home

    Aluminaid Team Singapore, which gave up its mission to scale Mount Everest following the Nepal earthquake, landed safely at Changi Airport on Monday night (May 4).

    The climbers, Ismail Latiff, Zulkifli Latiff, and Nur Yusrina Yaakob, came back to Singapore after spending two months at Mount Everest. They were evacuated from Everest base camp (EBC) on Friday to Kathmandu Airport, after they abandoned their climb on Apr 29.

    The trio’s return was met with applause and tearful embraces.

    Ms Yusrina, 28, recounted the moment when she witnessed the first earthquake in her life.

    “When the earthquake happened, we definitely felt it – the shaking and everything – but thankfully we were in one of the safest spots of the base camp, we were spared. We just tried to react to the situation, and we got into our tents.”


    Her 50-year-old mother, Ms Rosnani Ismail said tearfully: “I was so worried when I heard of the news. I didn’t know what to think. I just talked to my husband. He didn’t say a word, he was just so quiet. We were thinking about our daughter’s safety.”

    The team had embarked on the mission to mark Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, and had been planning the feat since 2010.

    Aluminaid’s team captain Muhammad Hilwan Mohamed Idrus, who was unable to join them on the trip, told reporters: “The team left Singapore on Mar 25, and their expedition began in rotation – one team would climb and come back to rest for a few days while another team goes up. The teams finished their first rotation and was supposed to go for the second one on Apr 25. But the guide just decided shift it back by one day – a lucky thing to do. If not, they would have met the avalanche.”

    That was not the only close shave for the team. “The earthquake hit the front part of EBC. The EBC is pretty huge, and the team’s base camp site is located at the back of the EBC. Their camp site was unscathed – they were not injured in any way. Just about 100m from the camp site, other tents were flattened. You can imagine how close we are,” Mr Hilwan said.

    As they were unable to proceed up Everest, the team members looked to contributing to the search and rescue efforts.

    “After the avalanche, they were doing a lot of monitoring. They also wanted to help with the search and rescue, but the Nepali operators there did not allow them due to safety issues,” the captain added. “The team was quite shaken and even one of their mountain guide’s uncle was caught in the avalanche and passed away. Their guides were very worried about their families back in Kamanthu, and thank goodness we had out satellite phones, which were passed around to the guides to contact their families.”

    Another team member, Seumas Yeo, returned to Singapore last Wednesday as he suffered from an abscess a week before the earthquake. He was recovering in the hotel post-operation when the quake struck Nepal.

    Describing the experience as “scary”, Mr Yeo said: “The whole building shook and I felt like the roof was going to fall on me. I walked down the street and it was chaotic, people were closing and running out of shops. I saw a collapsed building and people were pulling out bodies from it.”

    He added that many people were huddling under trees for cover, shouting: “Shiva, Shiva!” or chanting Buddhist prayers.

    Mr Hilwan said that the team will be holding a press conference next Monday (May 11).

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com