SINGAPORE - 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).
Mr Khoo, 55, reached the summit of Kangchenjunga at 8am local time (10.15am Singapore time) last Wednesday (May 15) on his third attempt, he said in a media statement on Friday.
The mountain lies between Nepal and India's Sikkim state.
Khoo first attempted to climb Kangchenjunga in 2017, but turned back at 8,000m due to a shortage of rope.
The next year, he was about 280m shy from the summit when he again aborted the climb due to deep snow and dangerous conditions.
In a Facebook post last Friday, Mr Khoo wrote: "15 May 2019. Kangchenjunga summit. Finally, after 3 attempts. Hard to put into words my emotion. Thanks for your prayers. #daretodream #donotgiveup"
[embed]https://www.facebook.com/khoo.chiow/posts/10157389703259873[/embed]
He also shared photos of the breathtaking Himalayan mountain range from the top.
Mr Khoo, who was a member of the first Singaporean team to scale Everest in 1998, said that Kangchenjunga is on par with K2 in terms of difficulty. He climbed K2 in 2012.
While K2 is lower than Everest, it is known to be far more dangerous to climb as its routes are steeper and the surrounding weather significantly colder and less predictable.
Around 7,000 people are said to have reached the summit of Everest so far, though only 420 climbers have scaled Kangchenjunga.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.