Singaporean mountaineer Khoo Swee Chiow has become the first Southeast Asian to scale the three highest peaks across the globe. The 55-year-old conquered Mount Everest (8,848m/29,029ft), K2 (8,611m/28,251ft) and, most recently, Nepal’s Kangchenjunga (8,586m/28,169ft), reaching the summit at 8am local time on May 15. It was his third climb, after two unsuccessful tries.
The adventurer, who has scaled Mount Everest three times, previously attempted Kangchenjunga for the first time in 2017, but was forced to turn back about 500m from the summit due to a rope shortage. The second time, he experienced deep snow and dangerous conditions, which resulted in the climb being cut short even though the summit was just 280m away.
Finally, the third time was the charm.
Khoo said only about 420 people have scaled Kangchenjunga, while approximately 7,000 have conquered Everest.
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