Meet 25 years old Jeremy Tong, who is currently an undergraduate in Sports Science Management (NTU), and has dreams high as a mountain. His first expedition being Mount Ophir when he was only 14 years old, Jeremy has come a long way since then, conquering mountains and mountains for the past 11 years. Now, he is planning to climb Mount Everest in 2017, to raise awareness and funding for colon-rectal and breast cancer patients in Singapore. Let Jeremy tell us more about why he wants to climb the highest mountain in the world:
#1 The view from the top is always much more beautiful
I first learnt about Mount Everest when I started climbing 11 years ago. One of the first mountains I climbed was Mount Ophir in 2004 and then Kinabalu in 2005. When I finally reached the summit of Kinabalu, I stood tired yet amazed at the beauty of the sunrise and the view of the land meeting with the south china sea. That moment stayed with me throughout the way down and I remembered thinking to myself, “If I can climb Mount Kinabalu which is half the height of Everest, why not Everest then?”
#2 Every achievement starts with the decision to try
The second reason would be that I first read about the first Singapore Everest Team that started mountaineering in Singapore. It was led by Mr David Lim and he led ultimately two climbers to the summit. One of them was Khoo Swee Chiow who is currently South East Asian’s greatest adventurer to date. He has done many adventures, including three summits of Everest, one of which is the north route which I’ll be taking. However, one sentence that he said in one of his books that really struck me was this, “I don’t care if 6000 people has climbed Everest, I want to see for myself whether I can climb it!”
#3 Don’t limit your challenges – challenge your limits
The third reason may sound the most cliche but I guess it is really the ultimate reason why people climb Everest and was the most cliche sentence that the first man that attempted to climbed Everest said in 1924. George Leigh Mallory was asked a question of why he decided to climb Everest, and his answer was,” Because It’s There.” I want to climb Everest because it is the highest mountain in the world and there’s only one Everest. If there’s one mountain that’s going to test my physical and mental limits, this might just be the one.
Like mountaineers, we all climb mountains in our lives; for us runners we climb on our PBs and how far we can run, for others it can be their own goals at work or any personal achievements. Let Jeremy be an inspiration to us all to continue climbing mountains in our lives and pursue our own success.
