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SINGAPORE: The NATAS Singapore Women's Everest Team's first attempt to reach the summit has been foiled by strong winds.
The mountaineers will have to wait until the end of the month for another window to summit. They had hoped to summit the mountain on Tuesday.
Although the mountaineers are disappointed, they said they are not giving up.
The team's strategy of reaching the summit includes making the ascent in two separate teams – a strategy that could give them a higher chance of success.
Scaling Mount Everest is no easy feat and reaching the summit requires a fool-proof strategy.
Ascending the mountain in two separate groups may help them reach the top, said Edwin Siew, a member of the first Singapore team to summit Everest in 1998.
"It is a wise strategy to have two teams tackle Everest. Just in case, for whatever reason... the first wave can withdraw and the second team will back it up as a support and continue to summit the mountain," said Mr Siew.
He said that when the women reach the highest camps at 7,000 metres and above, the air is so thin they will have to don oxygen masks even when they sleep in order to stay alive.
An oxygen mask is just one of the many pieces of equipment that the women's lives depend on in their bid to conquer the mountain.
- CNA/so/ir
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