The Singaporean female mountaineer who scaled Everest, K2 and Annapurna
Vincere Zeng has scaled the heights of Everest, K2 and Annapurna – and isn't stopping at all.
She climbed her first mountain, the 5,895m-high Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, as part of her graduation trip in 2015 but didn’t train seriously until 2018.
On May 19, 2023, she became the first Southeast Asian woman to summit both Everest and Lhotse back-to-back in the same expedition.
She climbed Mount Everest in 36 hours – called a speed ascent – despite having a cough and diarrhoea. While descending, lost her contact lens in the severe wind.
In July 2023, she climbed the deadly K2 in Pakistan, notorious for unpredictable weather, avalanches, and steep terrain that requires rock- and ice-climbing.
On Apr 7, 2025, she became the first Singaporean to summit Annapurna in Nepal, a harrowing climb as there was only one day for the summit push this year.
Mountaineers climb with more than 10kg of equipment, including their down suit, boots, helmet, gloves, oxygen, crampons, ice axes, food and water.
To cope with the extreme conditions on mountains, she trains hard: Running and stair-climbing for endurance, and does technical training such as rock-climbing.
She also takes part in trail-running races, especially in mountainous terrain. In 2022, she won the women’s category at the 100km Cameron Ultra Race in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.
To date, Zeng has climbed six 8,000m-high mountains: Annapurna, K2, Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, as well as Makalu in Nepal in May.
