Mera Peak Expedition (6654m)

The Mera Peak Expedition was one of our most successful expeditions organised by HMC during the pioneering days of mountaineering in Singapore in the early 1990s. Mera Peak is located in the Solu Khumbu region in Nepal, not very far from Mt. Everest. There were 8 members on the expedition, including one lady member. Five members were successful in reaching the summit. The expedition took place over one month in Oct/Nov 1991. We were fortunate to have good weather during most of the climb and an excellent Sherpa support team.

The expedition started with a flight from Kathmundu to the village of Tumlingtar in the Arun Valley, followed by a 13 day trek up the Arun valley to base camp located in Khare. Enroute we had to cross two high passes, the Salpa Banga La and the Danda La. The crossing of the Danda La was specially difficult. We reached campsite well after dark, after a 4 hour descend down to the Hongu river, the last part with the help of torch-lights.

After a day's rest at basecamp, we made our way up to the advance camp, located on the Mera La at about an altitude of 5300m. This camp was on snow. The next day, in fine weather we advanced to the summit camp at about 5800m. The scenery was breathtaking, and we could see several 8000m peaks in one grand sweep. The picture on the left shows the precarious position of our highcamp perched on a little rock-ledge with a steep drop on one side.

Nov 11 was summit day. We awoke at 2am to prepare for the ascent. By 4.30am we were on our way. I remembered the freezing cold, as my ears, hands and toes were all numb and almost without feeling. We managed to force ourselves to climb in this thin air, 20 paces at a time, before coming to a stop and panting like crazy. After a half minute rest, we push ourselves on. I don't know how we did it, but just after 9 am we found ourselves on top of Mera. The descend was nightmarish, as we were dead tired. We struggled back to Advance Camp at 6pm in bad weather.

Back home in Singapore, we received a lot of publicity , including a picture on the front page of the Straits Times on December 4, 1991.

One for the album. Picture on the left was taken at summit of Mera Peak. You can see I was totally wrapped up in windproof clothing. There was a slight wind atop Mera and it was very very cold.

Return to Homepage