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North Pole victory: Just
a walk on ice?
The Straits Times - 17
May 2002
By Alicia Yeo and
Sim Chi Yin
[BACK]
Critics say
Khoo Swee Chiow's feat was no big deal because he had a guide,
but others are full of praise
DESPITE his North
Pole achievement, some other adventurers are keen to rain
on Mr Khoo Swee Chiow's parade. There have been rumblings
of discontent over
the 37-year-old calling himself an 'adventurer' when he had
a guide to show
him the way. Does Khoo Swee Chiow's North Pole feat inspire
you? Is Khoo
Swee Choiw a real adventurer?
Some are unhappy over the wider publicity and financial support
he had
received as an individual - 'Why are we putting in so much
money to serve
the personal vanity of one man?' - compared to a national
expedition like
the current Xixabangma summit attempt in Tibet. A team of
three Singaporeans
is climbing the Tibetan peak without conventional aids like
guides, oxygen
and pre-laid ropes. They had not been successful in raising
the full sum for
their expedition.
Although most of the dozen mountain- climbing
enthusiasts interviewed
yesterday cheered Mr Khoo's Pole victory, some felt it was
no big deal.
Except for Singapore-based Australian mountaineer Alan Silva,
others in the
local mountaineering community who questioned his Pole bid
declined to be
named.
Mr Silva, 40, said that the 800-km trip
across the frozen Arctic Ocean was a
mere trek through ice. He himself has climbed six of the seven
summits
without a guide. He said: 'It's not really a difficult thing,
all he had to
do was battle the cold.' On Monday, Mr Khoo completed the
Adventure Grand
Slam, which entails climbing the highest summits in the world's
seven
continents, and conquering the two Poles. It marked the end
of a two-month
bid to conquer the North Pole, which he had embarked on with
Canadian guide
Paul Landry, and a dog to help warn them about polar bears.
Mr Khoo has just flown back from the North
Pole to Resolute Bay, Canada. His
public-relations people were dismissive of his critics. Said
Ms Rose Tan,
the managing director of Octagon RTA, which manages Mr Khoo:
'He's not hung
up on the label or using it to glorify himself. 'If he's not
an adventurer,
call him a mountain climber or a dreamer, he has no problems
with that.'
She added: 'Singapore should rejoice...Swee Chiow has made
history, and we
should be proud of him.'
The divide is perhaps the result of the
comparison some are making between
his guide-provided North Pole trip and the no-guide Xixabangma
expedition.
But this is like comparing two disparate sports, say swimming
and athletics,
said Mr Yip Seck Hong, 54, president of the Singapore Mountaineering
Federation. 'Not many people have reached the North Pole.
The fact that he
had a guide does not dilute his achievement. In Singapore,
we are not yet at
the highest level of the sport, when one might go solo.'
Last year, Mr Khoo climbed the 8,027-m-high
Xixabangma with the help of a
guide - but without the aid of oxygen and ropes, too.
By any measure, his completion of the Grand Slam is an achievement,
others
pointed out. Said polytechnic student and budding mountaineer
Tony Quek, 20:
'Looking at the terrain, a true adventurer can gauge whether
he needs a
guide. He will not compromise on safety. That would be ignorant.
Mr Khoo did
not cave in to society's expectations of him to go it alone.'
Added Mr
Francis Lee, director of Pac-West Travel, an agency specialising
in
adventure tours: 'Even the best professional mountaineers
use guides.'
While admitting that having one was 'the easier way' compared
to going solo,
he added: 'Give Swee Chiow the best guide and equipment, and
he still has to
depend on his pair of lungs, legs, his own mind and the weather.
'As long as
he didn't take a helicopter to the Pole, he's an adventurer.'
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