Jane Lee the first woman from South East Asia to climb the “Seven Summits” told WONG MUN WAI about her Mount Elbrus experience, “Every day I was there felt like a privilege”.

1. Distractions: sport
HITTING
HER PEAK
Jane Lee the first
woman from South
East Asia to climb
the “Seven Summits”
told WONG
MUN WAI about
her Mount Elbrus
experience, “Every
day I was there felt
like a privilege”.
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LIFESTYLE
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Meeting Jane was a treat. She
had returned to Singapore the
week before in early July from
her Seven Summits Expedition.
Her talk was about climbing
Mount Elbrus on Russia including
dodging the police, hiding in a
cable car to avoid capture and
fleeing down the mountain on
a less well known path to evade
pursuers. Mount Elbrus was
closed in response to terrorist
attacks in February, so Jane had
to take drastic measures to
complete the climb. But it was all
worth the effort.
“I was so overwhelmed by all these
new things that I never actually
thought of what I was missing, what
I was sacrificing because there were
so many new things to absorb,” said
the 27-year-old.
The Seven Summits are the
highest mountains of each of the
seven continents. Mount Everest,
Mount Kosciuszko in Australia,
Mount McKinley in North America,
Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount
Elbrus in Europe, Mount Vinson in
Antarctica and Mount Aconcagua in
South America.
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2. “On the mountain itself I usually have a potato chip
diet. It is very bad but I eat high calorie junk food
because it is very light in weight, and even if you
crush it, it still tastes very good.” Jane Lee
NEXT CHALLENGE
Her experience of climbing Mount
Vinson in Antarctica will be helpful
when she next attempts to cross
Greenland.
“Climbing in Antarctica is an eye
opener because you are dropped
off in the middle of nowhere and
you look around and cannot see an
end to the horizon,” said Jane.
The endless snow and ice are what
she expects to encounter when she
completes her two-year MBA at
Yale University in the U.S.
Greenland will be challenging
because the landscape does not
change, it is mind-numbing, says
Jane.
“And especially for me as I am
a very visual person. Without
visual landmarks (like rocks and
campsites), my coping mechanism
will be sorely tested.”
Jane’s training for a climb
includes exercises such as
long trail runs, interval
training, stair-climbing with
backpack, weight-training
and spinning bike training,
twice a day for three to
four hours.
Career choices
Her numerous expeditions
have even influenced her
choice of career.
“That’s why I want to go
to Yale. Yale’s MBA has a
very strong link with the
school of environment
and forestry. They
have many business
management programmes
like sustainable business
practices, going green,
green technology. That’s
the area I want to go into.”
We wish her luck in all her
endeavours. lite
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