If you are just interested in climbing as an achievement-based sport and/or a gadget head, you can skip this part. Ask a dozen climbers and you may get a dozen different replies.

I was influenced largely in my early years by my reading a lot of the classic books on mountaineering  by Bonington, Harrer, Messner, Terray, Long, and others. Also by my bapism of fire – a 1990 five-week long winter climbing and skiing trip to the Alps; and a 1992 summer campaign where I bagged 12 ascents, including the Brenva Spur on Mt Blanc. I soon began to enjoy linking up the technical rock skills I practised in tropical Singapore, to the alpine zone and areas of mixed technical climbing – but nothing desperate; climbing to YDS 5.10c and leading WI4 and Alpine TD- at my prime. In the long run, this allowed me to ‘drop-down’ on the technical challenges in the mountains when I climbed higher. [ Q: How do you climb a 5.8 rock climb at altitude with a pack on your back? A: You learn to climb 5.10 in your local crag first]

I quickly realised why so many, especially other Singaporean mountaineers, struggled in the hills (not physically). Without a solid foundation of technical skills, they lacked the confidence and needed/wanted guides on almost every climb they made (and still do). By extensively relying on high altitude porters in the greater ranges like the Himalaya, they again absolved themselves from the work and skill to make decisions at altitude, and in general, lacked a sense of mountain routines, semi-conscious practice from lighting a fuel stove wth frozen fingers, and carrying a load all day, or pitching a tent in windy conditions.

Without the mountain sense gained from a  long apprenticeship, they  suffered from tunnel vision; never looking up to assess the weather, the route, timing (all important) and happy to yank up fixed ropes (set up by their guides) or be yanked up routes by Sherpas or guides. Have I used guides,fixed rope and sherpas – yes. But do I endeavour to do without them on most of my climbs – yes.  They are there to serve a temporary purpose when one is new to the sport, or if the goal is massive and may required some external help. But eventually, the joy of climbing a peak on your own skill, experience, talents and efforts is immensely more rewarding. Yet, once hooked on this kind of assisted climbing, it’s like crack – it is very hard to give up. By paying for such help you maximise your chance of success on well-known peaks, and get others to do all the real mountaineering work – the leading, the rope fixing, the setting up of campsites, the decision-making, being on the sharp end of the rope… In a society where achievement is often valued much more highly than mastery, Singapore climbers can, in some ways, be forgiven for looking at mountaineering in the way that they do. Just check out the billion-dollar cramming-school industry in Singapore where students ‘ parents pay to help their kids get good grades, and who cares if they don’t enjoy the subjects. Getting an ‘A’ matters .

The saddest part in this stunted development process was, and still is a terrible lack of imagination in an often short, climbing ‘career’. Most would, and will go to New Zealand or India for a technical alpine-climbing course; followed by a trekking peak or two in Nepal (99% of the time, it’s Island or Mera Peak); after which it’s sometimes Aconcagua, by the easiest route. If they still have ambition, time and money, maybe Everest. And yet there is a lifetime’s worth of peaks, objectives, and routes elsewhere. But’s who’s to say that these dreams aren’t any better than anothers? Who am I to judge others?

But if climbing is to grow and mature, mountaineers  must consider how they will and can push the sport – even within Singapore’s narrowly gifted context. But they don’t read any of the journals of record like the Alpine Journal or the American Alpine Journal to discover what significant climbs and routes are being done around the world – and some in very affordable, accessible areas.

And yet our public libraries have many books on climbing in the Alps, big walls and other interesting challenges. Instead, any reading done is often about the Seven Summits, written by neophytes who rarely climb a thing without being on a guided climb – and related stuff which was interesting in the 1980s but so ho-hum now. In short, knowing less of the world, makes them unimaginative in their quests.  I have friends, and know some very nice people who have gone on this path.  I respect anyone who wants to tackle this challenge. It’s about respecting the freedom of the hills. Perhaps, my biggest disappointment is NOT with the recreational mountaineer in Singapore (and even these are few and far between), but those that aspire to be more. I privately, and now publicly, wish there was just some more imagination on their part. If you want more out of climbing, you simply have to be more. Be more of a climber, and not a passenger.

I would prefer these pages to serve as wakeup call to those Singapore climbers aspiring to move beyond the usual recreational objectives. There are so many worthy and interesting climbing challenges if they only look beyond buying ‘packaged’ adventure, and become all-round independent mountaineers, rather than ‘mountain tourists’. Recently, all-Singaporean ascents have been made on routes like The Nose on El Capitan, and on Denali. These “all-Singaporean” climbs are superb in  exemplifying exactly the kind of mountaineering spirit we need more of. More of such plans should be applauded and encouraged.