Two professional sherpas to accompany Lee in Lions' MEE 2016

KATHMANDU: Two professional sherpas or mountain guides will accompany Malaysian oldest climber, James Lee Chong Meng, 68, in the Lions Mount Everest Expedition (MEE) 2016, that aspires to scale the world's highest peak, Mount Everest.

The sherpas are known as Ngaa Tenji Sherpa, 33, and Ang Temba Sherpa, 44.

Ngaa said that this would be his first time accompanying a septuagenarian in a bid to conquer Mount Everest.

"During my past experience, I have accompanied many climbers to Everest, aged between 30 to 60 years.

"But I did not expect there is an oldest man from Malaysia to conquer Mount Everest. I pray that he (Lee) succeeds in his journey to Everest," he told Bernama, here.

Ngaa, who had previously conquered the Everest peak eight times, was optimistic that Lee could do his utmost best in MEE.

Meanwhile, another sherpa, Ang said scaling up Mount Everest was an uphill task and required an 'extreme' training as it would take quite some time to be at the top of the mountain.

"Everest is not a normal mountain to hike because many climbers were killed when trying to conquer it," he said.

Ang, who had 10 years of experience in climbing, said the weather at Everest peak was extremely cold and could be fatal.

"I hope that Lee will successfully conquer the mountain and able to prove to Malaysia that old age does not prevent one to do extreme activities," he said.

Apart from those two sherpas, two escort climbers, namely Sherine Leong, 40, and Desmond Lee, 56, will also accompany Lee scale up to the Everest Base Camp.

The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), as the expedition's official media, is sending three representatives, namely journalist Muhammad Afiq Mohd Asri, 25; Bernama TV cameraman Fazril Amirul Azali, 23, and photographer Zulfadhli Zulkarnain, 23.

The 68-year-old former engineer stands to invent a new record as the oldest male climber in Southeast Asia and Malaysia who conquers the 8,848-metre high mountain.

Lee flew to Kathmandu, Nepal last Thursday and is expected to wrap up his mission in about 70 days. — Bernama