Disabled Singapore mountaineer David Lim, 40, climbed Ojos del Salado ( 6882m ) on Jan 20th, 2005 solo. This was after a first abortive summit bid on the 18th where he turned back in the face of strong winds and bad weather. The tour -de -force 25-day solo expedition saw him making a 6 km push from his Argentinean desert base camp with a 22kg load to a 5700m high camp, and then launch the two summit bids on a mountain that was completely devoid of other mountaineers. Climbing in the pre-dawn hours ( 3am start ), he reached the summit at 230pm and descended over the following six hours back to his camp site, navigating using a map and GPS unit. Ojos del Salado straddles the Argentina-Chile borders. Using the latest Salomon Pro Thermic climbing boots and the special custom ankle for orthotics by Seattle Systems, he endured extreme sub-zero conditions for most of the pre-dawn hours
The route encompassed rock, soft snow and ice. Lim succeeded unscathed except for a shoulder-back strain and loss of feeling in both hands due to mild frostbite.
Earlier on the 17th, he had climbed Volcan del Viento ( 6120m ) solo as preparation of the Ojos climb.
The climb has attracted attention in Argentina with a full page feature in the El Ancasti newspaper ( Jan 21st ) and national evening television news (¨Chronica´Jan 27th ) - where Lim gave an interview in Spanish about the climb.
The climb is dedicated to raising Singapore climbing excellence as well as showing being disabled does not mean being unable to achieve significant goals.