Smart phonecall from Everest: will you marry me?

"It was a very cold morning when we started to go to the top. At 4 a.m., the temperature was around -20 degrees and we were in total darkness. By the daybreak, the spectacular view of the Everest region was tempered by dark clouds to the west.

Wrote Singaporean mountain climber David Lim, while summiting Mera Central Peak in Nepal last May as part of the Ascent 8000 expedition partly sponsored by AceS International and AceS Philippines.

The elevation of the mountain (6461M) was a force to contend with, add to that the freezing and adverse weather conditions and the fact that Lim and his companion did not use bottled oxygen.

As if all these were not enough, it is of prime importance to note that Lim is partially disabled after a severe case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in 1998. GBS, a rare nerve disorder, caused permanent nerve damage to David — his right ankle is non-functional while his lower legs and left hands also have nerve damage.

Meanwhile, Maureen, his girlfriend of two years, waits in anticipation for the daily dispatches sent by Lim through his SMART AceS satellite phone powered by AceS satellite technology.

"After a bitterly frigid climb to the summit ridge, we climbed to the rounded hump that was the Central summit at 10:30 a.m. After a short rest, I whipped out the AceS satellite telephone to call my girlfriend to propose to her — hoping it would be a grand surprise." Lim continued.

A romantic at heart, Lim said, "Snow began falling and the cloud moved in. I made a connection — but she was out to lunch!"

Never to surrender to the unforeseen situation, Lim was determined to make his proposal unique and personal.

"A day later at a village miles from the mountain, I managed to contact her and pop the question. The answer was a ‘yes’ and not a moment too soon, the battery went dead — but to its credit, it had allowed me to make almost daily audio dispatches for two weeks in wildly fluctuating temperatures, including subzero temps in the evenings," he concluded.

Today, Lim’s next logistical "expedition" is planning for his forthcoming wedding at the end of the year.

Ascent 8000 is a mountaineering project that aims to increase awareness of the need for disability sports and to push the boundaries of Singaporean mountaineering. AceS International and AceS Philippines with its SMART AceS satellite service were the official telecommunications provider for the event.

The expedition made a successful ascent of a subsidiary objective, Mera Central Peak (6461m) in Nepal but was unsuccessful on summit attempts on Shishapangma (up to 7600 of 8072) and Cho Oyu (7900m of 8201m).

Though none of the major objectives were achieved, it is felt that the project has achieved its aims in demonstrating that disabled athletes can, in many ways, succeed in high level mountaineering at par with their able- bodied counterparts.

Lim was forced to go back due to unsafe conditions added to progressive states of exhaustion and the development of frostnip on his extremities.

Despite this, Lim came back a champion, not only for the sporting community but also, on a personal note, to his sweetheart who received an engagement proposal — from the summit of one of the highest mountains and through the latest satellite telephony via AceS.