Women plan Everest trek to raise funds for charity

A group of 10 women from Singapore and Europe will trek to the Everest Base Camp in Nepal next month to raise funds for charity.

They hope their climb to the 5,364m-high base camp will also spread awareness of Women for Women International, a charity that helps women survivors of war.

The women, who range in age from 25 to 50, will pay their own way there and will be led by Ms Valerie Boffy, 43, a French national who lives in Singapore.

Ms Boffy, who will be on the trek for the third time in less than 18 months, was trained by Singaporean mountaineer Khoo Swee Chiow, the first person in South-east Asia to scale K2, the world's second-highest mountain. In Ms Boffy's last climb in May this year, she successfully reached the summit of Everest.