Your S’pore Story: ‘We would climb up and down Bukit Timah Hill about six times’

While other children his age are attending preschool and learning to play musical instruments, Abyan Imtiaz Irkiz is busy setting national records.

And not just any record either. Last year, at just five years old, Abyan became the youngest Singaporean to reach Everest Base Camp – the gateway to the highest mountain in the world.

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For eight days in the Himalayas, Abyan and his father, Mr Zikri Ali, braved blistering winds, bouts of altitude sickness and temperatures that dropped to minus 14 deg C, until they reached their destination 5,364 m above sea level – an impressive feat for an adult, let alone a pre-schooler.

Mr Zikri, 42, runs a yoga school in Singapore with his wife, while Abyan has an elder sister and younger brother.

Looking back at their arduous journey, he shares how he prepared Abyan for the ascent and what he has come to admire most about his child.

“I first got the idea when we were in Nagarkot, Nepal, in 2022. We were on a yoga retreat and part of it involved hiking the Nagarkot Panoramic Trail – just a day hike, about 12km.

It was already quite challenging. Some of the adults in the group were struggling because of the undulating terrain – lots of ups and downs. But Abyan did it and he didn’t complain at all.

A few years back, I came across an article about a six-year-old boy who had made it to Everest Base Camp with his parents. I was quite impressed by that. Then I thought, if we train properly, I think Abyan can do it too.

So I asked him. We were standing at a viewpoint in Nagarkot and I pointed out where Everest was. I told him: ‘You see those mountains up there? One of them is Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Do you want to climb up there with Papa?’ And he said yes.

So we started training by hiking and climbing staircases to build up his endurance. In Nepal, we would cover about 600 to 700m of elevation gain each day, so I tried to simulate that in Singapore.

We trained in our block, which is 27 storeys high, and we’d go up and down about nine or 10 times. Or we would climb up and down Bukit Timah Hill about six times.

It was progressive training over a period of four months. We started out doing it only once a week at first, but at the height of our training, it was four times a week.

But it’s all fun for him. From a young age, Abyan has always been intense. He does not give up easily. If he fails at something, he keeps going until he gets it. He’s very garang (Malay for fearless).

During training, there were moments where I could see he was very tired, but he kept pushing himself. Even when he reached a point where he wanted to quit, he still kept going. I’d ask him if he needed a break and he’d say: ‘No, no. Come, let’s go.’

When we finally reached Everest Base Camp, it felt like all the hard work had paid off. I was so proud of him for achieving it and all the hard work he had put in.

And I know he had some takeaways from the experience. Because along the way, I told him: ‘You know, if we have a plan and we work hard, there’s a high chance that we can achieve what we want to achieve.’ And he did.

I hope he brings that same intensity into whatever he chooses to do in future.”

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