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Tinnie Chow

Blonde hair and blue eyes are not normally the characteristics that spring to mind when you think of a typical Hong Kong girl.

That's why Annabelle Bond always tries to stress her Asian-ness wherever she goes. Born in Singapore and brought up in Hong Kong (her father is Sir John Bond, chairman of HSBC), she insists on displaying her Chinese roots no matter where she is.  This 30-something adventure sports enthusiast has just climbed Mount Everest  after only three years of mountain-climbing experience.

'It was something I was really scared to do. It is the hardest summit to climb, and I was in absolute tears as I was climbing up with my team - they were grown men and they were in tears too. It is so emotionally and physically draining,'  says Annabelle.

One of the first things she did on the summit was pull out the HSBC flag on behalf of her father.

'It was something I really wanted to do for him. He has been working there for more than 40 years and I knew he would be so happy to see the picture.'

She had a few hairy incidents along the way - seeing a frozen corpse and having a member of her team  almost run out of oxygen at the top - and her family was extremely stressed when she was out of communication for 12 hours. But it was a happy ending all round.

In appreciation of the efforts of the sherpas who accompanied the team and their willingness to risk their lives every day, Sir John  set up the Annabelle Bond Education Trust so  the children of the seven sherpas will get their education paid for until the age of 18.

But she wants everyone to know  she is just a run-of-the-mill type of girl. 'Everyone can attain their goals if they put their mind to it.'

That's why she is now setting out to break the world record for the youngest woman to climb  seven global summits in the shortest  time. She aims to climb Aconcagua  in Argentina,  Mount McKinley in Alaska, Kilimanjaro in East Africa, Elbrus  in Russia, Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Carstensz  Pyramid in Indonesia and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia - all within a year (the record is just over two years).

Climbing up Everest with her team,  which included Chilean bankers, sherpas, and cameramen from Discovery Channel, she was the only woman and always chased by the cameraman. 'Every time I turned to blow my nose, there was a camera pointing at me. But I don't mind, I want to spread the message to everyone that anything is possible.

Her  experience will air on Discovery Channel in the next few months, and you can read all about her experiences in her online journal (see www.annabellebond.com) - which she will be updating as she takes on the world's most dramatic summits.



Annabelle Bond to scale the heights in global record bid