A flamboyant mainland entrepreneur and a Hong Kong climber make an unlikely pair, but they are soon to complete a remarkable feat - becoming the first Chinese to conquer the highest peaks on seven continents and the North and South Poles. Wang Shi, chairman of Shenzhen-based property developer China Vanke, and Hong Kong mountaineer Chung Kin-man had already completed separate ascents of the highest mountains and conquered the North Pole as a team. Pending a break in the weather they expect to reach the South Pole today, completing the so-called '7+2' challenge. As the South China Morning Post went to press last night, the two adventurers were just 5km from the pole, but hunkered down under stormy conditions. Mr Wang and Mr Chung left Hong Kong on December 8, heading first to Punta Arenas at the tip of South America, and then the Patriot Hills Antarctic base on the shores of the Weddell Sea. On December 13, they began their 120km overland trek to the pole. Mr Wang's love of high mountains stems from his days as a People's Liberation Army driver, a job that took him to some of China's most remote and beautiful regions. 'There are two things I miss most - the mountains of China and the beauty of Xinjiang province,' he said earlier this month. Leaving the army after 10 years of service, the then 33-year-old native of Guangxi province arrived in Shenzhen in 1983. There, he reinvented himself as a businessman and entrepreneur, starting off as a porter and agricultural produce trader. In 1988, he established a property development company. But the hard physical work had taken its toll, and 10 years ago, doctors warned Mr Wang that persistent back pain could eventually paralyse him from the waist down. 'Even then, I thought I could at least use my brain and function as a chairman,' said Mr Wang, who realised there were other things he wanted to accomplish before he ended up in a wheelchair. Driven by a physical toughness gained in his PLA days, he embarked on a training programme to increase his body strength and later joined a Beijing-based mountaineering club. Many climbing expeditions followed in Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and Tibet. Along the way, he found that there was more to life than simply realising his climbing ambitions. On one visit to Tibet, for example, he met the blind daughter of a German banker who runs a school for similarly disabled children there. He now supports the school financially and visits at least once a year. Mr Wang's first big trial was Qinghai's Mount Yuzhu, which he climbed in May 1999 - an adventure that whetted his appetite for higher things. Between February 2002 and August last year, Mr Wang reached the summit of the highest peaks on all seven continents. In April this year, he and Mr Chung completed a 150km trek to the North Pole, leaving just the South Pole unconquered. The 7+2 challenge was first achieved by Korean Heo Young-ho in 1995. In the 10 years since, only five people - ranging in age from 31 to 46 - have completed the feat. Mr Wang and Mr Chung should add two more names to that list today. At 54, Mr Wang will be the oldest person on it. By comparison, about 1,800 people have climbed Mount Everest; 117 have scaled the highest mountains on all seven continents and 42 have reached both poles; and 14 have stood on top of Mount Everest and also trekked to both poles - a feat known as the '3P'. According to Mr Wang, his final trek will be reasonably easy. It has, he says, been all downhill since he climbed Mount Everest in May 2003. 'Chung approached the top of Mount Everest five times but only reached the summit once,' Mr Wang noted. 'You have to be confident of a safe return before you make an attempt on the top. Persistence means you try your best to carry on if the situation permits, but you do not take risks with your life.' Mr Chung, 51, first attempted Everest in 1992, and finally made it to the top in December 2003. Mr Wang's business and adventure successes have given him a high, if unintentional, profile on the mainland. CCTV is currently shooting an east-meets-west feature about Mr Wang and a kindred spirit of his in Britain, Sir Richard Branson. Mr Wang established China Vanke (first known as Shenzhen Vanke) in 1988. Forbes magazine recognised China Vanke as the mainland's best managed small to medium-sized enterprise in 2001, 2002 and again in 2003. In 2001 Mr Wang sold control of his company to China Resources Group, an investment arm under the Ministry of Commerce, but stayed on as a somewhat absentee chairman while he pursued loftier ambitions. 'People think my absence poses a threat to Vanke,' Mr Wang said. 'The opposite is the case. The day Vanke cannot operate without me is the day the company is in trouble.' ken.lo@scmp.com