A famed climber from Taiwan will scale the world's highest peak, Mt. Qomolangma in late May, in the company of a golden statue of Matsu, goddess of the sea, a Taiwan-based newspaper reported Tuesday.

The climber, Lee Siu-shek, left for Nepal Monday with a send-off from hundreds of people at the airport. If he succeeds, Lee will be the sixth Taiwanese to successfully climb the peak, the report said.

Lee will climb with 10 other people from around the world.

The statue, which is about 6.6 inches (16.8 cm) tall, was made for Lee by the Kinmen Tienhou Temple in Meizhou, a small islet off Xiamen city in Fujian Province.

To prepare for the trip, Lee ran each day and even sold his house to raise funds for training in Nepal.

Lee has climbed more than 200 mountains in Taiwan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2009)