A 43-year-old former Nepalese soldier, a former member of the Gurkha mercenary brigade, marked a milestone on Mount Everest: he reached the summit with a double amputation in his legs, both above the knee.
The news was confirmed Sunday by members of his team.
"He reached the summit of Sagarmatha around 15 p.m. on Friday (Nepali time). After making the summit, he descended to base camp and will return to Kathmandu tomorrow," Him Bista, one of the people responsible for the summit of the highest mountain on the planet, told AFP news agency.
Hari Budha Magar with both legs amputated achieved the feat: reach the top of Everest, after 11 days of expedition. Photo: BBC News
There are only two antecedents to this feat of resilience: in 2006, New Zealander Mark Inglis; and in 2018 and the Chinese Xia Boyu: both reached the top without their legs.
Hari Budha Magar, 43, had both legs amputated above the knees after being fatally wounded by a homemade explosive device in Afghanistan.
The incident in 2010 occurred in the middle of a mission of the brigade of the Nepalese soldier unit that belongs to the British army.
After several years of rehabilitation and training, Magar climbed Everest as part of a project, which he presented on his website with the slogan "Neither legs nor limits".
The majestic Mount Everest, with its 8849 meters of altitude is the highest pici on the planet. Photo: AFP
A project that began quite some time ago and that had led him to crown several peaks around the world, including those of Mount Toubkal in Morocco, Ben Nevis in Scotland or Mont Blanc in Europe. But of course, the highest was missing, Everest.
The former Gurkha lives in the city of Canterbury, in England and took on the challenge to "be able to inspire others", and "change the perception of disability". His team's expedition lasted 11 days.
For many years, this former mercenary could not attempt the ascent of Everest. Nepalese laws prevented double leg amputees, as well as blind people, from mountaineering.
In 2018, due to pressure among others from Magar himself, the Supreme Court of Nepal annulled this law that was not in force when Mark Inglis ascended the 8,849 meters of the highest summit in the world.
"If you can adapt life to the time and the situation, anything is possible, there is no limit, the sky is the limit," Magar said in an interview published last month, when he was in the middle of preparing to climb Everest.
Nepal has eight of the ten highest mountains in the world and every year in its spring, when temperatures are friendlier and the generally dangerous Malay winds blow with less force, the country fills with mountaineers from all over the world.
In fact, the Nepalese tourism department made sure that so far, this season they have already crowned Everest about 450 climbers.
At the beginning of the year, Nepal extended 478 permits for the ascent of the mountain and since each person must be accompanied by a guide, it is expected that more than 900 people will reach the summit during this season, a record.
Ten climbers have died so far this year trying to reach the summit. To the good news of the feat achieved by the ex-Gurkha, this Sunday was also announced the death of an Australian mountaineer, Jason Bernard Kennison, 40 years old.
With information from AFP
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