Double Amputee Scales Summit & Other Records from Mt Everest

Known as Mount Everest, Sagarmāthā or Chomolungma in various languages, the world’s highest mountain is also famous for the various fascinating stories and facts connected to it. Scaling Everest is no longer as rare or as difficult a task as it used to be earlier. However, climbing Everest is still extremely challenging and very dangerous. So when a double amputee recently scaled Everest, this was a huge achievement.

A man without legs climbed Everest

Xia Boyu had tried to climb Mt Everest over 40 years ago in 1975. At the time he had offered his own sleeping bag to a sick teammate. This resulted in frostbite severe enough for both his feet to be amputated. Later it was lymphoma that required his legs to be amputated above the knees. He never gave up his Everest dream however and finally managed to scale the summit at the age of 69! He was the first double amputee to achieve this feat from the Nepal side of the summit.

Only Mark Inglis had done this before

Mark Inglis from New Zealand was the first double amputee to have climbed Everest successfully. He too had lost his legs to frostbite (in 1982). He managed to climb the mountain in May 2006 at the age of 47. Inglis also won a silver medal in Cycling at the Sydney Paralympics.

Steve Plain created another record

Boyu’s teammate on this Everest expedition was Steve Plain. The Australian had broken his neck and could have been in a wheelchair. He however decided to climb Everest! He also broke the seven summit record by becoming the one to scale seven peaks on seven continents in the shortest time (117 days). 

Highest number of ascents

Apa Sherpa, also known as Super Sherpa along with Purbha Tashi Sherpa and Shishir Bhattarai jointly hold the record for reaching the summit the highest number of times, which is 21. Angrita Sherpa holds the record for most number of climbs without oxygen.

Yuichiro Miura is the oldest

In 2003 he became the oldest person to climb Everest at the age of 70. However, he broke his own record ten years later when he conquered the mountain again at the age of 80. In the meantime, he had had two cardiac surgeries for arrhythmia.

Youngest to climb

Jordon Romero of the United States and Poorna of India have been the youngest climbers to scale Everest. Romero was 13 years and 10 months old and Poorva was 13 years and 11 months old at the time of ascent. Malavath Poorna from Telangana, India became the youngest girl to scale Everest in 2014 and even had a feature film made about her story.

Fastest consecutive summits

Anshu Jamsenpa from Arunachal Pradesh, India made two successful bids for the Everest summit in the same season; within a space of just five days!

Many with disabilities and medical conditions

There have been people not only with legs but also arms amputated who have successfully climbed Everest. Erik Weihenmayer is blind but he did it too. Arunima Sinha is the first female amputee to do it. Those with insulin dependant diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia and other conditions have also managed to do it. Truly inspiring for those of us who are healthy and whole – wouldn’t you say?

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