Nepal
Man climbs Mount Everest – even though he has no legs
Due to an explosion in Afghanistan, Hari Budha Magar had to have both legs amputated above the knee
© AFP / Prakash Mathematics
13 years ago, Hari Budha Magar lost his legs in an explosion. Now he has written mountaineering history and scaled Mount Everest – as the first leg amputee.
The Gurkha soldiers in Nepal are considered one of the most fearless units in the British Army. Hari Budha Magar has been one of them. The 43-year-old Nepalese became a member of the Gurkha unit in 1999. However, in 2010, while on patrol in Afghanistan, he stepped on an explosive device built by the Taliban. As a result, both of Magar’s legs had to be amputated above the knees.
As a child, Magar dreamed of one day climbing Mount Everest. Despite his leg amputations, he stuck to that wish. On April 17, 2023, the time had finally come and he began to climb the 8,848-meter-high summit in the Himalayas.
Bad weather caused difficulties
In freezing temperatures, Magar and other climbers had to endure 18 days at Everest Base Camp, waiting for weather conditions to improve. They also observed how two bodies of injured climbers were transported down the mountain.
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“All my jackets were completely frozen. Everything was frozen. Even our warm water that we put in the thermos was frozen and we couldn’t drink it,” Magar told the PA news agency. Last Friday he finally reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain. Once there, however, his sunglasses and oxygen mask were frozen, so he was only able to stay atop the mountain for a few minutes.
Ministry of Tourism: Everest ban for blind and double amputees
Magar originally planned to climb the mountain back in 2018. However, the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism changed the rules for climbing Mount Everest at the end of 2017: In order to reduce the number of accidents, blind people and people with double amputees were temporarily not allowed to climb the mountain.
The ban on climbing was lifted a short time later by Nepal’s highest court. According to a court official, banning people from climbing the world’s highest mountain would go against the spirit of Nepal’s constitution. Mountaineers, human rights activists and those affected had previously complained about the ban.
Sources: The Guardians, Mirror