Nothing stops Hari Budha Magar, a Nepalese who wants to reach the summit of Everest even though he has had both his legs amputated.
The 43-year-old former soldier was amputated above the knees after jumping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010.
After years of rehabilitation and training for his journey, he plans to climb Mount Everest next month to fulfill his childhood dream.
He also details his entire career on his internet and he has adopted a slogan that fits well with his approach, “neither legs nor limits”.
He wants to become the first amputee above the knees to climb on the roof of the world, which culminates at 8849 meters.
After the shock
Obviously, Hari Budha Magar is a fighter in life, so after the shock of the handicap, his objective was “to see what he could do physically”, he told Agence France-Presse had his departure for Everest base camp
He first tried skydiving and then took up kayaking and skiing.
“It opened my mind and I tried everything,” he admitted to AFP.
“It’s possible”
It was while skiing that the man understood that the ascent of Everest could be possible for him.
“When I was skiing, the view of the mountains reminded me of Everest. I always wondered if I could climb one day so I gave it a try and realized it was possible,” he explains.
To achieve his goal, he wears a suit specially designed for him with silicone lining at the knees to protect him from frostbite. His prostheses were also shortened and spikes were attached.
It will not be his first summit since he has already reached the top of Mera Peak, a 6476 meter mountain located in Nepal, in addition to reaching the top of Mont Blanc (4808 m).
Photo: AFP
The mountaineer has already climbed two mountains over 4000 meters.
A first
As mentioned, if he achieves his goal, Hari Budha Magar will become the first above-the-knee amputee to summit Everest.
Only two double amputees, below the knees, have succeeded: New Zealander Mark Inglis in 2006 and Chinese Xia Boyu in 2018.
Our hero was first to attempt the feat in 2018, but was forced to postpone the project to campaign against a Nepalese law passed in 2017 and since revoked.
This prohibited the ascent of Everest to double amputees or blind people for safety reasons.
By a strange coincidence, the timing of his ascent will coincide with the coronation of Charles III (May 6) just as the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay coincided with the coronation of Elizabeth II, there are 70 years.
Resilience
Hari Budha Magar’s story is one of resilience.
“I thought my life was over, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair,” he told AFP, admitting he had suicidal thoughts for two more years. to start drinking.
“My main objective is to inform about disability. If I had known, I wouldn’t have wasted two years of my life, I would have made good use of it.
“The disabled are not condemned to inertia, there is just a different way of doing things. As long as you can adapt your life to the situation, anything is possible. There are no limits, the sky is the limit.”
– With AFP