Kathmandu, Nepal – Hari Budha Magar, a former British Gurkha soldier, is set to make history by becoming the first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest. Magar lost both his legs while serving in Afghanistan in 2010, but this has not deterred him from pursuing his dream of climbing the world’s highest peak.
After years of rehabilitation and training, next month he plans to summit the world’s highest mountain, an endeavour promoted on his website under the slogan “no legs, no limits”.
If the expedition is successful, he will become the first person with a double above-the-knee amputation to view the entire planet from the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak.
“After losing both of my legs, my aim became to see what I could do physically. It opened my mind, and I attempted everything I could put my hands on,” Magar told AFP before setting off for the Everest base camp.
Magar said he wanted to show that people with disabilities can do anything, but there is “just a different way of doing things”.
“As long as you can adapt your life according to the time and the situation, we can do anything we want. There is no limit, the sky is the limit,” he said.
Magar’s guide, Krishna Thapa, is confident the expedition will succeed.
“He is a great mountaineer… he has six years of preparation and several records,” he told AFP. “None of the other climbers have that.”
