Twenty three years ago mountain rescuer Mark Inglis got stuck high on Mount Cook and both his legs had to be amputated due to frostbite. It did not prevent Mark from summiting Cho Oyu in 2004, and now he has repeated the quest on Mount Everest. Image courtesy of expedition website (click to enlarge).
Two years after summiting Everest, Nawang Sherpa (a trans-tibial amputee) had to abort an attempt on Cho Oyu just last week. No due to his lack of legs, but due to - bad cooks! Image courtesy of the expedition (click to enlarge).
Also on Everest north side, Disabled climber Pepe Blanco was forced to call off his attempt a few days back, due to problems with his feet. Pepe reached the North Col feeling strong and motivated, but had to turn back at 7100m. The special boots he used were not adequate for the climb on Everest. Image courtesy of the expedition (click to enlarge).
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Double amputee Mark SUMMITS Mount Everest
Posted: May 15, 2006 10:05 pm EST
May 16, 2006 - Expedition Update from Anne (Mark's wife):
"Hopefully the next update will come direct from Mark. But if you haven’t seen it on the news Mark reached the summit of Mt Everest on Monday 15 May, 2006. I haven’t spoken to him properly yet, just a call that said 'at Camp 4, I did it' before the phone cut out."
Twenty three years ago Anne's husband, mountain rescuer New Zealander Mark Inglis got stuck high on Mount Cook and both his legs had to be amputated due to frostbite. It did not prevent Mark from summiting Cho Oyu in 2004, and now he has repeated it on Mount Everest. But it hasn't been all easy.
The expedition spent their first night at the North Col on May 1st. “It was very hard that first night at 7000m, great leveler, even the Sherpas find it hard,” said Mark. While descending the fixed ropes, however, one of the fixed line anchors pulled out of the ice, and although Mark says he managed to arrest the slide – his right carbon leg broke into two pieces during the fall.
“Luckily, I was able to re-build the leg well enough to slowly move down the hill, meeting Wayne and Bob with a replacement so I could hop and skip back to ABC.”
With his leg rebuilt, Mark finally summited Everest North side with Himex second team (the first summited yesterday).
The 2006 underdogs
Mark wasn't the only disabled in Himalaya this year however.
Two years after summiting Everest, Nawang Sherpa (a trans-tibial amputee) had to abort an attempt on Cho Oyu just last week. No due to bad legs, but due to - bad cooks! The Friendship without Borders expedition reported serious problems with their Chinese cooks as well as their supplies. The local trekking company they had hired came with cheap, broken tents, and “dangerous, maniac-like cooks” - the Sherpas were threatened with knives when they tried to enter the kitchen and prepare their own meals.
On Everest north side, disabled climber Pepe Blanco was forced to call off his attempt a few days back, due to problems with his feet. Pepe reached the North Col feeling strong and motivated, but had to turn back at 7100m. The special boots he used were not adequate for the climb on Everest. Pepe was 65% physically disabled after a paragliding accident.
Still in the game, again on Everest north side, is sight-impaired Thomas Weber, guided by Harry Kikstra. Thomas has a rare eye disease: His vision deteriorates at altitude. “Effectively he has blind periods which can last quite long at altitude,” Harry said.
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