Double amputee scales Everest
2006-05-16 07:51
Wellington - New Zealand mountaineer Mark Inglis, who lost his legs in a climbing accident 24 years ago, has become the first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, his wife confirmed on Tuesday.
After 40 tough days of climbing, the 47-year-old Inglis rang his wife Anne to say he had made it to the top of the world's highest mountain and had returned to base Camp 4.
"He only had time to say 'I'm at Camp 4, I did it', and the phone cut out," she said.
Anne Inglis said she was unable to ascertain exactly when her husband had reached the peak, but suspected it was at about midday on Monday.
"Now they make their way back down, which will probably take three or four days, and then they will be home. So they will certainly come back pretty fast," she said.
'Icing on top'
She said her husband's prosthetic legs had not caused any problems. When one snapped earlier this month, he described the mishap as "a minor hiccup".
In case something went wrong, Inglis was carrying a spare set of legs as well as equipment to make necessary repairs.
Inglis made his final push for the top from Camp 4 - 450m from the summit - in perfect weather early on Monday, following the path of another New Zealander, Edmund Hillary, and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who 53 years ago became the first mountaineers to conquer Everest.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark described Inglis as an inspiring person whose "absolutely incredible feat" would send a message to others with disabilities "that your ambitions should never be limited".
"I have heard Mark Inglis speak and he is an inspirational speaker in terms of motivating people to get on top of what to all of us would seem like the most incredible setbacks and get on with life and really set new challenges," Clark said.
Inglis was a mountain rescue guide when he and fellow climber Phil Doole had both legs amputated below the knee after suffering frostbite in 1982 when trapped in an ice cave for 14 days on Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak.
Since then, Inglis has taken on a number of challenging roles and succeeded - ranging from legless mountaineer and ski guide to research scientist after earning an honours degree in human biochemistry. He is also a leading winemaker and cycling silver medallist at the Sydney Paralmypics.
Before leaving on his Everest expedition, Inglis told AFP the fact that he had lost both legs, and no one has ever scaled the world's highest peak with two artificial limbs, was of secondary importance.
"I'm not doing this to be the first double amputee - if I am, then it's the icing on the cake - but it's more about I've been climbing most of my life and Everest is the achievement really," he said.
"And it gives you the knowledge of empowerment to do other things."
Inglis, who kept a website diary of his climb on www.legsoneverest.com, said earlier the expedition was expected to raise several hundred thousand dollars for a Cambodian centre that provides rehabilitation for landmine amputees, polio victims and other disabled people.