High achiever
70-year-old Chinese climber scales Everest after revocation of ban
Chinese double amputee finally conquers Everest, decades after first bid.
KATHMANDU: A Chinese climber who lost both legs to frostbite on Everest four decades ago finally reached the summit, just months after the revocation of a controversial ban on double amputee climbers attempting the world’s highest peak.
Xia Boyu, 70, summited Everest early on Monday on his fifth attempt to reach the top of the 8,848m mountain.
“The Chinese double amputee scaled the summit at 8.40am. He is the first double amputee to climb the peak from the south face,” Gyanendra Shrestha, an official at the Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said from the base camp.
Xia’s dream of standing at the top of the world was nearly thwarted by the Nepal government, which last year banned double amputee and blind climbers from summiting its mountains.
The ruling was overturned by Nepal’s top court in March, which branded it as discriminatory towards people with disabilities.
The double amputee had received the climbing permit from the Nepali government soon after.
To date, the only double amputee to summit the world’s highest peak Qomolangma is Mark Inglis from New Zealand, who had scaled the peak from China’s Tibet side in 2006.
Xia’s successful summit comes a day after eight rope-fixing team members reached the summit, making the climbing route open for all other climbers for 2018 spring season.
Xia’s expedition has been managed by Nepal-based Imagine Treks and Expeditions company.
Xia had attempted to scale the summit in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well, but his dreams were shattered owing to avalanche, earthquake and bad weather respectively.
According to Nepal’s tourism department, the official government body which issues climbing permits for the Qomolangma expedition, 346 mountaineers from 38 Nepali and foreign teams have taken the permits for expedition this year. — Xinhua/AFP