Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Inspirational Hari on top of the world of th
A former Gurkha soldier who has made history after becoming the first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest says he almost gave up three times and feared for his life. Hari Budha Magar, from Canterbury, lost both his legs in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan.
The 43-year-old had always dreamed of scaling Everest, having grown up in the Nepalese mountains before serving for 15 years as a corporal with the Gurkha Regiment of the British Army.
Hari, who served with the 1st Royal Gurkha Rifles and fought alongside Prince Harry, was horrifically injured after stepping on a bomb in April 2010. Thirteen years later, after overturning a law banning disabled climbers from the mountain, he has achieved what many thought impossible and reached the top of the 8,849-metre peak. He summited at about 3pm on Friday, May 19, alongside a worldclass team of Nepalese climbers. Hari said: “The journey wasn’t easy - we had to make some tough decisions along the way, but we made it.
“The climb didn’t go entirely to plan because of weather conditions.
“We were supposed to set up Camp 5 at Balcony, but we didn’t because the weather made it too dangerous.”
It took 25 hours climbing from Camp 4 to the summit and then back to the camp.
The team started at 9.50pm and arrived back at 11pm the next day. Hari continued: “The first summit push from Camp 4 was horrible. It was so bad that when we returned from the Balcony, one team member suggested that we finish and go down.”
As they went back up to the summit, the group had to slow down at times and wait for weather conditions to get better before continuing.
However, this meant oxygen supplies ran low and some people had to turn back for their own and their teams’ overall safety.
Hari added: “I also wanted to give up at least three times when half of the team had gone.
“The Sherpas, which included my brother, reassured me we could make it and the oxygen would last, but even they could not predict how long conditions would delay and supplies would run low. “As a team we pushed hard and five of us made it to the summit. My brother, Nanda Bahadur Budha Magar, Mingma Sharpa, Pasang Sherpa, Jit Bahadur Tamang and I did it. We reached the top of the world!”
The remaining team members then had to get back down the mountain with little oxygen, with an ice storm coming in.
Hari explained: “Two Sherpas nearly finished their oxygen at Hillary Step on the way down, so they left me and the last other team members to rightly preserve their lives.
“My oxygen was about to finish on South Summit. I was never scared for my life like that before, even when I was injured and crashed my car.”
Once Hari’s oxygen had finished, one Sherpa gave him his supply and went back down.
Hari and his brother were left with enough oxygen for just 30-45 minutes, despite still having a long way down to travel.
Hari said: “I felt like here is s oxygen, take it and [I would] when it finishes.
“We looked for some of the gen bottles left on the mount but they were all empty.
“I told my brother who was me to go - I just went down on bum all the way to Camp 4. “We had no radios, but we had phone, so we were able to call camp and relay messages to C 4. Finally, a Sherpa from Ca came up with oxygen and hot w and met us below the balcony saved us.
“Later two other Sherpas c for assistance and took us to C 4. The immediate danger t passed.”
Hari has made it back dow base camp and he and team m bers have received treatmen some injuries from the mom ous climb.
Hari says the experience “really hit home” that if pe are “passionate, disciplined, w hard and believe in ourselves” n ing can stop us from achieving dreams.
“We proved that nothing impossible.”
He has been raising money various veterans’ char including Team Forces, Gurkha Welfare Trust, Pilg
‘My oxygen was about to finish on South Summit, I was never scared for my life like that before even when I was injured and crashed my car...’