Inspirational quadruple amputee Jamie Andrew takes on “Everest”
Climber Jamie Andrew pushes himself to live life to the full after losing his hands and feet in a tragedy that cost his friend his life
I was going to make the most of my life – for my sake and Jamie’s
IT took 45,000 steps and four days for Jamie Andrew to complete his latest mountain challenge – an ascent of Everest. And the Scottish climber and quadruple amputee didn’t even leave his home.
Instead, the 51-year-old climbed the equivalent of the world’s highest peak by ascending stairs at his Edinburgh house.
He walked up and down the 6.7-metre (22-foot) staircase, as well as doing steps on his garden decking, day after day during lockdown, to ascend the requisite 8,848m (29,029ft).
Jamie reveals that he was determined to find a way to “make the most of a difficult situation” during the UK’S Covid-19 crisis.
He said, “The challenge was partly to stay sane to stay active through lockdown. Climbing the height of Everest seemed the obvious goal for me.”
This year is the 21st anniversary of the climbing tragedy in the French Alps that saw Jamie lose both his hands and feet to severe frostbite.
His friend Jamie Fisher died of hypothermia after the pair became stranded on a 4000m (13,123ft) high ridge on the mountain Les Droites
After the accident, Jamie climbed Nevis” Ben
during a storm that had raged for five days.
Speaking from a hospital bed in January 1999, just days after a dramatic helicopter rescue, Jamie said he did not know if he would climb again, although he vowed to remain as active.
Remarkably, within a few months, he was able to walk using prosthetic legs and had re-learned everyday tasks such as dressing, washing and feeding himself. By August, he was able to run a few metres with carbon fibre and titanium limbs.
Over the following two decades, Jamie, who is married to Anna and has three teenage children, has enjoyed a range of outdoor pursuits, including swimming, running, cycling, skiing, paragliding, sailing and mountaineering. Rock climbing remains his biggest passion.
Jamie has achieved some impressive feats, too, while raising money for various charities.
Only 17 months after the accident, Jamie
climbed Britain’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis.
It was a mountain he had walked, run and climbed on many times before.
In the summer of 2000, he wrote, “Since my world was so rudely turned on its head … everything in my life has taken on an altered significance.
“The mundane has become a challenge. The tedious has become new and exciting. Easy has become difficult and difficult has become impossible – almost. And the tourist track up Ben Nevis has become an aspiration.”
With the support of friends and family, Jamie walked for 5.5 hours over six kilometres (four miles) to reach the 1345m (4413ft) peak.
He said, “I enjoyed the experience although it was tough and slow. This was the freedom I’d had taken from me and had to fight so hard to enjoy once more.”
The following May, Jamie returned to the French Alps to climb the Cosmiques Arete, a 300m (984ft) long knife-edge of snowy rock and ice, which finishes on the 3842m (12,604ft) summit of the Aiguille du Midi, high above the town of Chamonix.
In 2002, he made an attempt on Mont Blanc – the highest in the Alps at 4808m (15,774ft) above sea level – but turned back 300m (984ft) from the top as the weather worsened.
The same year, Jamie ran the London Marathon and, in 2004, he reached the 5895m (19,341ft) summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain.
He has also completed an Ironman distance event, comprising a 3.9km (2.4-mile) swim, 180km (112-mile) cycle and a 42km (26.2-mile) marathon on foot in Scotland. During the same decade, Jamie wrote an award-winning book, Life and Limb.
One of his biggest achievements was to climb the Matterhorn. At 4478m (14,692ft), it is one of the highest mountains in Europe.
“It was a big goal of mine,” said Jamie. “It took five years to achieve but all the preparation meant the climbing was like a dream when I eventually got there in 2016. It really was pure joy.”
Jamie, whose main occupation now is motivational
speaking, said, “The Matterhorn was the most difficult mountain I have undertaken in terms of preparation, training and planning, since I lost my hands and feet.
“Writing the book was also a long process, although I’m not sure my typing with two stumps was slower than my previous typing with two fingers. It was the mental challenges of going back over the accident that was hard.”
Jamie recalls the first days after the Alps tragedy as he lay in hospital. He said, “Doctors had two options: Amputate or let me die. Without hands or feet, it looked like I might never walk again. The future seemed grim.
“Yet once they had been amputated I was determined to get back on my feet again. I realised how lucky I was to be alive, no matter how bad my injuries, because my climbing partner and close friend wasn’t so lucky.
“I decided I wouldn’t give up. I was going to make the most of the rest of my life, for my sake and for Jamie’s.”
Even when confined to his home and local area during lockdown 2020, Jamie aimed high.
He said, “It is mentally tough to be cooped up indoors, unable to freely go where you would normally, and especially to the hills and mountains that I love.
“But I have learned that it is important to see positives in every situation. I wanted something to push my physical limits – and that people would respond to by donating to NHS Charities Together.”
To add to the challenge, Jamie abseiled from a second floor window at his home and finished by climbing a step ladder on to the roof.
With characteristic good humour, he said, “Of course, it was tiring and my stumps ended up sore. I had to wear a sock over my arm due to friction from the bannister.
“Mentally it was a bit tedious with the same set of stairs – and exactly the same paint chips to look at – each time I went up and down.
“But the fundraising kept me motivated – and at the end I could put my feet up knowing I had done some good. Well, actually, I simply took my feet off!”