A Chinese climber, who lost both his legs to frostbite in 1975 during his first attempt to reach the summit of Mt Everest, has scripted a history on the roof of the world becoming the first double amputee climber to stand atop the world’s highest peak from Nepal side this morning.

According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Managing Director at Imagine Treks, Xia Boyu (70) scaled Mt Everest at around 7:30 am. “Boyu finally won his 40-year-long battle for Mt Everest,” Sherpa, who accompanied climbers to the high camps, told THT over phone.

Boyu is the first double amputee to climb Mt Everest from Nepal side while he is the second double leg amputee to scale the world highest peak, according to liaison officer Gyanendra Shrestha. Mark Inglis, a double amputee climber from New Zealand, had set record on Mt Everest becoming the first double amputee to reach the summit from Tibet side in 2006, he added. It is Boyu’s fifth attempt on Mt Everest.

“With the opening of climbing route to the summit point yesterday, our team is the first one to scale the mountain this morning,” Sherpa shared.

According to him, Nepali woman climber Nima Jangmu Sherpa also set the record becoming the country’s first woman to scale both Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse this season. “Nima Jangmu reached the summit point guiding her clients to the top of the world,” he said, adding that she scaled Mt Lhotse on April 29.

According to Shrestha, members of the Imagine Treks Expedition including Xia Boyu, Liu Yi, female climber Wu Jie, Lok Kee Siu, Mikey Foreal, Ajie Hu and Gao Li  successfully scaled Mt Everest. “Climbing Sherpas — Tamting Sherpa, Kili Pemba Sherpa, Pasang Gomba Sherpa, Ang Tshering Sherpa, Dendi Sherpa, Dawa Gyalje Sherpa and Nepali woman climber Nima Jangmu — also reached the summit point,” he told THT from the Everest base camp.

The world climbers are on their way to the summit after they found a fair window to climb Mt Everest, he added. More than 500 climbers including 347 expedition members of 38 different teams have already completed acclimatisation rotations to make final summit pushes on Mt Everest, he said.

The Himalayan Times