Double amputee ex-Nepalese soldier scripts history; climbs Mt Everest with artificial legs: Official

Kathmandu, May 20

A double amputee ex-British Gurkha soldier has scaled Mt Everest, scripting history by becoming the first in the category to scale the world’s highest peak with artificial legs, an official said on Saturday.

Hari Budhamagar, 43, scaled the 8848.86-metre peak on Friday late afternoon.

“Double amputee ex-soldier Hari Budhamagar created history on Friday by becoming the first person with such conditions to scale Mt Everest,” the official from the Department of Tourism said.

Budhamagar, who lost both his legs in the war in Afghanistan while fighting as a soldier of British Gorkha for the UK government in 2010, scaled Mt Everest with artificial legs.

He had postponed his plan to scale Mt Everest in 2018 after the government introduced a mountaineering regulation that banned blind, double-amputee and solo climbers from climbing the mountains, including Everest in 2017.

A writ petition was filed against the ban and in response to that the Supreme Court vacated the rule by issuing an order in 2018, paving the way for Budhamagar to create history.

On Sunday, five foreigners climbed the summit of Mount Everest.

Nepal has issued a record 466 permits to climb Mount Everest this spring, officials said.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks.