Climber who lost legs to Everest makes it to summit — four decades later

Image: Xia Boyu
Chinese double amputee climber Xia Boyu, who lost both of his legs during his first attempt to climb Everest, during an interview with AFP at Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu, ahead of another attempt to climb the mountain on April 4, 2018. Copyright Prakash Mathema
By Reuters and Tim Stelloh with NBC News World News
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Xia Boyu first tried to reach the top in 1975 but lost both his legs in the process due to frostbite.

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A Chinese climber became the first double amputee on Monday to summit Everest from the Nepali side of the peak.

Xia Boyu first tried to reach the top in 1975 but lost both his legs in the process due to frostbite.

Subsequent attempts in 2014, 2015 and 2016 failed, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

"Climbing Mount Everest is my dream," Xia told Agence France Presse last month before beginning the ascent. "I have to realize it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate."

On Monday, Dawa Futi, of Imagine Trek and Expedition, which organized the climb, told the news agency that Xia reached the summit with seven other team members.

Video from the ascent showed Xia slowly lifting himself up a ladder.

The only other double amputee to have summited Everest was Mark Inglis from New Zealand in 2006 from the peak's Tibet side.

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