Hari Budha Magar set himself an extraordinary challenge. This 43-year-old Nepalese, a former Gurkha soldier with both legs amputated in Afghanistan, wants to climb Everest. For someone who jumped on an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan in 2010, in the Gurkha Brigade, a unit of Nepalese soldiers within the British army, this rise is a “childhood dream”.
Once the shock of the disability passed, his “goal was to see what [he] could do physically.” He therefore experimented with skydiving, kayaking and skiing. “It opened my mind and I tried everything. ” Well almost. Because after years of rehabilitation and training, he is leaving for the highest peak on the planet next month, a project he presents on his website.
Soon, he could therefore become the first amputee above the knees to climb to the Roof of the World, at 8,849 meters. Only two leg, below-knee amputees have ever summited Everest: New Zealander Mark Inglis in 2006 and China’s Xia Boyu in 2018.
But this is not his first attempt. The mountaineer has already reached the summit of Mera Peak, in Nepal, at 6,476 meters above sea level, that of Mont Blanc, at 4,808 meters, as well as that of Kilimanjaro, at 3,962 meters.
To do this, Hari Budha Magar is equipped with a suit specially designed for him, lined with silicone in the thighs to protect them from frostbite. Studs were also attached to his shortened prostheses.
Already in 2018, he was preparing for this ascent. But he had to postpone his project to campaign against a law, adopted by Nepal in December 2017 and revoked since, prohibiting the ascent of Everest to people who have had a double amputation or to the blind for safety reasons. “There were a lot of hurdles, but finally everything is falling into place to [achieve] my dream. I’m happy,” he said.
The timing of his ascent coincided, by the greatest of luck, with the coronation of Charles III, like the first ascent of Everest by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay who had unfolded at the coronation of Elizabeth II 70 years ago. “I fought for this crown. I lost my legs for this crown,” he recalls.
Hari Budha Magar hid his disability for a long time, hiding his prostheses as much as possible. “I thought my life was over, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair,” he admits, confident that he had had suicidal thoughts for two years and started drinking. But love for his three children saves him.
Today, the main objective of someone who wears shorts whatever the temperature to proudly show off their prostheses is “to inform about the handicap”. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have wasted two years of my life, I would have put it to good use,” admits the mountaineer. “As long as you can adapt your life to the time and the situation, anything is possible, there are no limits, the sky is the limit. »
He will be accompanied by Krishna Thapa, his guide, who wants to be optimistic: “He is a great mountaineer […], he has been preparing for six years and has broken several records”, he underlines, with admiration: “No other climber has achieved this. »
For those who grew up in the foothills of the Himalayas, this climb stands before them like an ultimate challenge. Something he had dreamed of since childhood. “I always wondered if I could ever climb. So I tried and realized it was possible. And it’s not his accident that’s holding him back. Quite the contrary: “No legs, no limit”, is his motto.
