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Double amputee set to climb Mt Everest+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SYDNEY, March 24_(Kyodo) _ When New Zealand mountaineer Mark Inglis lost his legs his greatest fear was he would never realize his childhood dream to climb the world's highest mountain. But 24 years after losing both limbs below the knee to frostbite on New Zealand's Mt. Cook, Inglis is set to become the first double-amputee to tackle Mt Everest. "The reason I have waited until now is because I wanted to be confident enough to climb in my own right. No one is going to drag my sorry backside up there," Inglis told Kyodo News from his home in Hamner Springs on New Zealand's South Island. Inglis says he has been preparing for the adventure since he started climbing at age 12. "Well, I'm a Kiwi and we've got Sir Ed (Edmund Hillary) so it's literally been a dream since I was a boy," he said. Inglis indulged his early passion by becoming a search and rescue mountaineer in Mt. Cook National Park. But his professional career was cut short after being trapped in an ice cave for two weeks in 1982. "After I lost my legs on Mt. Cook I really thought I had lost the opportunity to ever climb another mountain," Inglis said. But the married father of three is no stranger to serious challenge. A keen cyclist, he picked up a silver medal in the 1,000-meter time trial at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. He has also competed internationally in disabled Alpine skiing. In 2000, Inglis finally returned to Mt. Cook and conquered the summit. Four years later he was standing atop Cho Oyu, the world's second highest peak. Confident he was now ready to take on Mt Everest's 8,848 meter ascent, Inglis began several years of preparation for an adventure that will start in Lhasa, Tibet, in the beginning of April and is expected to take about two months. "I am very excited. It has been a long time coming and you get one shot at it so it's about making sure you do it as smartly as possible," Inglis said of the expedition that is expected to raise several hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Cambodia Trust's limb center in Kompong Chhnang. Inglis admits to feeling some pre-departure nerves but says his disability will not be a hindrance on the mountain, except for the descent, which he describes as likely to be slow and difficult. "People say I don't have legs, but I've got really sexy carbon fiber ones. They're even better than real ones. I can go up the mountain at least as fast as any mountaineer," he said. "It's not an easy thing to do (climbing Everest) and having artificial limbs adds another layer of complexity, but I've had these things (carbon fiber legs) for 23 years so I am starting to get the hang of them," Inglis added. |