Double amputee shows great spirit, prepares to climb Mt Everest for 5th time

Xia Boyu, a 69-year-old double amputee from China, is getting ready to climb Mount Everest for the fifth time.

Xia was a soccer player before he joined the Chinese Mountaineering Team in 1974. During a mission, he both his legs to frostbite. But he was determined to keep pushing his physical limits.

Xia has taken part in China’s National Games for the Disabled many times and won medals in javelin throwing, shot put, wheelchair basketball and table tennis.

Such heavy training derived him of adequate healing time for his legs and he developed lymph cancer in 1996. Xia recovered and went on to win two titles in the paralysed group at the IFSC Climbing World Championships Arco 2011 in Italy.

He had to abandon his last effort to climb Mt Everest in 2016 when he was just 94 meters away from the peak. But he is determined to try again and show that the disabled can also conquer new heights.

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