Who is the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest?

Silent and unblinking, the mountains stand as reminders of courage and fortitude. When we gaze upon them, we can find our deepest strengths and fears reflected upon their formidable walls. As Sir Edmund Hilary put it, “It’s not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.” And, 31-year-old Arunima Sinha did just that when she became the first female amputee to climb the tallest mountains in each of the seven continents in the world.

A national-level volleyball and football player, Sinha lost her left leg and severely damaged her right one in a horrific train accident in 2011. She was flung off the train in the middle of the night when she attempted to fight off thieves on the Padmavat Express. Before she could recover from her fall, a passing train crushed her left leg. In excruciating pain, she lay immobile on the tracks. Rodents gnawed away at her injured leg. Sinha left tricking out of her, but she was not ready to quit.

The gritty athlete lay on the tracks for over seven hours before she was found by the local villagers in the morning. They rushed her to the hospital but the doctors could not save her leg. She was fitted with a prosthetic left leg, and metal rods were inserted in her right leg.

The accident shattered her dreams of playing volleyball and football. But not her will. Lying in her hospital bed for four months, she refused to wallow in self pity. She met with the legendary Bachendri Pal as soon as she was discharged from the hospital. Pal inspired her. And with a renewed sense of purpose, she signed up at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute to become a mountaineer.

Mountaineering is a mammoth task even for the fittest of individual. But for Sinha with her prosthetic leg and implants, it was even more challenging. She trained for two years at the institute, before setting off on her own to conquer the mighty Everest.

Mount Everest

It looked impossible from the start. It took her three hours to reach the Everest base camp on account of her injuries – a distance that was a breeze for other mountaineers.

And things got only tougher from there. On beginning her ascent, her prosthetic leg kept slipping on Everest’s green-blue ice. Somehow, she managed to base camp 3. Ahead lay the real challenge – the Death Zone, notorious for its fatalities.

Her flashlight shone upon the bodies of dead mountaineers who had perished trying to conquer Everest. The spine-chilling sight helped cement her resolve. She vowed to scale the peak as a homage to the departed.

The moment of reckoning came at the rocky Hilary Steps, a 12-metre cliff, just before the Everest peak. Sinha was running out of oxygen. Her guide advised her to abandon the mission and head back. But she decided to brave the insurmountable odds. Slowly, but steadily, she continued to climb, and on the historic day of May 21, 2013, Sinha reached the top of the world.

But the journey was far from over. On her descent she finally ran out of oxygen and was about to collapse when a fellow mountaineer offered her a spare oxygen cylinder. Sinha returned to the base camp safely. The braveheart was conferred with the Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian honour in India) in 2015. She received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in the same year.

Mountain Vision

And since she hasn’t looked back. She conquered Kilimanjaro in Africa. Elbrus in Europe, Kosciuszko in Australia, and Denali in North America among others. On January 1, 2019, she brought glory to India by climbing Mount Vision, the highest peak in Antarctica.

Sinha’s adventures are far from over. She now plans to open a sports academy for physically challenged athletes from economically weaker sections. More power to you Arunima!

On top of the world

  • Sinha was on a mission to complete the Seven Summits challenge, which involves climbing the tallest mountains on each of seven continents.
  • She covered Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Kosciuszko in Australia, Denali in North America, Mount Aconcagua in South America, Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, and Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica.

 

Picture Credit : Google