How one Chinese double amputee conquered Earth's highest peak

"Many people asked me, at such an old age and having lost both feet, why I was so determined to climb Mount Qomolangma," Xia Boyu recalled. "My answer is simple: I love climbing, and summiting Mount Qomolangma has changed the course of my life."

The 76-year-old Chinese mountaineer, an amputee and a survivor of late-stage lymphoma and life-threatening blood clots, is China's first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Qomolangma.

Veteran Chinese mountaineer Xia Boyu rides through the rain at age 76. (Photo/CNR.CN)

Before conquering the highest peak on Earth in 2018, Xia had attempted to summit the peak four times, facing danger repeatedly and narrowly escaping death.

Finally, at the age of 69, he reached the peak of his long-cherished dream, breaking the record for the oldest Chinese climber to summit Mount Qomolangma at the time.

The veteran mountaineer's life story reads like a tale of relentless courage.

'As long as I am alive, I will fight for my dreams every day'

Xia was a footballer in his youth. In 1975, at age 26, he joined a national expedition to Mount Qomolangma that carried out height measurements and scientific research. But tragedy struck when the team reached an altitude of 8,600 meters and a fierce wind forced them to retreat. During the descent, Xia selflessly gave his sleeping bag to a teammate and lost both feet to frostbite.

After the amputation, Xia recalled going through a dark period in life and feeling as though he had lost his sense of direction.

But hope returned six months later when a prosthetics expert assured him that climbing was still possible.

"My drive to pursue my dreams was reignited," Xia said. From that moment on, reaching the summit of Mount Qomolangma became his greatest dream.

To compensate for his lost leg strength, Xia devised a brutal daily training regimen: pre-dawn squats with a 10-kg sandbag, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, 18-kilometer round-trip bike rides and mountain climbing at Xiangshan Park in Beijing.

Unfortunately, due to the high-intensity training, the chronic wounds on his amputated lower limbs failed to heal, eventually leading to cancerous changes and lymphatic metastasis.

Yet adversity only strengthened his resolve.

"At that time, I thought to myself, as long as I am alive, I will fight for my dreams every day," Xia said. "Even without feet, I believed I was no less capable than anyone else and wanted to prove myself and defy fate by climbing Mount Qomolangma."

At 69, his greatest dream came true

From 2014 to 2016, Xia made three more attempts to conquer Mount Qomolangma, but each expedition was thwarted by extreme natural conditions: a massive avalanche in 2014, a rare 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Nepal in 2015, and deadly high-altitude winds in 2016 that left him just 94 meters from the summit.

Veteran Chinese mountaineer Xia Boyu climbs Mount Qomolangma on prosthetic legs. (Photo/CNR.CN)

"I was just 94 meters from the summit when a fierce high-altitude wind suddenly struck and visibility dropped to only 1 meter. The path beneath my feet was barely 20 centimeters wide, with sheer cliffs on both sides," Xia said, recalling how close he came to achieving his greatest dream at age 67.

Facing the near impossibility of the climb, he made the painful decision to retreat.

Although he feared it might be his last chance to reach the summit, Xia explained that he didn't want to put the young guides' lives at risk.

"Looking back at the peak so close, I thought about how it had stood there for more than 10 million years, and I promised myself that as long as I was alive, I would return," Xia said.

That promise was fulfilled at 8:31 a.m. on May 14, 2018.

Standing at 8,848 meters in freezing winds, Xia's voice crackled through his intercom: "The journey took more than 40 years! It wasn't easy, and I finally made it."

"I kept wondering what I would do once I truly reached the summit. Would I shout a slogan or strike a pose for the camera? But at that moment, I wasn't as excited as I had imagined; I felt surprisingly calm," Xia recalled. "That calm lasted until the moment I picked up the satellite phone and spoke to my family."

He called his family after the final success, thanking his wife in tears: "I couldn't have done it without your support."

The following year, Xia received the Laureus Sporting Moment of the Year award in Monaco, becoming the fourth Chinese individual recipient, after Yao Ming, Liu Xiang and Li Na.

'As long as you persevere, you can achieve your dreams even in old age'

Now, at 76, Xia’s passion for climbing remains undimmed. His next goal is to complete the "7+2 challenge": to summit the highest peak on each continent and reach both the North and South Poles.

He has already conquered Mount Elbrus in Europe, Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa and visited the North Pole.

"At our age, chasing dreams is not about proving ourselves but about experiencing new landscapes and the pure joy of the journey," Xia said.

Veteran Chinese mountaineer Xia Boyu speaks at the opening of a cultural event celebrating the strength of the silver-haired generation. (Photo/CNR.CN)

By sharing his life experiences, Xia hopes to help more people find the courage to rise again from adversity and gain the inner strength to persevere and achieve their dreams.

The inner strength of the silver-haired generation is a unique form of power, distinct from that of the young and forged through years of experience, according to Xia. He added that this strength embodies deep resolve, a calm and balanced mindset, and valuable wisdom and judgment.

"This strength enables us to face setbacks and challenges with greater composure and determination," he said.

"As long as I can climb, I will keep going. Perseverance is the most important — and the most challenging — part of achieving one's dreams. As long as you persevere, you can achieve your dreams even in old age," Xia noted.