Meet the world’s first amputee to scale Mt. Everest

Life knocks you down when you least expect it, but to rise up from such crumbling situations gives our life its true purpose and meaning. Arunima Sinha is one such person with exemplary courage and dedication. She is an Indian mountain climber and a sportsperson. Sinha is the world’s first female to scale Mount Everest with a prosthetic leg.

She has also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Mount Elbrus (Russia), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), Mount Aconcagua (South America), Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia) and Mount Vinson. Arunima is also a seven time Indian volleyball player.

In 2011 Arunima Was pushed from a running train by some robbers while she was resisting them. As she fell on the railway track she remembered a train coming towards her, she tried to move but couldn't in that time the train had already ran over her leg. As a result, her left leg had to be amputated below the knee, she got rods in the right leg and multiple fractures in spinal cord. During the course of her treatment at AIIMS, Sinha resolved to climb Mount Everest. She was inspired by the story of cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who had successfully battled cancer. After her accident Sinha was tired of people looking at her with pity in their eyes and mountaineering caught her eye.

She found it as a perfect action to symbolic and tangible achievement. It literally embodied the spirit of fighting and conquering obstacles. In 2011 She contacted Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest. Arunima trained under Pal at Uttarkashi camp in 2012. Sinha climbed Island Peak (6150 metres) in 2012 as preparation for her ascent of Everest. After that she started to climb Mount Everest. On the day she endeavored to summit Mount Everest, she and her Sherpa were the first to leave the camp.

When they were very close to the summit, her Sherpa gave her some terrible news. Their oxygen levels were quickly exhausting, and they needed to return the following day for another attempt. Sinha was adamant on completing the summit that very day. With the help of the Sherpa, after two hours, they were at the pinnacle of Mount Everest, and of her success at 10:55 am on 21 May 2013. Those 7 minutes atop the summit were the best moments of her life. She just wanted to shout out to the world that she had done it.

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