BURSTScaling the seven summits is no longer a story that makes front-page news. Hundreds have done it.
But how many have done it without legs?
Only one.
As of Jan. 6, Nepalese mountaineer Hari Budha Magar has become the first double above-knee amputee to summit the highest peaks on all seven continents.
At 22:00 that day, Magar stood atop Mount Vinson at 4,892 metres, or 16,050 feet, in Antarctica with Abiral Rai, Mingma Sherpa and climb leader Jangbu Sherpa.
“[It feels] amazing but also unreal that it [is] done and history has [been] written,” Magar told Gripped in an online chat.
It was the culmination of a longtime dream that seemed very unlikely in 2010. At that time, Magar had his legs blown off by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He was serving in the British Army through the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
The time following the incident was a low point.
“I thought that my life [was] finished,” he wrote to Gripped. “[That I would] stay the rest of my [life] in a wheelchair…I tried to take my life and turned alcoholic and I was [at] rock bottom…I wasted my life for two years.”
Suicidal thoughts plagued him, he said. He thought he would be better off gone, as he feared becoming a burden to his family. But at one point, he realized taking his own life would just cause more problems for his loved ones.
“I didn’t know what I could do, but I decided I will do something,” he said.
And he delivered on that promise. He discovered mountaineering and dedicated his life to showing the world what disabled people could do.
Fast forward to this month, Magar made the record following a three-day climb using prosthetic legs in temperatures as low as -25 C (-13 F).
The team initially climbed negotiated crevasses on the Branscomb Glacier, then ascended over 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) in elevation via fixed lines on a 45-degree slope.
A mix of soft snow and windblown icy patches slowed progress on their way to the high camp, from where they’d then make a big push to the summit.
From there, the route became even more exposed and subject to high winds.
In some cases, the difficulty was such that Magar found himself literally crawling on all fours.
He said at one point he nearly lost his fingers.
The summit of Mount Vinson was the last stop on his seven-summit tour.
His six-year adventure started in August 2019. At the time, Magar summited Mont Blanc, 4,800 metres (15,780 feet).
In the years to come, he would scale Kilimanjaro
The six-year-long challenge began way back in August 2019 when Magar climbed Mont Blanc in the Alps.
The following year, he conquered Kilimanjaro.
In 2023, he ascended Everest. This was a particularly hard-fought ascent, since the Nepalese government had previously banned solo, blind, and double amputee climbers from the mountain. However, he and a collective of disability organizations challenged the prohibition, and it was overturned by the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2018.
Denali was ticked off the list in June 2024, and then Aconcagua in South America in February 2025.
This past October, Magar made his way up Puncak Jaya in Oceania before finishing off with Mount Vinson.
Magar said he will continue to advocate for disabled people and has a goal of writing a book, making a documentary and establishing a foundation.
“Life is all about adaptation, and nothing is impossible; we adapt our life to reach our destination,” he said.
The post No knees? No excuses. Double amputee claims seven-summit record appeared first on Gripped Magazine.