Kiwi conquers Everest on artificial legs

New Zealand climber Mark Inglis last night stood at the highest point on the planet as he became the first double amputee to conquer Mt Everest.

His wife, Anne, confirmed her husband's achievement as she spoke to him briefly after he stood atop the 8850m mountain.

"He's incredible," Mrs Inglis said. "He's dreamed of this all his life, probably. He's over the moon.

"They didn't expect to be this early, they thought maybe mid to late May, so Mark will be stoked. I imagine they'll be having a few whiskies."

Inglis conquered Everest on two carbon-fibre artificial legs especially adapted for climbing.

He snapped one of them when he was at about 6400m while preparing to move up to Camp 2, which is at about 7500m.

He was able to fix it well enough to get to his climbing companions, and then rebuilt it with spare parts.

The 47-year-old arrived at Base Camp on April 7. He made his bid for the top with an early-morning start in perfect weather from Camp 4 - less than 450m below the summit.

Mrs Inglis said she talked to her husband briefly at 9.20pm, but there was static on the phone line and it cut out.

But she had heard from the partner of Wayne Alexander, another climber on the expedition, that the group had conquered Everest, were in high spirits and had returned to Camp 4. "I'm relieved the worst bit's over and feel great to know that he's done it."

She said she also spoke to her husband on Saturday and he had sounded confident and ready for the final push.

"He said he wouldn't call again until they had been to the top."

Mrs Inglis said she expected her husband home early next week. "It will be interesting to see what he wants to do now. He can't go any higher."

The original expedition party split into two groups. Four members of the first group had already reached the summit before Inglis made it to the top.

Inglis arrived in Tibet on April 1 and spent a week acclimatising before beginning the long haul up Everest.

On April 29 he wrote on his website that he was still struggling with acclimatisation. "Just when you think you can breathe, it takes two stops to get to the loo."

In November 1982, Inglis, then a mountain rescue guide, lost his legs to frostbite in a climbing mishap.

A blizzard trapped him and countryman Phil Doole in an ice cave on Mt Cook for 14 days.

Both had their legs amputated below the knees.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered Everest, on May 29, 1953.

~NZ Herald