Failure is not the end: Amputee climber with cancer, broken in body but firm in spirit, has continued to pursue his dream of scaling the world's highest peak, Mount Qomolangma, despite several setbacks. And this time, during his fifth attempt, he succeeded, and became the first double amputee to reach the world's highest peak Qomolangma from the Nepali side on May 14, 2018.
Xia Boyu, 69, has launched four challenges on the 8,848-meter-peak over the past 40 years. He failed in his very first attempt and lost his legs due to severe frostbite on the mission at the age of 24.
In 2014, he resumed his challenge of climbing the mountain, but had to stop due to an avalanche.
Xia tried it a fourth time in 2016, but a snowstorm forced him to stop when he was just 94 meters from the peak. He considers it his biggest regret.