Mark Joseph Inglis (born 27 September 1959) is a New Zealand mountaineer, researcher, winemaker and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

. He holds a degree in Human Biochemistry from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and has conducted research on leukaemia. He is also an accomplished cyclist and, as a double leg amputee, won a silver medal in the 1 km time trial event at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He is the first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. In addition to being a goodwill ambassador for the Everest Rescue Trust, Inglis has created a New Zealand-based charitable trust Limbs4All. He has also created a range of sports drinks and energy gels named PeakFuel.

Mountaineering

Born in

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, Inglis began work as a professional mountaineer in 1979 as a

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

mountaineer for Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. In 1982 Inglis and climbing partner Philip Doole were stuck in a snow cave on Aoraki / Mount Cook for 13 days due to an intense blizzard. The rescue of the two climbers was a major media event in New Zealand. Both men's legs became badly

frostbitten Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the hand ...

while awaiting rescue. Following Inglis's rescue, both his legs were

amputate Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...

d 14 cm below the knee. He returned to Mt. Cook in 2002 and reached the summit successfully on 7 January of that year, after a previous attempt was thwarted by problems with his legs. The summit assault in January 2002 was documented by the film ''No Mean Feat: The Mark Inglis Story''. In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, Inglis was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to persons with disabilities. On 27 September 2004, he successfully climbed

Cho Oyu __NOTOC__ Cho Oyu (Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the ''Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur ...

with three others, becoming only the second double amputee to

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

a mountain greater than in height. On 15 May 2006, after 40 days of climbing, Inglis became the first ever double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. While acclimatizing at , a

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anchor failed, resulting in Inglis falling and breaking one of his carbon fiber prosthetic legs in half. It was temporarily repaired with duct tape, while a spare was brought up from base camp. Inglis's Everest expedition was filmed for the

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series '' Everest: Beyond the Limit''.

David Sharp controversy

While ascending Everest, Inglis and a party of 18 other climbers came upon distressed British climber David Sharp, but continued pushing towards the summit, effectively condemning Sharp to death. Sharp subsequently died. Inglis has been criticized for this decision by many people including Sir Edmund Hillary, who said he should have abandoned any attempt at the summit to help a fellow climber. Inglis dismissed the criticism by falsely claiming that the decision was actually made by expedition leader

Russell Brice Russell Reginald Brice (born 3 July 1952) is a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the owner/manager of Himex (Himalayan Experience Ltd.), a climbing expedition company. He has summited Cho Oyu seven times, Himal Chuli and Mount Everest twice, as well ...

, who was at the base camp. He also stated that the "trouble is at 8,500 metres it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone anyone else alive." Some other climbers have agreed with this assessment, claiming there is little that can be done for a seriously ill person that close to the summit. However, Phil Ainslie, a mountaineer and scientist at the University of Otago, has said that it might have been possible to revive Sharp with bottled oxygen and get him to safety. In an e-mailed statement to the Associated Press on 10 June, the expedition leader Russell Brice contradicted comments by Inglis by saying that he only knew David Sharp was in distress when his team contacted him by radio during their descent.Mount Everest Climbing Ethics , Outside Online
Brice received many radio messages (many of which were heard by others) that night and a full log was kept. There is no record of any call from Mark Inglis. This was also supported by complete video of the time period which was recorded by a Discovery Channel crew. Inglis' group continued to the summit, passing David Sharp who they knew to be alive, without offering any assistance. Sharp was in a grave condition. On their descent, passing back through the cave several hours later, the group found Sharp near death. Inglis' fellow climber,

Maxime Chaya Maxime Chaya ( ar, مكسيم شعيا) (born December 16, 1961) is a Lebanese sportsman, mountaineer and explorer. On May 15, 2006, he was the first Lebanese to climb Mount Everest, completing the Seven Summits challenge. On December 28, 2007, ...

(or Max) and Chaya's Sherpa mountaineering partner attempted to help David Sharp, but to no avail. Inglis did not render aid during the descent.

Personal life

Inglis currently resides in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand, with his wife Anne and their three children. In 2007, he was honoured by

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

's ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

''.

Books authored

Inglis has authored four books: * ''No Mean Feat'' documents his entrapment and rescue from Mt. Cook, his successful summit of the same mountain in 2002, and his efforts in the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

* ''To the Max: a Teen Reader's Version of No Mean Feat'' * ''Off the Front Foot'' offers views on coping with positive and negative aspects of life. * ''No Legs on Everest'' is a detailed account of his ascent of Everest including his climb of Cho Oyu.

References

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Information on Cho Oyu summit assault
*

External links