Taipei, May 18 (CNA) The first double amputee to scale Mount Everest arrived in Taiwan for a two-day visit Friday to send out his message to the handicapped that everyone is able to accomplish beyond one's limits if he is determined to do so.
Mark Inglis, a 47-year-old New Zealander who lost both legs 25 years ago, reached the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, May 15 last year. His Everest expedition was filmed for the Discovery series "Everest: Beyond the Limit."
"I can't describe how fantastic the experience was. I was very lucky, " Inglis said in the premiere ceremony of the six-part series, which documented the 40-day expedition.
"I came to realize that the only thing I lost was two legs, but I had an opportunity to live a different life, " said Inglis, who is now a motivational speaker.
Inglis was stuck in an ice cave in an intense blizzard for 14 days on Mount Cook in New Zealand in 1982 and lost both legs below the knee to frostbite. He went back to conquer the mountain, reaching the summit in 2002, and later started planning the Everest climb by training for the whole of 2005.
Inglis also met a group of Taiwanese athletes who will participate in the 2009 Deaflympics, to be hosted by Taipei City, and encouraged them to never give up. Inglis was a torch carrier in the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics and won a silver medal for cycling in the Sydney Paralympics.
Inglis is scheduled to attend a seminar at the Taipei International Convention Center Saturday. An interactive exhibition on his Everest expedition will be displayed in the plaza of the Eslite Bookstore Xinyi Branch from May 18-June 15.