DARE TO DREAM

Double amputee Hari Budha Magar hopes to inspire others, having just completed the Seven Summits, one of the world's toughest challenges

- By Hannah Britt

FEARLESS explorer Hari Budha Magar has revealed how he nearly died making history as the only double below the knee amputee to complete the Seven Summits challenge. Hari, 46, who scaled his seventh peak, Mount Vinson in Antarctica on January 7, says of his treacherous final climb: "One slip and you'd fall for kilometres down the mountain."

The Seven Summits is the most coveted mountaineering achievement. It involves scaling Mount Everest, Nepal (29,032ft); Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (19,341ft); Denali, Alaska (20,310ft); Aconcagua, Argentina (22,831ft); Vinson Massif, Antarctica (16,050ft); Carstensz Pyramid, New Guinea (16,023ft) and Elbrus, Russia (18,510ft).

Hari has conquered all but Elbrus, which is inaccessible to Westerners. Instead, he scaled France's Mont Blanc (15,771ft), which was recognised by Guinness World Records.

This amazing achievement comes despite Hari, a brave ex-Gurkha and Army veteran, who won a Pride of Britain Award in 2024, losing both legs when an IED exploded underneath him in Afghanistan in 2010.

Speaking from his home in Canterbury, Kent, Hari, who has three children Samjhana, 29, Brian, 17, and Ublan, 12 with wife Urmila, says: "My wife and children met me at the airport with music and banners and flung their arms around me.

"Urmila scolded me and said, 'Don't you dare go and do it again - I was worried about you'. She cooked a chicken biryani and a cake and we opened a bottle of champagne to toast my achievement."