Chinese climber aims to be first visually impaired Asian to scale Mt. Qomolangma

KATHMANDU, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Hong, a 46-year-old visually impaired Chinese climber is attempting to summit Mt. Qomolangma this spring, a company organizing his expedition said.

"If he manages to reach the top of Mt. Qomolangma, he will be the first Asian blind person to scale the world's tallest peak," Dawa Steven Sherpa, chief executive officer of Asian Trekking, one of the leading expedition organizing companies in Nepal, told Xinhua on Friday.

Earlier, two mountaineers -- Erik Weihenmayer, an American mountaineer and Andy Holzer, an Austrian climber, both visually impaired, had reached the top of the Mt. Qomolangma in May 2001 and May 2017 respectively.

According to Sherpa guides, the Chinese mountaineer who arrived in Nepal on March 30, set out for Mt. Qomolangma on April 3. He has been trekking to the base camp of the mountain and is expected to reach it on Sunday.

"His team includes six Chinese and six sherpas. During the ascent of Mt. Qomolangma, four sherpas will directly support him," said the CEO Sherpa.

The world's tallest peak has been a dream for many people with disabilities and some of them have already achieved their dreams by scaling the mountain.

Its height was slightly increased to 8848.86 meters when Nepali and Chinese surveyors measured and jointly announced the new height in December last year.

Sherpa said that the Chinese climber had been training hard with the aim of scaling the Mt. Qomolangma for the last three years. According to the Asian Trekking, he has already conquered Muztagh Ata, a 7,509 meter peak in China's Xinjiang autonomous region two years ago.

Zhang is one of the 244 climbers who got climbing permits for Mt. Qomolangma from Nepali authorities.

Bhisma Raj Bhattarai, mountaineering section officer at department of tourism confirmed to Xinhua that the Chinese blind climber and his team were given a permit this week.

According to the Department of Tourism, which issues climbing permits, a total of 244 climbers representing 26 groups have taken climbing permits for the Mt. Qomolangma as of Friday.

In January 2017, the Nepali government had decided to ban double amputees, persons without arms and legs and blind persons from attempting to climb the world's tallest peak. But, in March the same year, the Nepal's Supreme Court ordered not to implement the government's restriction on people with disabilities to summit Mt. Qomolangma.

By taking the advantage of court order, Chinese climber Xia Boyu, who lost both legs to frostbite on Mt. Qomolangma over four decades ago, reached the summit of the world's highest peak in May 2018.