Climbing Everest is no ordinary feat especially when you are blind. A 46 year old Chinese man has now become the first blind man in Asia to climb the world’s tallest peak. Zhang Hong made this climb from the Nepal side of Everest, and he thinks that all it takes is a really strong mind to make it happen.
The incredible climb was made with the company of three altitude guides. Hong returned to the base camp after three days making the world's most famous climb.
He is not the first blind man to do the unbelievable, a blind American mountain climber named Erik, had climbed the peak back in 2001. Hong took his inspiration from here, and began training with a mountain guide QiangZi. Of course the pandemic had forced shut the mountain for climbers last year, but it has been open since April for foreigners.
About the experience, Hong says that he was a little scared during the climb as he could not see where he was walking, and he was also unable to find his center of gravity. He kept thinking through the difficulties and continued to climb. He believes that this is the true meaning of climbing is to overcome the difficulties and the dangers.
Hong finished his final ascent to the peak in more than 13 hours with low-oxygen conditions, and bad weather.
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