Quadruple amputee becomes the first to climb the Matterhorn Mountain
Jamie Andrew was just 47 years old when he lost his hands and feet to frostbite after being trapped in the French Alps in 1999. He and his partner were trapped in a storm for five nights, in which his partner devastatingly died and Jamie was left with life changing injuries resulting in him needing multiple amputations.
But that didn’t stop him. Jamie learned to walk again he took up Skiing, Iron Man challenges and Triathlons. Jamie also took to the mountains again to return to his passion of climbing.
After 5 hard years of rehabilitation, training and determination, in August this month; Jamie accomplished what some of us never could, he reached the peak of the Swiss mountain through sheer grit and resilience.
Jamie said:
"I thought then that I would never do it, but I persevered, I trained hard, I worked on developing new techniques for climbing without hands and feet, and I waited patiently for the conditions to be right.
The climb was really exciting. It was absolutely at my limit and I knew that bad weather was coming so it was important that we move fast in order to be off the mountain before the storms.
In the end I was delighted with our progress and we made the summit in really good time. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life."
Jamie was equipped with specially designed prosthesis and devices engineered similar to ski poles for his arms, he was confirmed to be the first quadruple amputee at the peak of the mountain. A record that was backed by Kurt Lauber, the warden of the Hoernli Hut base camp, who went on to say that he knew of nobody else who'd achieved the feat.