Chinese mountaineer Zhang Hong becomes first blind Asian to scale Mount Everest

With the attitude of 'Do or Die', a 46-year-old Chinese man with no eyesight has scaled up to the tallest peak in the world from the Nepal side, becoming the first blind man in Asia and the third in the world to climb Mount Everest. He completed the 8,849 meter-high Himalayan feat on Monday and shared the goods news on his Twitter account on Tuesday, after which not just his profile in particular, but the microblogging site in general, has been buzzing with praises for the man, who is now an inspiration for many across the globe. 

Chinese climber becomes first blind Asian to scale Mount Everest, shares news

Zhang took to his official Twitter handle to share the news. "I summited Everest," he wrote and went on to thank those who helped him achieve the feat. "I would like to thank my family, my guides, the folks at Fokind Hospital, and Asian Trekking, who have been extremely supportive of my journey," he wrote while adding that this was just the beginning and he has next on his list the seven-summits."

While on the journey, he had been posting regular updates on Twitter. In one of the tweets in which he gave viewers a glance of him scaling up the snow-laden mountains through a video, he wrote, "I’m blind, but at least I‘m not afraid of heights." 

Inspired by Erik Weihenmayer, a blind American mountaineer who scaled Everest in 2001, Zhang who lost his sight at the age of 21 due to glaucoma, began training under the guidance of his mountain guide friend Qiang Zi. Talking about his time of training, Zhou said to a leading portal, "I was very scared, because I couldn't see where I was walking, and I couldn't find my center of gravity, so sometimes I would fall." He added, "But I kept thinking because even though it was hard, I had to face those difficulties, this is one component of climbing, there are difficulties and dangers and this is the meaning of climbing."

It is pertinent to mention here that Nepal reopened Mount Everest in April for foreigners after it was shut last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Credit-Zhang_hong_76-Twitter)