Amputee Veteran Marine Taking on Everest

Ex-Marine amputee begins 2nd attempt to scale Everest
Associated Press
By Binaj Gurubacharya
April 18, 2015

"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are. –Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday

In this Thursday, April 16, 2015 photo, former U.S. Marine Charlie Linville holds his prosthesis during an interview with the Associated Press in Kathmandu, Nepal. Former Staff Sgt. Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.
(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) (Niranjan Shrestha, AP)

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A former U.S. Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.

Former Staff Sgt. Charlie Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, is using a specially designed metal foot outfitted with a climbing boot and another one with crampons in his quest to conquer the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit next month.

"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems — you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are," Linville said in Kathmandu on Friday, on his way to Tibet in neighboring China, from where he will set out on Everest.

He was an explosives expert serving in Afghanistan in 2011, when he went to investigate an explosion that wounded his colleague.

He was hit by another explosive device and seriously wounded, and two years later, had his right leg amputated below the knee.
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