Hari Budha Magar Summits Mount Aconcagua

February 24, 2025

EC50 2024 honoree, Hari Budha Magar, MBE, has successfully summited Mount Aconcagua (6,960.8 m/ 22,837 ft), hitting new heights as the first double above-knee amputee to summit the highest peak outside of Asia. 

Hari and his expedition team reached the summit on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at around 6pm GMT, one step closer to his goal to complete the seven highest summits in the world in the next 12 months.

Mount Aconcagua is in the Andes Mountain Range in the Mendoza region of Argentina, and is the tallest mountain in the Americas.

“Every mountain brings its own challenges, but for me these are amplified with my disability,” says Hari. “Although not the most technically difficult mountain I’ve climbed – it was physically and mentally exhausting as I climbed three times slower than an able-bodied mountaineer.”

“Aconcagua requires patience because there is a lot of waiting for weather and ideal times to move. The wind is famously the challenge but we’ve been very lucky and strategic in how and when we’ve chosen to move making our exposure to wind more limited.”

Hari reflects that the hardest day of the climb was the summit, “It’s a long hard ascent with very limited rescue options. We had to set up a special camp 4 because of the length of the trail and sheer exhaustion, particularly when I needed to change legs on the snow and ice during the descent.”

In 2023, Hari became the first double above-knee to summit Mount Everest. Having completed five of the seven highest summits, he’ll climb the remaining two in Oceania and Antarctica in 2025 to achieve his goal. If successful in submitting the final two, Hari will break new boundaries in mountaineering as the first double above-knee amputee to complete the seven summits – a feat only 500 people in history have ever achieved.

Hari added, “The climb is not only a chance to change perceptions around disability but also help further the advancement in technology that will help other amputees lead a fulfilled life and enjoy the outdoors.”

Ahead of the expedition, Hari was working with prosthetics experts at Ottobock in Germany to refine new designs for his climb. 

“The new prosthetic designs we tested out on Aconcagua were incredible, allowing me more movement and control on the mountain. It gave me real confidence with every step, especially when it was slippery or uneven underfoot.”

Rami Rasamny, the climb leader from Life Happens Outdoors team who led Hari’s expedition, added “there wasn’t a person who didn’t stop in awe at this incredible human being, humble, good humored and always smiling all whilst scaling one of the most challenging summits amongst the seven.” 

In 2010, Hari lost his legs in Afghanistan after stepping on an improvised explosive device. Following this life changing event, he found purpose on the mountains and made it his mission to globally raise awareness of disability to both change both how those with disabilities are perceived and how they perceive themselves.

Hari has successfully summited:
1. Mt. Blanc (4,810m) – August 2019
2. Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895m) – January 2020
3. Mt. Everest (8,849m) – May 2023
4. Denali, North America (6,190m) – June 2024
5. Aconcagua, South America (6,961m) – February 2025

In 2025, he plans to summit:
6. Puncak Jaya, Oceania (4,884m) – October 2025
7. Mt. Vinson, Antarctica (4,892m) – Late December 2025

Read more about Hari Budha Magar here.