Bridge of Allan mountaineer becomes sixth woman to reach Everest summit - two years after losing full use of arm

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A mountaineer from Bridge of Allan has become only the sixth woman from Scotland to reach the summit of Mount Everest – despite not having full use of one of her arms.Kirsty Mack scaled the world’s highest mountain above sea level with her climbing partner Lhakpa Wongchu Sherpa.The ski instructor’s achievement is all the more remarkable because she doesn’t have full use of one of her arms following a skiing accident in the Cairngorms two years ago.Her incredible accomplishment comes in the 70th anniversary year of Mount Everest’s first ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.Kirsty said: “Two years to the day after my ski accident I walked in to camp two on Everest.“I think if that was as far as I ever got, I still would have been thrilled.“The toughest part for me was really just figuring out how to climb the entire route using only my right (non-dominant) arm for strength.“I was as physically prepared as I could be, well acclimatised and had the mental determination to push through.“But the unknown conditions of what lay ahead – and if my shoulder and arm were going to cope with that – was definitely the hardest.”Kirsty reached the summit at 8.10am local time on Monday, May 22.The challenge of Everest was compounded by a serious shoulder injury Kirsty sustained two years ago while skiing off-piste in the Cairngorms.

The accident brought in its wake a series of surgeries. However – after significant rest, recovery and rehabilitation – Kirsty never regained the full use of her dominant arm.Despite her injury Kirsty continued to spend time in the mountains, climbing the Breithorn and Mont Blanc just two weeks after her second surgery.