Russian double amputee becomes first without prosthetics to summit Everest
Rustam Nabiev reached the top of Mount Everest using only his arms and ice axes, nearly a decade after surviving a barracks collapse that claimed both his legs and killed 23 fellow soldiers.
Russian double amputee Rustam Nabiev reached the summit of Mount Everest (8,848.86 m) on Wednesday, becoming the first person without prosthetic limbs to conquer the world’s highest peak, according to Nepal’s Department of Tourism.
Nabiev, a former Russian paratrooper, completed the ascent using only his arms and ice axes. The achievement comes six years after he first gained international fame by climbing Mount Manaslu (8,163m) in October 2021—the first time a double amputee had summited an 8,000-metre peak without prosthetics.
Wednesday saw approximately 270 climbers reach the summit, the highest single-day total in Everest’s history from the Nepal side. Khimlal Gautam, coordinator of the tourism department’s field office at base camp, confirmed the figures.
Nabiev’s journey to the summit began with a near-fatal accident. On July 12, 2015, while he was sleeping at a military barracks in Omsk, Siberia, the building collapsed due to poor construction, killing 23 of his fellow soldiers. Trapped under rubble for 12 hours and experiencing two clinical deaths, he lost both legs to amputation. Refusing to be defined by his disability, he turned to sledge hockey before mountaineering. In preparation for Everest, he summited Mera Peak (6,470m) in April.
Nabiev has a huge following in Russian-speaking social media circles, where he regularly posts about his exercise regimen, adventures, and family life. He joins a growing list of adaptive climbers redefining mountaineering, including Hari Budha Magar, a Nepali-British former Gurkha who lost both legs above the knee in Afghanistan and successfully summited Everest using prosthetic legs in 2023.
