Abi Gamin, Ascent by a One-Legged Man. When Baba Manindra Pal was 19, he lost a leg in a railroad accident. The next year he became a sadhu. He led an ascetic life of severe self-discipline, learning to live “on snow and stone with little food and no clothing. He hoped to climb Abi Gamin in August 1993, but the Indian Mountaineering Foundation refused to approve the project. He protested through a “fast unto death,” which forced the IMF to revoke the cancellation. At the age of 49, on August 30, 1994 he set out from the top camp, climbing with aluminum crutches. With three of his companions, Arijit Banerjee and two Sherpas, he pushed on and reached the snow-covered summit of Abi Gamin (7355 meters, 24,130 feet). He spent a brief but an exciting moment standing on his life’s highest point.

Józef Nyka, Editor, Taternik, Poland