Losing his leg after stepping on an unexploded bomb while serving in the Middle East may have been a low point for Charlie Linville. But today had to be one of the highest of his life, as the climber from Boise, Idaho became the first combat amputee to summit Everest. And his team also became the first to summit the northern route through Tibet this year.
This is the third attempt for Linville. He was shutout the last two seasons due to natural disasters (apparently, he was eating lunch in base camp when the earthquake rocked Nepal in 2015). Needless to say, the commitment to such a project–which he did through the Heroes Project to inspire other wounded veterans–has taken up a tremendous amount of time in his life and taken a toll on his family (he has two daughters with his wife Mandi). “The commitment to Everest has been number one,” Linville said in April. “The family has been on the back-burner and it’s been a struggle with the wife and kids. … They always ask me, ‘When are you coming home.’ And it’s difficult. But I believe in what the power of getting to the top will show disabled veterans and that’s important to me.'”
Linville reportedly lost his leg below the knee during a mission in Afghanistan where he served in the Marines (this outlet wrote that it was Iraq). Despite the tremendous commitment the Everest climb has required, his family has fully supported him. “It’s time to go into celebration mode,” his wife Mandi said. “I’m going to throw him the biggest freaking party. It’s come full circle. It’s only fair that something so risky and so scary — it’s only appropriate that we celebrate the victory.”
