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Norman Croucher OBE is the acclaimed
mountain climber who, despite having two below the knee artificial legs,
set out to climb just one of the world's 14 mountains which exceed 8,000
metres (about 26,250 feet) or as he put it 'join the 5-mile high club'.
His goal truly was a near impossible dream.
Alongside such people as round-the-world yachtsman Chay
Blyth, the World Motor Racing Champion Jackie Stewart, radio and TV
personality Jimmy Saville and athletic champion Brendan Foster, Norman
has twice been chosen as Man of the Year. |
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He has been the subject of a 'This is Your Life'
programme and received an OBE for his voluntary work for disabled
people. He was the first disabled person to be appointed to the Sports
Council.
With Falklands veteran Simon Weston, he received a
special "Men of the Years" award for continued achievement in
celebration of the scheme's thirtieth anniversary.
Norman's training for high altitude began in 1969 with a
punishing solo 874 mile walk from John o' Groats to Land's End. He then
made a score of ascents in the Alps, including the Matterhorn, the Eiger
and Mont Blanc. In 1978 he led a successful expedition to Peru, where he
and his team ascended three mountains, including the north summit of the
country's highest mountain, Huascaran, (6,654m - 21,830ft).
In 1981 he reached the top of his first Himalayan peak, White Needle
(6,706m - 22,000ft) in Kashmir. The same year, on an expedition to
Argentina, he seemed faced with failure when his left artificial leg
broke because of metal fatigue, yet he set off on one leg to crawl and
walk on crutches to the top of a mountain of 5,115m (16,801ft)! The next
year he succeeded on Muztagh Ata (7,546m - 24,757ft) in China. His
ascents of mountains in excess of 3,000m (9,840ft) number eighty,
including sixteen above 6,000 (19,680ft).
His first attempt at an 8,000 metre peak ended when he
was injured by a falling rock. On his second try, the leader of a
commercial expedition, having accepted fees to organise an expedition
supposedly for the benefit of his clients, proceeded to the summit with
a sherpa, without giving an opportunity to any clients. Norman's third
attempt ended at about 7,600m (25,00ft) because of frostbite. Not being
one to give up easily, without bottled oxygen, he climbed the sixth
highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyo in Tibet, which stands at 8,201m
(26,906ft). On the descent he survived a night out at 7,800m without a
tent or sleeping bag, by removing his legs and sliding inside his large,
lightweight rucksack.
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