Fast Facts:
Pursuit: Only double amputee to summit Mount Everest, Paralympic silver medallist, public speaker, internationally awarded winemaker and more
Definition of success: “Turning stumbling blocks into the stepping stones of life.”
Some people are destined to succeed in life, no matter the setbacks. In fact, some seem to thrive on setbacks. They re-label them ‘challenges’, fashion ladders from hurdles, and on they go. Today’s guest is one such man. A silver medallist at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, former senior winemaker with the prestigious Montana Winery of New Zealand, and world record holder for being the first – and only – double amputee to summit Mount Everest: today’s guest is unstoppable in his drive to participate in the world we inhabit, influencing it for the better. Not content with self-fulfilment, he is Founding Trustee of Limbs4All, a charity set up to help the 400 million plus disabled people in the world express their potential, Patron of Cambodia Trust New Zealand and the New Zealand/Nepalese Foundation, and Ambassador for Scouts New Zealand and Outward Bound. Needless to say, he’s a man with a lot on his plate. Please welcome – Mark inglis.
Few people set out with a definitive goal to change the world, or even to profoundly change themselves. They tend to stumble onto a road which takes them in a new direction, albeit their own sense of drive is the engine for that journey. Mark Inglis is no exception.
“I was terrible at rugby,” he says, “and in the seventies there weren’t many options, but a teacher was a mountaineer and mentored a small group of us that were frustrated with the rugby culture.”
And so it was that Mark started climbing, and by his early twenties was a Search and Rescue Mountaineer in his homeland, New Zealand. While climbing that country’s highest peak, Mount Cook, in 1982 Mark and a colleague found themselves trapped in an ice cave by an intense blizzard. Sardonically named ‘Middle Peak Hotel,’ this cave was their shelter for almost two weeks – a hellish fortnight that would lead to one of the most dramatic turning points of his life.
“Imagine, you are 23 years old, trapped in an ice cave for fourteen days by a sub-zero blizzard on the summit of New Zealand’s highest peak. You are starving and freezing to death. You wake up in hospital to find that you have lost both legs below the knees due to frostbite. What do you do next?”
According to Mark, “You climb Mount Everest, of course.”
But that’s not entirely accurate: it would be almost twenty-five years before Mark would stand on top of the world as the only double amputee to have summited Everest. The passing of almost a quarter of a century between those two life changing events is not the point though. Because in that time Mark Inglis was achieving many other goals, not least as an international skier and then cyclist – picking up silver at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. Now mid-way through his fifties, Mark is doing anything but slowing down. I ask him for an example of a typical day.
“No such thing,” he asserts. “A mix of being at home – I’ve just done 4 days training and landscaping – a busy day in ChCh tomorrow, 130km away, including an hour on RadioNZ, home then back to the airport Tuesday, fly to Italy and London for a mountaineering summit and charity work.”
(Yes, I too had to ask where ChCh is: Christchurch, obviously…)
Having achieved so much, it is perhaps not surprising that Mark struggles to identify the most gratifying of his accomplishments.
“Tough,” he ponders. “Three: surviving Middle Peak Hotel, climbing Everest and redefining what amputation means (work in progress)”
Take a look at his website and you’ll see many references to that last point. The word attitudinal features prolifically, and perhaps, sadly, it’s true to say that unless you understand how it feels to be an amputee, you can’t accurately assess for ability. That despite the examples set by people like Mark, we still think of amputees as being less able. If you consider that for a moment, in light of the company we’re in now, it’s rather ironic isn’t it?
Still, although that fateful two weeks stuck in Middle Peak Hotel turned out to be the making of Mark Inglis, I can’t help but presume his life would have been a series of paramount achievements in any case: when I ask how much time he devotes to his numerous pursuits, it is clear that Mark is ferociously driven.
“Every hour of every day – thinking about how I can do it better.”
And does he have cause to envy those of us with a more routine way of life?
“Often, but only for the fact they generally can give their family a much more stable income and future.”
It’s true – we all want to safeguard the next generation, but aren’t they better prepared through inspiration? Surely that’s the example to set. In which case I think Mark Inglis, Paralympic Medallist, ambassador, mountaineer, Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, internationally awarded winemaker and, perhaps most significant of all, double amputee, is more than qualified to offer us a few pearls of wisdom when it comes to courting our own goals.
“Make damn sure it is what you want then commit totally,” he advises. “Be brave enough to take advice occasionally from those you truly trust to ensure you are on the right track.”
My thanks to Mark for taking the time to answer my questions in the middle of a particularly busy few days. So broadly-encompassing is the sphere of his endeavours that it’s hard to point you in any one direction. That said, if you’re keen to learn more of Mark’s story you should visit his website at www.markinglis.co.nz. If you’d like to know more about Mark’s charity, Limbs4All, go here: www.limbs4all.co.nz
And for the latest social media updatesm, you can keep up with Mark on Twitter @MarkInglis and Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkInglisSpeaker
1 Comment
Matt Kruze
As a quick side note for all you wine drinkers, I also talked to Mark about his time at Montana Wines. It’s a small world isn’t it, because who’d have thought that in a former life, as a wine seller, I would find myself tasting a bottle whose creator I would be hosting ten years later on my blog? I remember discovering a bottle of Montana Reserve Sauvignon buried deep in some stocks which had been written off years before as tasting samples. This was the 1997 vintage and I think the year at the time must have been around 2003, 2004. In any case, Marlborough Sauvignon, classically, is meant to be drunk young, when it’s at its most fresh and vibrant. I won’t go on about the flavours here, but suffice to say this was one of the more impressive wines I’ve had, and proved that a well crafted Sauvignon can age with the best of them. Anyway, it was interesting to discuss that with Mark earlier this week and proved that the more driven someone is and the greater their sphere of achievement (and yes I’m talking about him not me) the more likely you are to cross paths of interest. If you want to talk wine, drop me a line but I won’t bore the rest of you here! Cheers…