Mark Joseph Inglis (born September 27, 1959) is a mountaineer, researcher, winemaker and motivational speaker. He holds a degree in Human Biochemistry from Lincoln University, New Zealand, and has conducted research in leukemia. He won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. He currently resides in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand with his wife Anne and their three children.
Inglis began work as a professional mountaineer in 1979 as a search and rescue mountaineer for Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. In November of 1982, Inglis and climbing partner Philip Doole were stuck in an ice cave high on Aoraki/Mount Cook for 14 days due to an intense blizzard. The ultimate rescue of the two climbers was a major media event in New Zealand. Both men's legs became badly frost bitten while awaiting rescue. Following Inglis' rescue, both his legs were amputated beneath the knee. He returned to Mt. Cook in 2002 and summited successfully on January 7 of that year, after a previous attempt was thwarted by problems with his leg stumps. The summit assault in January 2002 was documented by the film No Mean Feat: The Mark Inglis Story.
In 2003, Inglis received the New Zealand Order of Merit as an Officer in recognition of his services to disabled people. On September 27, 2004, he successfully summitted Cho Oyu with three others, becoming only the second double amputee to summit a mountain greater than 8000 metres in height.
On May 15, 2006, after 40 days of climbing Inglis became the first ever double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. While acclimatizing at 6,400 metres, a fixed-line anchor failed resulting in Inglis falling. In the fall, he broke one of his carbon fiber prosthetic legs in half. It was temporarily repaired with duct tape while a spare was brought up from base camp. Inglis's Everest expedition was filmed for the Discovery Channel series Everest: Beyond the Limit.
