Chinese man with Lou Gehrig’s disease climbs 1,600m to summit of his second Great Mountain

A Chinese man who suffers from a motor neurone disease found the perfect way to celebrate his 29th birthday: climbing 1,600 metres (5,250 feet) to the top of one of the Five Great Mountains of China, according to a local media report.

Zhang Wei, who was diagnosed with the degenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, when he was just 12, set off for the summit of Mount Hua in northwest China’s Shaanxi province at 8am on July 15, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday. He arrived 21 hours later.

While the climb is made via a stone staircase, Zhang’s achievement is no less remarkable, considering he has no use of his legs and scaled the 4,000 steps by lifting himself up on his hands and shuffling his body upwards and forwards.

“The steps became steeper as I climbed higher and sometimes [the rise] was as long as my legs,” he was quoted as saying.

After about eight hours of climbing, Zhang said his carer advised him to stop, but he was having none of it.