04-08-2025
One-legged Bedford climber in training for record ascent
An adventurer who lost a leg in an accident is preparing to climb one of the highest peaks ever attempted by people with Luke Tarrant, from Bedford, was in a motorcycle crash in 2024 while travelling solo through Colombia on his way to Antarctica from the 15 August, alongside former professional rugby player Ed Jackson, 36, from Bath, he will attempt to scale a mountain more than 5,000m (16,500ft) high in the ranges of Kyrgyzstan, in Central Tarrant said: "It was not really my thing, climbing mountains before my accident, so now I'm trying to sort my head around doing it with one leg."
"I'd like to think it's risky but not reckless," he laughed. "It just depends whether we're up to it, I think it's possible"The pair expect the climb to take 10 days to reach the summit but have set three weeks aside in Kyrgyzstan for the are hoping to raise money for the charity Millimetres 2 Mountains, an out-door focused mental health charity.
Mr Tarrant explained training sessions in the gym are great for cardio preperations but make his prosthetic "awful to wear" for days said: "It's kind of a balancing act between prosthetic wear and fitness, which has been pretty tough."When they reach the top of the mountain they will be allowed to name it, as it has previously never successfully this happens the duo will instead allow a local children's charity in Kyrgyzstan to pick a name for the adventurer said: "I'm not a huge fan of people from foreign countries turning up in other people's lands and just going and being like 'this is called this now'."We'll let them name their own mountain but hopefully we're the ones who climb it first."
His mother had hoped his motorbike crash would be "the end of him doing stupid things" but it has instead motivated him to keep challenging explained: "Initially after my injury, I thought I want to make sure this this doesn't hold me back and it doesn't mean that I can't complete things I would have done before. "Now I've kind of gone full circle where I'm actually going to try and do things which I would never have done if I hadn't had my injury. "It almost makes the whole thing worth it. It's like I need to try and make the most out of the cards I've been dealt to the point where I actually have a better life than I would have had before the injury."
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