More than four decades ago, Xia Boyu (夏伯渝) lost both of his legs to frostbite during a failed attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest. However, that setback never stopped him from believing that he could and would someday reach the top of the world’s tallest peak.

That day finally came on Monday when the 69-year-old’s incredible determination paid off and he found himself standing at the top of the world — 8,848 meters above sea level.

In fact, Xia did temporarily lose hope of accomplishing his dream last year. Not because he felt he did not have the strength or the willpower to climb Everest, but because the Nepalese government had enacted a controversial ban on double amputees scaling the mountain.

Up until that time, only one double amputee had ever actually made it to the summit — New Zealander Mark Inglis in 2006.

However, in March, Nepal’s top court struck down this ban, calling it discriminatory towards people with disabilities. A short time later, Xia had secured his permit and was on his way back to Nepal.

“Climbing Mount Everest is my dream. I have to realize it. It also represents a personal challenge, a challenge of fate,” he told AFP last month.

Xia had first tried to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1975 as part of a team of Chinese climbers. But, unfortunately, when they were only 250 meters from the summit, the team became trapped in severe weather.

They remained stuck that way for two days and three nights before heading back down the mountain. During the descent, Xia gave his sleeping bag to a fellow climber who was much worse off than he was.

That selfless decision ended up costing Xia his feet, which both had to be amputated after becoming severely frostbitten.

Xia was met with another misfortune in 1996 when he was diagnosed with lymphoma and had to have his legs amputated just below the knees.

But these setbacks didn’t stop Xia from pursuing his dream. About two decades after having his legs amputated, the climber began training intensely in order to make another attempt at reaching the peak of Everest.

He traveled to the mountain in both 2014 and 2015, but each time the climbing season because of a natural disaster — first an avalanche that killed 16 climbers, then the devastating earthquake that killed nearly 9,000.

In 2016, Xia made it to within 100 meters of the summit before being forced to turn back, again because of bad weather.

“If I was alone, due to my old age and the forty years I had fought for my dream, I might go up without considering the consequence,” he said later. “But when I looked back, five Sherpas were looking at me. They have families. So I decided to retreat.”

Xia’s luck finally turned around this year when his team made the most of a narrow window of good weather to reach the summit. He becomes the second double amputee to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain, as well as one of the oldest.

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