After losing his fingers and toes this 85yo found a way to keep rock climbing and share the skill with others

ABC NEWS (Australia)

In a sport famous for requiring a strong grip, Canberran Armando Corvini has learned to climb without fingers or toes. Now 85-years-old, he is still rock climbing and sharing his love of the sport with the next generation.

Transcript

00:00Watching Armando Corvini traverse his way up this cliff face overlooking the

00:06Queanbeyan River, you would never know he's had to overcome significant

00:10setbacks. He refuses to let age or a disability stop him from pulling on the

00:14harness. Oh well you can see from my face, I love climbing. He grew up climbing in

00:20the Dolomites in Italy. So they're pretty ambitious sort of a sense that he was

00:24climbing. Before tackling the Himalayas. In 1994 Armando led an expedition up

00:29Ahmad Dablam in Nepal. So we are running out of food. The weather was terrible as

00:35well. Aged 56 Armando lost nine fingers and all of his toes to frostbite. He spent

00:43months lying in a hospital bed in Canberra looking out at the nearby hills. My

00:47first goal was to walk there. He did and soon started building up his strength to

00:54climb again before volunteering as a climbing instructor for children with

00:57disabilities. Armando has been guiding for more than 20 years and now runs his

01:03own adventure business for climbers of all ages. Well almost.

01:08Six to later for climbing. Good, we've done it, you've done it. Well done, well done.

01:13People love Armando. Everyone loves Armando. He loves climbing. It's infectious. Some

01:18people are kind of afraid of getting old but I always think if you could, if I'm old and

01:22like Armando, then that would be great. I've got my own style of climbing. My hands are

01:26very strong. I've got very, very strong hands. I think then I had two lives. My life when

01:32I was very strong, very gaming, nothing would stop me. And then the second life which is

01:38nailed, then I become, well, disabled in many ways. A second life that Armando Corvini is

01:45determined to live to the full.

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