Thirteen years ago, when Guo Weiqi was just seven years old, she had all four limbs amputated due to septicemia triggered by a cold. Her grandfather, grief-stricken, suffered a stroke and passed away three years later, leaving a lasting sense of guilt in her heart.
Guo Weiqi’s climb to the summit took twice as long as it would for an average person. The grueling 15-hour journey served as another warm and powerful testament to the strength of a life without limbs.
Having never had limbs since childhood, Guo Weiqi struggled with feelings of inferiority, believing she was a monster. Her childhood memories held no joy, and she was often bullied at school until she danced on stage in the second year of junior high, which reignited her confident smile. Later, she joined the “Mixed Disabilities Variety Troupe,” touring and giving speeches with fellow amputee members, inspiring many who were going through low points in life.
Though lacking limbs, Guo Weiqi has a fearless heart. Last year, after hearing adventurer Wu Jiaying’s story about helping “Password Girl,” who was paralyzed from the neck down and blind, fulfill her dream of traveling around Taiwan, Guo decided to climb Yushan along with Wang Shuqiao and Yang Cairong, who had lost their left hands in accidents, on the 21st.
“With every step forward, my leg hurts once.” Guo Weiqi, wearing 3-kilogram prosthetic legs, wobbled along Yushan’s gravel path. With each step, the prosthetics were pushed upward by palm-sized rocks, causing sharp stabs of pain at the ends of her thighs.
Her father, Guo Longquan, described his daughter’s climb up Yushan as akin to walking on stilts. When encountering large elevation changes, the prosthetics couldn’t get a grip, so she had to be helped up. If she fell, the prosthetics would drop onto the path, leaving her thighs scraped and bleeding. The climb to the summit involved rugged gravel paths, 45-degree rocky slopes, stone steps, narrow trails bordered by sheer cliffs, and sudden falling rocks—all posed serious challenges for Guo Weiqi.
“From morning till night, it felt like the path would never end.” Exhausted, Guo Weiqi was almost carried for parts of the way, and several times she broke down in tears from the pain. In front of the Paiyun Lodge, she simply collapsed on the ground and lay there for 20 minutes. A volunteer said, “Maybe you should head back down.” She paused for a few seconds, then firmly said, “No, I want to keep going.” The last kilometer was the toughest—there was almost no path, and they had to climb along the rock face, enduring sub-zero temperatures and strong winds. Guo Weiqi and her companions tied themselves together in a human chain, pushing and pulling each other through the danger zone. “One wrong step and it’s all over.”
When she finally touched the altitude marker stone at Yushan Main Peak, Guo Weiqi cheered loudly, tears streaming down her face. She quickly pulled out her grandfather’s photo from her bag, bit it in her mouth, and showed it to him as proof: “Even without hands or feet, I can see higher and farther than others.”