Erik Weihenmayer- The blind
mountaineer
‘A spark of greatness exists in all
people, but only by touching that spark to adversity’s flame does it blaze into
the force that fuels our lives and the world.’
Eric
Weihenmayer was born on September 23, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey. At 15
months old, he was diagnosed with juvenile retinoschisis, with blindness
the expected outcome by age 13. At age 4, Weihenmayer and his family moved to
Coral Gables, Florida, and, in 1975, to Hong Kong, where Erik attended
the Hong
Kong International School for grades 2-6. As he was going blind, Weihenmayer fought against
blindness using canes and learning Braille[1]. At 16, he started using a guide
dog. He tried rock climbing, and found he was natural at scrambling up a face
using his hands and feet to find holds. After his blindness, he started
becoming more physically active, taking up both wrestling and rock climbing. He
credited this to his parents’ insistence and encouragement.
After
graduating from college, Weihenmayer became a teacher and also joined the
Arizona Mountaineering Club, spending his free time rock climbing. Soon it was
much more than just a hobby and in 1995 he reached the top of Mount Denali, the
highest peak in North America. Weihenmayer went on to scale three more of the
seven highest mountains in the world (the “Seven Summits,” or highest mountains
on each continent) before finally setting his sights on Mount Everest in 2001[2].
His decision
to climb Mount Everest was doubted by his fellow mountaineers . He was hurt by all the doubts, but he was also aware of the many
problems that he would have to face, that other mountaineers with full use of
sight did not. But Weihenmayer was no mountaineering novice who was simply
determined to reach the world’s highest peak at great risk to his other team
members. He had been climbing for 16 years at this point and, far from being a
hindrance to his climbing teammates, he had often been the one to offer them
assistance.
When he
finally climbed Mount Everest in spite of all the doubts and challenges that he
faced, he joined the ranks of the few who had been able to climb to the highest
spot on the planet.
And by 2008,
he had climbed the rest of the Seven Summits, becoming one of only 150 people to have ever accomplished
this, yet another incredible feat in an incredible career.
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