Erik Weihenmayer will tell you that conditions on the world’s tallest mountain do not meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Weihenmayer has a flair for understatement. Picture yourself walking across an aluminum ladder suspended over a crevasse so deep it could swallow you whole, like a coin in a parking meter. Now picture yourself doing that in freezing temperatures, under constant threat of avalanche, and with your eyes closed. That might give you some idea of what Erik Weihenmayer did in 2001, when he became the first blind man to scale Mt. Everest’s 29,035 feet.
Some said he couldn’t do it, and shouldn’t even try. They said, “If you can’t see the mountain, why climb it?” Erik Weihenmayer has an answer.
Guests:
Erik Weihenmayer, mountaineer