I Can't SEE what You SEE...
But I would Love to make You SEE what I SEE...
Lovely rays of the morning sun, clear skies, pristine glaciers, countless alpine peaks, just like beautiful mother nature spreading its wings to embrace you in her arms.
But Erik sees it differently with his extraordinary vision.
The vision with which he wants us to see the strength and self-determination within - to push oneself beyond self-expectations which will help to open the doors of new opportunities in Life.
Conquering the tallest mountain is no easy feat and for Erik it gets even more tougher. But Life they say is never easy. And this is where the real adventure lies. Climbing a mountain is just a route to explore your inner strength, to see how far you can go to make things happen for you and to test how you can survive when the tides are moving against you in your Life.
Erik accomplished his biggest feat of conquering Mount Everest on May25,2001. But what is so different about Erik that sets him apart from the other mountaineers and a place on this blog.
Well the fact is that he made this amazing achievement inspite of being blind.
Born on 23rd September 1968, he was diagnosed with the rare eye disease Retinoschisis and by the time he was 13, he lost his eyesight completely.
Being a persistent and adventorous kid, Erik’s father Ed Weihenmayer never wanted his son’s blindness to be a factor to put his pursuits down. So he got him enrolled for adventure camps and hikes. This is how Erik got exposed to mountain climbing.
The experience was very empowering for him and the organisers of the program felt that if a blind child can push himself to such extremes, then he can break down other mental and physical barriers. This was the turning point in Erik’s life as he realised the importance of climbing and he truly believes that each one should take calculated risks and push themselves beyond their expectations.
If you take a look at his achievements listed below, you will understand that why he is placed on this blog. Cause lot of people with eyes cannot see what Erik can see even without his eyesight.
Erik does not want to be known as Blind Mountaineer but would like to be known as a Competent Mountaineer who happens to be Blind. He is one person who broke barriers and shattered people's perceptions about what is possible and what is not. He feels that when these barriers are rebuilt, thousands of people will be able to live with lot of opportunities and then perhaps people will no longer be judged by their disability but by their ability.
Erik’s Athletic Achievements -
@ http://www.touchthetop.com/
• In September, 2003, Erik joined 320 stellar athletes from 17 countries to compete in the Primal Quest, the richest and toughest multi-sport adventure race in the world: 457 miles through the Sierra Nevada's, nine days, sixty thousand feet of elevation gain, and no time-outs. Averaging only two hours of sleep a night, Erik and his team surged past the finish line on Lake Tahoe, becoming one of the 42 teams to cross the finish line out of the 80 teams that began.
• On August 20, 2008, when he stood on top of Carstenz Pyramid, the tallest peak in Austral-Asia, Weihenmayer completed his quest to climb the Seven Summits- the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
• Additionally, he has scaled El Capitan, a 3300-footoverhanging granite monolith in Yosemite; Lhosar, a 3000-foot ice waterfallin the himalayas; and a difficult and rarely climbed rock face on 17,000-foot Mt. Kenya.
• Erik's feats have earned him an ESPY award, recognition by Time Magazine for one of the greatest sporting achievements of 2001, induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, an ARETE Award for the superlative athletic performance of the year, the Helen Keller Lifetime Achievement award, Nike's Casey Martin Award, and the Freedom Foundation's Free Spirit Award. He has also carried the Olympic Torch for both the Summer and Winter Games.
• In 1999, Erik joined Mark Wellman - the first paraplegic to climb the 3000-foot face of El Capitan, and Hugh Herr - a double-leg-amputee and scientist at Harvard's prestigious prosthetics Laboratory, to climb an 800-foot rock tower in Moab, Utah .
Other Facets of Erik -
@ http://www.touchthetop.com/
• Erik is also the author of the book, "Touch the Top of the World", published in ten countries and six languages. The book was made into a feature film which aired on A&E in June, 2006.
• Erik's second book, "The Adversity Advantage: Turning Everyday Struggles Into Everyday Greatness", co-authored with business guru and best selling author, Dr. Paul Stoltz, was released by Simon and Schuster in January, 2007. Through Paul's science and Erik's experience, The book shares seven "summits" for harnessing the power of adversity and turning it into the never-ending fuel to growth and innovation.
• Erik's award winning film, "Farther Than the Eye Can See", shot in the same stunning quality HDTV format as the 'Star Wars' prequels, was ranked in the top twenty adventure films of all time by Men's Journal. Bringing home first prize at 19 film festivals and nominated for two Emmy's, the film beautifully captures the emotion, humor and drama of Erik's historic ascent as well as his team's three other remarkable 'firsts': the first American father/son team to summit, the oldest man to summit, and the most people from one team to reach the top of Everest in a single day. Through screenings, the film has raised over $600,000 for charitable organizations.
• Also serves as a National Braille Literacy Champion on behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind
*** For more information on Erik ***
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/climbing/news/erik-weihenmayer.html
http://www.k2news.com/erik.htm
http://www.seracfilms.com/?gclid=CNjwuMON0pgCFdEvpAodC27grA
