I get blind and disabled people from around the country writing me to ask about outdoor adventures in Colorado. Well, here’s a really cool rock climbing adventure for blind folks as well as any other disabilities: a weekend with talented climbers (Chad was on our Lobuche expedition last year and Malcolm is a good friend with decades of experience) at one of the best crags in the state. There will be climbing options for total beginners as well as experts. It only costs $100 and includes the campsite and meals but you must register in advance. I’d be there if I didn’t have prior obligations!
Paradox Rocks Takes on Shelf Road
We will be taking our Paradox Rocks program on the road the weekend of October 28-30. We plan to get out and defy gravity together on some of the premier limestone climbing in the country. We’ll also be exploring the local biking and hiking trails and seeing what we can catch fishing the Arkansas.
We’re excited to have new faces joining us to check out what a Paradox event is all about. From challenging climbs to hanging out by the campfire sharing stories, Paradox has an amazing weekend ahead. The athletes will even be testing out a few new climbing foot prototypes as well as having “gear time” with each other’s equipment. Ultimately, the weekend will serve as a great reminder that it’s up to each one of us to define life on our own terms, regardless of what people tell us what we can and can’t do.
For those who’d like to see the magic of Paradox firsthand, you will be happy to know that there are still a few spots available if you are interested in joining us. To register or learn about this event: Paradox Rocks Shelf Road.
This weekend, my friend Koichiro Kobayashi (better known as Koba) will be running the 1st International Blind Climbing Competition, which is being held in the Chiba Prefecture (about 30 minutes from downtown Tokyo). This is a major event that is sponsored by the Japanese Mountaineering Association. I was invited to compete but regrettably I had a scheduling conflict. I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2005 with Koba, and was actually part of his wedding ceremony at the base of the mountain.
As best man, I was dressed in traditional Massai warrior robe and huge thick staff, apparently for killing lions.
Blind climbing comps have been held in Japan and Russia for the past five years, which has given them time to work out all the details. Competitors must be at least 16 years old and capable of climbing 5.10 at a minimum. They are divided into three classes: B1 is totally blind (that would be me), B2 has very slight vision, and B3 has significantly impaired vision. Climbers in the B2 class can compete in B1 if they wear an eye mask.
The first day of the comp is what climbers call the “On-Sight,” which presents some problems when you are blind. In this case, I think They should call it the “non-sight.” As with standard climbing comps, the competitors enter an isolation zone. One hour before their climb, the climbers are given a 3-D route description–this is a sheet of paper with the hold locations marked by raised relief–so they can “see” the climb. Then the climbers have 10 minutes to lead the route (starting from the ground, they clip the rope into carabiners as they get higher). The person who gets the highest wins. If there is a tie on height, then the fastest time wins.
The second day of the comp measures physical climbing ability. Climbers are given 15 minutes to “work” a route on a top-rope; practicing the moves and getting verbal help from a coach. When it is their turn to compete, they have 10 minutes and can again get instructions from their coach. The rankings of the comp are based on both days.
As I mentioned, Koba is leading this effort. He started climbing at age 16 and was very active leading outdoor trips. When he was 28, Koba was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, which is a progressive disease that impairs vision and results in blindness. That hasn’t slowed him down though. He has started a non-profit called Monkey Magic (friends used to tease that he climbed as fast as a monkey) that helps people with disabilities access the outdoors through sports like climbing.
I’m disappointed that I couldn’t make it to Japan for this event. But the 2nd International Blind Competition is scheduled for July in Italy and I hope to make that one. And I can’t help but wonder how guys like Chris Sharma and Daniel Woods would do playing by our rules. Maybe I should invite them to compete next year, with blindfolds of course.
While I was away in Nepal this October climbing with our soldiers, the team at No Barriers USA held an exciting event near Boulder, Colorado. No Barriers is the non-profit organization on which I serve as a director. The purpose of this event was to raise awareness about the upcoming No Barriers Summit that will be held June 30-July 3 next summer in nearby Winter Park, Colorado.
Nicole Spader, our Executive Director, organized this showcase on an unseasonably warm fall afternoon in Eldorado Canyon State Park. Visitors and media were treated to the unusual sight of two people with physical disabilities demonstrating adaptive climbing techniques.
My friend Mark Wellman, founder of No Barriers and an accomplished paraplegic climber who has ascended more than 50 peaks in the Sierra Nevada, demonstrated the pull-up technique he pioneered on his famous ascent of Yosemite’s 3,300-ft El Capitan. “When you’re up there,” he says, “you’re in a different environment, where it’s a level playing field with able-bodied athletes. There is no other feeling like it.”
Considering that Mark’s ascent of El Cap required 7,000 pull-ups and 7 days, this day’s brief effort was a mere sprint. Since the accident that left him a paraplegic nearly 30 years ago, he has climbed, hand-cycled, and sit-skied all over the world and “had fun over the years” inspiring athletes with disabilities to “share my passion” for outdoor sports.
The indomitable Chanda Hinton climbed next. When she was only nine years old, an accidental gun shot damaged her spinal cord at C5, leaving her a quadriplegic. Now, at 28, Chanda has started her own high-impact non-profit (the Chanda Plan) that advocates integrative therapies for people with disabilities who suffer from debilitating pain and quality of life issues. She was introduced to adaptive kayaking and cycling at the 2009 No Barriers Summit, activities she now enjoys with her able-bodied husband.
To climb the cliff in Eldorado Canyon, Chanda used a specially designed pulley system with a supportive, swinging chair. Says Chanda, “What I love about No Barriers is that I am allowed and trusted to do this on my own. The chair fits my body and by pulling my arms up, I move higher up on the rope.” After the climb, she gushed, “It is liberating, empowerment, hope. It gets you in a space you’re not normally in.”
During a media interview, Chanda was asked what she’d say to people saying “no way” about a quadriplegic’s ability to rock-climb. With characteristic spirit, she retorted, “I say, YES WAY!”
A special thanks goes out to Malcolm Daly and the Paradox Sports crew for leading the climb, as well as to Mark Wellman.
Congrats to Steve Wampler! Last week, he became the first person with cerebral palsy to climb El Capitan in Yosemite. Until he began is six-day ascent, Steve had never spent more than 24 hours out of his powered wheel chair. He estimates that he made 20,000 pull-ups during the 3,000 foot climb.
As many of you know, my friend Mark Wellman made the first paraplegic ascent of El Cap in 1989, just seven years after he was paralyzed from the waist down. For his climb, Mark invented a system that allowed him to pull himself up a rope. Apparently Steve also invented his own system based on the same concept yet tailored to his disability. I LOVE alchemists!
Mark during his El Cap ascent.
In addition to the two climbers helping on his ascent, Steve was also accompanied by a 15-person film team working on a production called “Wall: the Journey up.” The goal of the film is to raise $2 million for Steve’s summer camp (Camp WAMP) to help disabled kids. Here are details on the film project. And you can view a trailer for the film here. I’m betting he will not only meet his goal but shatter it!
Steve is just the sort of person who doesn’t despair at adversity, he takes it on and uses it as a fuel for greatness. Until he started working on this project, Steve had never climbed before. Now he has done something that many able-bodied people will never achieve.
I hope everyone in the Front Range will come see my show at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder on Thursday, April 8th. Tickets are $7 and 100% of the proceeds go to the Access Fund, the non-profit organization dedicated to keeping climbing areas open.
Since climbing the Seven Summits and becoming the only blind person to complete this journey, I have gone on some extraordinary expeditions and adventures off the beaten path. I climbed Carstensz Pyramid, refered to as the “Eighth Summit,” in the New Guinea highlands; a difficult 2,000-ft rock face on Mt. Kenya; and the 2,500-ft vertical ice face of Losar in the Himalayas.
In 2004, my Everest teammates and I guided six blind Tibetan teenagers to 21,500-ft on the north face of Mt. Everest as an educational outreach project to carve out opportunities for young people around the world. Our group ultimately stood higher than any team of blind climbers in history. In 2007, I teamed up with another blind alpinist to independently climb a 500-ft rockface in the Austrian Dolomites.
Last fall, I climbed the Naked Edge, one of the most famous climbs in Eldorado Canyon, on behalf of the Access Fund. Along with Brady Robinson, the Access Fund Executive Director, and my friend Charley Mace, we climbed the route while Cedar Wright filmed our ascent.
Most recently, I travelled to Scotland and climbed Point Five Gully, the most famous ice climb in the British Isles. I also tell you about some of my upcoming adventures including climbs in Alaska, Peru, and Nepal.
This will be a fun show for climbers and non-climbers alike! Please bring some friends and help support this worthy organization. Click here to buy tickets in advance, we’re hoping for a sell out: www.accessfund.org/blindandnakedtickets See you there!
In November, Erik succeeded on one of his most difficult climbs yet! Sure, climbing Everest and the rest of the Seven Summits wasn’t easy. And the Nose on Yosemite’s El Capitan wasn’t a walk in the park either. But from the standpoint of technical difficulty, the Naked Edge in Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon is one of the most challenging.
Erik teamed up with Brady Robinson, the Executive Director of the Access Fund, who led most of the route. Also along was Charley Mace, a longtime partner and Everest teammate who climbed above, shouting directions to vital holds Erik would need to find with his scanning hands. This spectacular route follows the sharp vertical prow of the 700-foot Redgarden Wall.
Photo: Kris Gorney
The Naked Edge was first climbed in 1962 by the legendary Layton Kor and Bob Culp – at the time a major achievement in North American climbing. It took nearly a decade for two climbers, Jim Erickson and Duncan Ferguson, to ascend the route completely free (just using the rock). Since then, it has become an icon in the climbing world, and the “Edge” remains a test of skill, technique, and endurance.
According to Erik, “When Brady asked me if I wanted to climb it with him, I felt that familiar knot in my stomach from nervous anticipation. The Naked Edge is something I have dreamed about for a long time. It’s just up the road from my house and is definitely on the list for any serious climber. There has always been a part of me that has felt I wasn’t ready, that I wasn’t in good enough shape, but, some day you just have to reach out and take the challenge.”
The excitement begins on the first pitch of the Naked Edge; a classic 5.11a finger crack in a shallow corner. Brady reported, “Erik climbed the lower part without any problem. At the crux, he struggled to find the tricky footholds on the face and finger holds in the crack, so he eventually just leaned back and punched it for the anchors. He only fell right at the top of the finger crack. Impressive!!”
Photo: Cedar Wright
The fourth pitch is where things really start to heat up. Almost immediately it requires 5.10c moves and then it progresses into four or five very technical moves to a challenging “bomb-bay” chimney, which is narrow at the top and widens at the bottom to a huge void, making climbers feel as if they are being dropped out. Brady belayed from above and Charley belayed from below to prevent Erik from swinging into space. According to Brady, “Erik DID NOT climb it the easiest way. His holding power is pretty impressive and, since he can’t suss things out like a sighted climber, there comes a point where he just decides to go for it. Erik did incredibly well on this pitch, given its intricate nature.”
It’s the infamous fifth pitch that strikes fear into the hearts of climbers. Starting out with intricate moves which traverse directly right, a fall here swings you far into space. Climbers are soon faced with a burly crack, testing their endurance and nerves as they climb above the most exposed section of the face. Brady commented, “Erik climbed the glassy corner crux without falling. Wow! It’s really hard! He came all the way around the weird steparound and then got into the handcrack. This was the hardest part for Erik because it isn’t totally straightforward so he had to hang on the rope a couple of times to rest. That said, he did really well”
Photo: Cedar Wright
With the hardest climbing out of the way, Erik took over the “sharp end of the rope” and led the final pitch to the summit. As Erik puts it, “Leading is the most difficult and dangerous part of climbing, where a fall means more serious consequences. As nerve wracking as it is climbing high above your anchors, 700 feet off the ground with a river roaring far below, there is the true sense of adventure that has always excited me.”
The entire eight pitches of climbing and then rappelling back to the ground took less than 7 hours, including delays for filming. As any climber will tell you, that’s an excellent time for a party of three on such a long, demanding route.
Erik, Charley Mace and Brady Robinson at the top of the Naked Edge
Photo: Charley Mace
Erik’s ascent has left the climbing community awestruck. After the video made by Cedar Wright was posted on the Internet, online forums such as Rockclimbing.com and SuperTopo.com were filled with comments of congratulations. Veteran climbers who have done the Naked Edge have been greatly impressed that a blind person made the ascent. Well-known writer Dougald MacDonald labeled the ascent a contender for “Rock Climbing Feat of the Year.”
Check out the fantastic video of the climb:
So far, the video has been viewed almost 10,000 times in just a couple of weeks. The story was even picked up by the Huffington Post. As word continues to spread of this remarkable achievement, climbers and non-climbers alike are inspired by how one person can overcome obstacles that many would consider insurmountable.
Equally amazing is the fact that this climb was nearly destroyed only a few years after its first free ascent. In the late 1970′s the owners of Eldorado Canyon were on the verge of selling the entire valley to a gravel company that hoped to turn it into a quarry. A community uproar led to the purchase of the land and the creation of Eldorado Canyon State Park.
One goal of Erik’s Naked Edge ascent was to bring attention to the Access Fund, a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to preserving climbing areas around the nation. Supported entirely by memberships and donations, they purchase land, build trails, and restore habitat so climbers and nature lovers can continue to enjoy our national treasures. “I think it’s the responsibility of every climber to become a member,” Erik said at the top of the climb. We hope you will watch the dramatic video of the ascent and get inspired to become a member of the Access Fund. This is Erik’s challenge to everyone who loves our open spaces.
Happy Holidays from Erik and the HighSights Team!
