WEIHENMAYER, ERIK

AFTER TWO YEARS OF SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AND going from doctor to doctor, the Weihenmayer family finally got a diagnosis: their three-year-old son, Erik, had retinoscheses, an extremely rare eye disease, especially for someone so young. His parents’

hearts dropped as the doctors briefed them: Weihenmayer’s retinas were detached in the center of his pupils, which prevented him from seeing straight ahead. He did have limited peripheral vision, but by his teens, he would be blind
. For little Erik, almost as terrifying as the diagnosis was the desperation and fear he sensed in his parents. Weihenmayer did lose his sight, but not his courage. He attended school and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College, graduating with a 3.1 GPA, a double major, and wrestling team honors with a 315-pound bench press. He accepted a job as a teacher at the Phoenix Country Day School.  He also became an accomplished mountain climber—very accomplished. On May 25, 2001, thirtytwo-year-old Weihenmayer became the first blind climber to conquer Mount Everest. Then, at thirtyfour, Weihenmayer became one of fewer than one hundred individuals to climb all of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. He notched this breathtaking achievement when he scaled Australia’s Mount Kosciusko on September 5, 2002.

Weihenmayer has said that, for him, the process of training and achieving is the highest reward, moments of bliss that connect him with who he really is. Making it to the top of a great mountain, he says, is just a representation that on that day you brought an uncontrollable situation under control. The mountain represents for him a small piece of a dream made tangible and irrefutable proof that our lives have meaning.