Erik Weihenmayer

Who is Erik Weihenmayer?

Erik Weihenmayer is the only blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He was honored with a Time Magazine cover story. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002, joining 150 mountaineers at the time who had accomplished that feat, but the only climber who was blind. In 2008 he also added Carstenz Pyramid in West Papua New Guinea, the tallest peak in Austral Asia, thus completing the more respected Seventh Summit. Weihenmayer has also made noteworthy climbs up the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite in 1996, and ascended Losar, a 2700-foot vertical ice face in the Himalayas which he ascended in two days, in 2008.

He is the author of Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See, his memoir; and The Adversity Advantage, Turning Everyday Struggles into Everyday Greatness.

As he was going blind from juvenile retinoschesis, Weihenmayer fought against using canes and learning Braille. He wanted to hang on to his life in the sighted world. He eventually turned to wrestling and became a prominent force in high school. He represented Connecticut in the National Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championship in Iowa.