Erik Weihenmayer

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Erik Weihenmayer (born 1968) is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind Faith. He is author of Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye can See, his autobiography.

Erik is an acrobatic skydiver, long distance biker, marathon runner, skier, mountaineer, ice climber, and rock climber. He is a friend of Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg, the co-founders of Braille Without Borders, whom he visited in Tibet.

[edit] Biography and list of achievements

In 1968, Erik was born with a disease called retinoschisis and became totally blind by the age of 13.

In 1987, he graduated from Weston High School in Connecticut. As the school’s wrestling captain, he represented the state in National Freestyle Wrestling Championships.

In 1991, he graduated from Boston College. In the same year, he trekked in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan.

In 1993, he received a master’s degree in Middle School Education from Lesley College. In the same year, he crossed the Batura Glacier in the Karakoram Mountains of Northern Pakistan. The same year he joined the staff at Phoenix Country Day School as an instructor.

In 1995, Erik reached the 20,320’ summit of Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest peak, sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind. His triumph was featured on Today with Katie Couric and the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

In 1996, he carried the Olympic Torch through Phoenix and was selected for the first annual Distinguished Arizonan Award by the Governors Council. He was also inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and received its first Medal of Courage.

In 1997, he climbed his second continental summit, Kilimanjaro. He married at the height of 13,000’. Erik and his wife Ellen live outside of Denver, Colorado, USA.

In 1998, he rode a tandem bike from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with his father, a Vietnam veteran.

In 1999, he attempted Argentina's Mount Aconcagua. Poor weather conditions forced his team to turn around just short of the summit.

In 2001, he climbed Mt. Everest.

In 2004, he led an expedition in Tibet called Climbing Blind project, including blind teens from the Braille Without Borders school for blind at Lhasa, Tibet.