The man who beat all odds

It’s a dream the healthiest of us keep for, much later. Perhaps under a “maybe” or a “someday”.  Because Mount Everest is not for all. So Erik’s story is one that needs a certain sense of awe to completely fathom. His entire life so far has been this one question: Can we, as human beings, simply ignore the most debilitating of problems and go above and beyond what’s possible?

Because Erik did. He’s the only visually-impaired person on the planet to have reached the summit of the known world’s highest mountain. Since that 2001 Everest climb, Erik has participated in Primal Quest, billed as one of the toughest adventure races in the world — nine days, 60,000 feet of elevation gain, with no timeouts.

He has led several expeditions with visually-impaired and sighted students, including a climb into Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail, rafting the Grand Canyon, and climbing the Blue Mountains in Australia with Australian students.

He rode a tandem bike through the gruelling Vietnam Challenge from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with injured American and Vietnamese soldiers, covering 1,200 miles in 16 days. Finally, Erik’s also the only blind person to have finished the Seven Summits challenge (reaching the highest peaks on each of the continents) — which includes the dreaded Everest.

All this from the man who received crushing news quite early in life. “The doctors informed my parents when I was one that I would be blind by 13. But I was legally blind from birth.”

Many doctors had a tough time figuring out what I had because it was so rare — juvenile retinoschesis — a splitting of my retinas for which there was no prevention. At 12, I was beginning to wake up with my eyes not working; it was like a kaleidoscope. And then one day, at the start of my freshman year in school, I woke up blind. My mother had to walk me into school the first day, which was hugely embarrassing.”

As vision started fading, fast, Erik was forced to make his peace. “I was scared that I was going to live a life that didn’t matter, that I would lose all my friends. I fought to stay in the sighted world, even refusing to use my cane properly, fighting learning Braille. But as it turned out, the very things I resisted, once I learned them, were the things which kept me connected to the sighted world.”

Only way is up: Erik’s the only visually-impaired man to have finished the Seven Summits challenge

Months of fury later, he decided to do something not many vision-impaired people think of shortly after a life-changing event — wrestling as he’d read somewhere that blind wrestlers could learn ‘body positioning’ by feeling an opponent’s weight.

The school allowed him to wrestle and day one on the mat, in a room he couldn’t see, ended in 20 seconds. “I flipped and flopped but was pinned. But my time was still 10 seconds better than the other novices, so I felt pretty good. Wrestling is a sport with only a modest handicap for a blind person because you learn how and where to initiate moves by the feel of the person under you on the mat or on top of you.”

’Family’

The parents were one of the first who decided they’ll never give up. “My parents set me on my path. My dad put a wrestling mat in the garage and we would work out together.  Despite his gruelling commute into New York every day, he never missed a wrestling match of mine. Mum, meanwhile, died when I was a teenager in an accident — she was my loudest protectorate. My wife, a teacher, married a blind guy so, she knew what was in store. While I can operate independently, she does so many things which makes my life more enjoyable.” And with intensified training and support came higher goals.

Everest

The climb to the very top was a decision Erik made after he had already climbed four of the seven summits. But he had his doubts. During the years, over 200 highly-trained, professional climbers have lost their lives trying to conquer the 30,000 feet of sheer snow and unpredictable weather.

Erik was absolutely in the dark. But in his disability, there was also opportunity. Unlike most in the sighted world, Erik had learnt one important aspect of his disability — he could push on while others fell back, scared at what they were seeing.

“I admit I was thinking about climbing Everest, but was afraid to say it out loud for fear people would think I am crazy. We set about building a team of people who believed in me and were ready to subordinate their personal ambitions to help get a blind person on top of the world. We took one practice climb, Lobuche, close to Everest, got turned back at 20,000 feet because of a blizzard — which ended in an emergency descent for one of our climbers, who was injured in a 150-foot fall,  but this “test” was turned us into an Everest-ready team.”

Erik also had to come up with an entirely new way to deal with ice while climbing.
In a separate interview he notes, “As you swing sharp, heavy metal tools at the ice face, you don’t want to knock off a huge chunk of ice the size of a refrigerator, and crush yourself or your teammate. So, I learned to tap my tool against the face and feel the vibration through the tap on the ice. By judging that feel and that sound, I determine whether it would be a good or bad ice swing.” After much training, the climb up Everest began.

“The Khumba Ice Fall — along Everest’s slope — was the true test. The first time it took me 13 hours. Our team leader, said that the pace was too slow, too dangerous — for both me and the team due to avalanches. But we had to cross it again and again, to set up the higher camps and to acclimatise. The last time I did it in five hours. I had gained some skills, and my teammates were better prepared to guide me.”

‘Hey guys, suck it up’

As the team ascended, Erik suffered his share of injuries and for the first time in several months, found himself really questioning his decision to climb Mt Everest.
“Reaching Camp 1 the first time, just above the Ice Fall I  just collapsed in my tent. I had stumbled crossing a small crevasse and one teammate, trying to help me, had smashed my nose with his ice axe. So in addition to complete exhaustion I was bleeding and had a broken nose. That definitely wasn’t my best day. But with encouragement from my team, I rallied on. Many weeks later, when I left Camp 4 for the summit in the dead of night most of my team had trouble because they couldn’t see. I was in my element though — the fast guy for once. Complete darkness was no trouble for me… hey guys, suck it up!”

Hours later, they were at a place few have been before — the peak. For Erik, it was the culmination of years and years of preparations, hurt and pain. “We celebrated at the summit but not for too long because weather was moving in and most accidents happen on the way down. But we were in contact with our base camp who simultaneously was connected to my wife back home and my dad, inside a house stuffed with people who were witnessing this historic event. Not only did a blind guy stand on top of the world but 19 people from our team — of 13 Americans and 8 Sherpas — was the most people from one team were standing on the summit that day. That record still holds.

“Everest was the event which put my message on the map. I was on the cover of Time, on big TV talk shows. I was on my way to the life I have today — presentations, adventures, and my foundation, No Barriers.” The foundation was Erik’s idea to help out individuals who were facing physical obstacles similar to his. To get a better picture, imagine a kayaker without arms, a runner without legs… people overcoming the most overwhelming odds to achieve their highest levels in performance. “Inside each of us is something I can only describe as a light, which feeds on adversity and consume it like fuel. By tapping into that light, every frustration, every setback, every obstacle becomes a source to power our lives forward. The greater the challenge, the brighter the light burns,” says Erik.

He’s also mulling a step into India. “I have been to India several times as a child. I loved the Taj, loved Fatehpur Sikri, absolutely loved Delhi, loved staying in a houseboat on Dal Lake near Srinagar. I do enjoy the diversity of Indian culture. We have wanted to arrange a tour in India, making some commercial presentations to Indian firms and visiting youth groups as well. My foundation has even discussed bringing our multi-day No Barriers Summit to India.”

In the immediate future though, Erik’s focussing on his third book — about living a “no barriers life”. And in September, he’s exploring the Walker Spur — a climb through Europe’s Alps. His is a life that has transcended limitations. It’s built on the very strength and determination that put humanity on the Moon and one blind man on the top of Everest.

And the next time you’re at home whining away a day complaining about the stresses of everyday life, here’s something to ponder; “What’s within us is stronger than what’s in our way.” Which is the motto of No Barriers.