Students Embrace Blind Mountaineer’s Message of a “No Barriers Life”
Once you’ve reached the summit of Mount Everest—29,029 feet above sea level—can you climb any higher? Well, perhaps not in altitude—but certainly in attitude and in your approach to life’s challenges, big and small.
That’s the message that Erik Weihenmayer—adventurer, author, and motivational speaker, as well as friend, father, and team player—delivered to a riveted audience in Ridgway Auditorium this morning. The entire Upper School and Middle School (along with members of the local Principia community) attended his talk, sponsored by alums Don (US’64, C’68) and Christina (C’66) Koch. But the very front and center rows were reserved for a group of special guests Principia had invited—students and teachers from the Missouri School for the Blind.
After becoming the first blind person to scale Everest in 2001, Weihenmayer went on to complete the “Seven Summits”—ascents of the highest peak on each continent. More recently, he (along with a sighted guide and a blinded Navy veteran) kayaked the 277 miles of the Colorado River that run through the Grand Canyon. He spoke of how much preparation the river trip required—hundreds of hours learning to kayak (including capsizing and righting himself) and to understand how water works. And on the river, as in life, Weihenmayer emphasized, complete trust and clear communication among team members were essential to success.
This was certainly borne out during their experience navigating Lava Falls, a roiling set of rapids. His guide’s incredibly strong carbon-fiber paddle snapped in two, they lost radio contact, and Weihenmayer capsized several times, ending up swimming through the rapids and eventually dragging himself out of the river. Alone in his tent that evening, he battled disappointment and frustration. But by the next morning, he was ready to give it another go—and the team was behind him! After portaging upriver, their second run through the rapids was a success—although the kayaks flipped a couple of times, the men righted themselves and made it through.
As Weihenmayer explained, life is all about “embracing the learning process . . . and adversity.” He shared numerous examples of friends who have not let physical or emotional impediments stop them from living what he calls a “no barriers life.” After writing a couple of books—including The Adversity Advantage—Weihenmayer established the No Barriers Foundation, which works with children, youth, and adults. One of their main programs involves outdoor expeditions with veterans struggling with physical injuries and emotional scars from their military service in order to help them redefine their purpose and view of life.
It was clear that Weihenmayer’s engaging combination of storytelling, reflection, and self-deprecating humor, accompanied by vivid photos and videos, resonated strongly with Principia students. After the talk, students flocked to talk with him—several of them with tears in their eyes—to thank him for his courage and inspiration and embrace of challenge. Fittingly, he embraced each one in a bear hug, mentioning that his own daughter (16) is just about their age.
Weihenmayer then stayed on in Ridgway another 30 minutes or so to converse with the students and teachers from the Missouri School for the Blind, both answering and asking questions and encouraging them to treat their disability as just one facet of their identity—not as their defining characteristic. Later, he visited with Upper School students in the IDEA Center and also shared lunch with them—before heading on to Elsah where he will speak in Cox Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. tonight.