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YEP connects students to the mountains
World-class mountaineer and Golden resident Erik Weihenmayer will be the keynote speaker at the Colorado Mountain Club’s Mountain Fest at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden.
Erik is the only blind man in history to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, a feat he accomplished in 2001. He climbed the Seven Summits—the highest peaks on each of the seven continents—the following year. Additionally, he has scaled the 3,300-foot El Capitan in Yosemite; the Polar Circus, a 2,500-foot ice waterfall in the Canadian Rockies; and the difficult and rarely climbed North face of 17,000-foot Mt. Kenya.
Using climbing as a metaphor, he will speak to all ages about the importance of perseverance and teamwork. He has said, “In an environment riddled with pitfalls, roping up with good people is the best chance we have. Imagine your team roped together, building on each other’s strengths, growing day by day. You know if you fall, someone will stop you. If someone else falls, you stop them; it’s just automatic. People might have different responsibilities, different goals, even motives, but you link together behind one vision. The scope and power of that kind of team is unstoppable.”
Recently Erik has focused on a greater spectrum of philanthropic work and adventure. He has been a leader in working with World Team Sports to pioneer the Real Deal Inclusive Sports Adventure near Vail, Colorado. This adventure race has teams of five people, two of whom are disabled and three able-bodied. Para-Olympic athletes and disabled war veterans have participated with tremendous success. Erik got the idea for the event after participating in the grueling 2003 Primal Quest race in the Sierra Nevada Range. His team completed the race while nearly half of the other teams were unsuccessful.
Through the inspiration of his friends Mark Wellman and Hugh Herr, Erik has played an important role in the creation of No Barriers, a conference aimed at showcasing adaptive technologies that help people with disabilities get outside and accomplish their goals. Most importantly, the conference helps these people overcome societal perceptions of barriers created by their disabilities.
In a more recent expedition, Erik and his team guided six blind Tibetan teenagers to 21,500 feet on the flanks of Mt. Everest. The expedition, chronicled in the film Blindsight, represented an unprecedented achievement for the students and expanded their future possibilities. Because Tibetan society traditionally shuns people who are blind as being possessed by demons, the successes of the team were especially empowering.
In addition to his mountaineering accomplishments, Erik is the author of Touch the Top of the World. The book has been published in ten countries and six languages. Publisher’s Weekly said Erik’s memoir is “moving and adventure packed. Weihenmayer tells his extraordinary story with humor, honesty and vivid detail, and his fortitude and enthusiasm are deeply inspiring.” A copy of his memoir Touch the Top of the World is included with admission to his presentation at Mountain Fest on October 18. P
YEP connects students with mountains
By Stacy Wolff
The CMC’s Youth Education Program (YEP) strives to reach over five thousand students a year, many whom do not have the opportunity to explore the mountains—or even the foothills along the Front Range.
For the past two summers YEP has forged a partnership with Foothills Green, an after-school program for disadvantaged children. YEP stepped in during the summer months to provide a structured opportunity for these children to explore, learn, and grow. This year I had the privilege to work with twelve youth from the program. The students learned about the value of opportunity and commitment. To be a part of the program, they needed to commit to at least five of the six sessions. They learned how to work together to accomplish a goal through teambuilding, and with ages ranging from 6–16, this had the potential to be challenging. We hiked and searched for mysterious aquatic macroinvertebrates at Maxwell Falls in Evergreen, climbed at the AMC Indoor Wall, explored the riparian area of Bear Creek Lake Park, and examined our watershed through hands-on activities and hiking along Clear Creek. In addition, the youth spent the day fishing at Waterton Canyon thanks to a partnership with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Many of the people who participated in the Foothills/YEP partnership this summer were returning from the previous year. It seems to be that our hope of inspiring, educating, and keeping youth connected is working.
Erik Weihenmayer
