Imagine climbing to an altitude of over 29,000 feet, encountering steep cliffs of ice, wide crevasses and avalanches along the way.
Now imagine doing it without being able to see.
That's what Erik Weihenmayer accomplished in May, depending solely upon his climbing buddies, his equipment, his senses of sound and touch, and his raw athletic prowess to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Weihenmayer, the first blind climber to reach the top of the world's highest peak, appeared at Sansom Common yesterday afternoon for a book signing, where students and local residents waited patiently in line to meet the world-renowned, award-winning athlete.
"People act surprised, but climbing isn't a seeing sport," Weihenmayer said at Eastern Mountain Sports.
While his seeing eye dog dozed in the corner yesterday, Weihenmayer took the time to swap climbing stories -- as well as e-mail addresses -- with his fans.
Weihenmayer wrote his book, Touch the Top of the World, while training for Mount Everest. In the book, he describes his life, his rigorous training, the Everest climb itself and the various challenges he faced along the way.
"It's not necessarily a climbing book," explains Weihenmayer. "It's about committing to ideas and not letting the world's expectations get you down."
Before scaling Everest, Weihenmayer conquered several other mountains including McKinley, El Capitan, Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua and Vinson.
But even after Weihenmayer had proven himself a competent athlete -- he is also an acrobatic skydiver, long-distance biker, scuba diver, marathon runner and skier -- his blindness led others to doubt his aspirations.
"When I first thought of climbing Everest, all the veteran climbers said, `Good for him, but he doesn't have a chance,'" Weihenmayer said. "But I'm not just some blind guy who decided to climb Mount Everest. There's more to it than that."
Weihenmayer's successes have impressed the blind and the seeing alike, as he has appeared in magazines such as People and Time and on television shows including Inside Edition and 20/20.
Both climbers and non-climbers were eager to talk to Weihenmayer.
"Sight is so important to me -- the fact that he was able to overcome this challenge is really inspirational," said Ania Manicka, a local artist who came to meet the famous climber. "Seeing him reminds me not to wimp out of challenges."
Weihenmayer, a former teacher and wrestling coach as well as a writer, speaker and climber, has certainly never been known to shy away from a challenge.
"There was nothing he didn't want to do," said Dana Pellegrino, a former high school classmate of Weihenmayer's who came to see him at the signing. "And he hasn't changed at all -- no big head, very down-to-earth."
In the future, Weihenmayer hopes to complete the Seven Summits -- the highest point on each continent -- and write a sequel to his book, but the world-class athlete has other more important duties to attend to for now.
"I'm so busy -- I have a 14-month-old daughter," Weihenmayer said. "I've got to be at home and be a dad."
