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American Morning

Erik Weihenmayer Discusses Scaling Everest Blind

Aired June 12, 2001 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer is used to climbing over obstacles. But when he scaled the summit of Mount Everest, it was feat for the history books. He became the first sightless climber to reach the top of Everest.

Weihenmayer has been blind since he was 13 years old but that didn't stop him from taking on the challenge of climbing this huge mountain in Nepal. A lot of people consider this the top of the world. His accomplishment has landed him on the cover of "TIME" magazine. He's also written a book about the challenges in his life. And he's joining us from New York to share his story.

Erik Weihenmayer, welcome to CNN LIVE THIS MORNING. Great to have you with us.

ERIK WEIHENMAYER, MOUNTAIN CLIMBER: Thank you.

KAGAN: My first question has to be: Why? Why Mount Everest? I realize you're an accomplished mountain climber already, but why did you have to go ahead and tackle this one?

WEIHENMAYER: Well, I had heard about Mount Everest my whole life. And I'd read books about it, about people struggling to stand on top of it. And I wanted to be a part of it. When I went blind when I was 13, the only thing that changed was that I was now blind. I didn't lose my sense of adventure. And I didn't lose my sense of wonder about the world.

And so climbing Mount Everest was so amazing to be there -- and experiencing all these things I had heard about my whole life: the Khumbu Icefall and the Khumbu Icefall and the South Col and the summit itself. It was tremendous.

KAGAN: And I also understand that perhaps indeed you can't see, but you have a lot of other physical attributes and also mental attributes that definitely suit you to this type of task and this type of challenge.

WEIHENMAYER: Well, climbing, it's a game of suffering. You're away from your family for three months. And you're in a tent waiting through storms. It's bad food. You know, you're eating potatoes and lentils and rice and camp...

KAGAN: Sounds lovely. WEIHENMAYER: ... food. And you're just starving the whole time. There's a lot of fun though too. But there's definitely some suffering involved. And so mental toughness is an important part of it. And some of the things I learned from going blind probably helped me to become more mentally tough.

KAGAN: You mentioned it was wonderful to experience these things that you have read about and heard about your entire life. So if you can't see them, how do you experience them?

WEIHENMAYER: Oh, I experience them through the terrain under my feet and the ladders that feel that I'm crossing and the sky and the wind and the rocks and the snow that I am touching with my -- through my gloves. It's just -- it's amazing.

And, also, I think part of the view for me is experiencing the mountain with people who I've worked like crazy with to get to the top. And we had an amazingly strong team of 13 climbers of nine Sherpas. We actually set a world record: the most people from any one team to summit.

We had the National Federation of the Blind working behind the scenes. Allegra allergy medication sponsored our documentary, which will be out in November. So when I stood on top of the world, it was like I was standing there with people -- on the shoulders of thousands of people around the world. Everyone was so supportive.

KAGAN: Tell us about reaching the top. Your climbing partner, Jeff Evans, said to you when you got up there, "Take a look around. Just take a look around." Now, of course he meant something else by that. But what did you do when you were on top of the Mount Everest?

WEIHENMAYER: What he meant was to experience what we had done, what we had accomplished and where I was.

And so I felt there was snow under my feet. And I went and touched these Sherpa prayer flags that are up there hanging. And then he described the view all around me. You could see, he said, all the way down into Tibet. And that was -- it's neat to know that I'm learning about world through the -- in eyes of the people that I love and respect you know. And that team definitely deserved all of the credit.

KAGAN: I want to ask you quickly to become a political reporter for us for a moment. Of course, there's nothing boring how you do it Erik. When you came down off the mountain into Nepal, there was political chaos given the massacre of the royal family there. What was that situation like?

WEIHENMAYER: Oh, we had survived the mountain and we were all excited, wanted to celebrate. And we wanted to eat a lot of great food. And we had come down and this terrible tragedy had shaken Nepal.

The people are a wonderful people. They're super friendly and accommodating. And for them to be going through this, it's just really sad. There were riots on the streets and bricks getting thrown and soldiers, with AK-47s pointed at us. It was pretty terrifying trying to get our hotel.

KAGAN: Well, glad to see you...

WEIHENMAYER: And we were lucky to get out.

KAGAN: We're really glad to see you to made it back safely, both from Mount Everest and from Nepal.

Real quickly, as we say goodbye, what's is next for you, Erik?

WEIHENMAYER: Well, I'm experiencing home life, being a dad again. I'm pretty excited about that. My baby has a 1-year-old birthday coming up. And then I'm going on a book tour to celebrate and to promote the book, "Touch the Top of the World," which I worked hard on. So I'm really excited to go out and talk about it.

KAGAN: Most excellent. Well, congratulations on the trek. Congratulations on being the father of a 1-year-old and on the book. And thanks for sharing your story with us.

WEIHENMAYER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Erik Weihenmayer, thanks for being with us.

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