Climbing new heights
By Shane Anthony
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Kyle Bradley faces a lot of firsts in the next two weeks as he leaves his St. Peters home for a mountain climbing trek in Peru, and he’ll experience them with an athlete who shares a lot in common with him.
Kyle, 15, is part of a group of students – three from the St. Louis area – who leave Friday for Peru with the Leading the Way Expedition. The expedition’s leader is Erik Weihenmayer, who, in 2001, became the first blind man to reach Mount Everest’s summit.
Weihenmayer and Kyle are both competitive. They both are or have been wrestlers, and Kyle has the same rare genetic eye disease that caused Weihenmayer’s blindness – X-linked retinoschisis. Kyle, who will be a sophomore at Francis Howell Central High School, met Weihenmayer a few years ago at a book signing.
“He’s a great role model, “Kyle said.
The Leading the Way Expedition will take a group of 18 sighted and visually impaired students on a 12-day journey to Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes. Along the way, they’ll learn about Peru’s culture, perform a service project and test their physical and mental abilities. They are traveling through a nonprofit organization called Global Explorers, and their progress will be tracked on the organization’s Web site – www.globalexplorers.org. In addition, ABC News will have cameras along with the expedition, and a documentary film is planned.
Ryan Charlston, who will be a senior at the Principia Upper School, on Clayton Road in St. Louis County, and Estey Masten, who graduated from Principia this year, also will be among the students making the journey. They both have full vision.
Weihenmayer lost his vision at age 13. But that hasn’t stopped his athletic pursuits. He was a nationally recognized wrestler in high school, and his biographical information describes him as an “acrobatic skydiver, long distance biker, and marathon runner, skier, mountaineer, ice climber and rock climber.”
Weihenmayer completed a seven-year quest in 2002 to climb the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He is the author of “Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey to Climb Farther Than The Eye Can See.”
The disease that took his sight is a rare genetic disorder that Kyle also has, although it has not taken his vision entirely. His mother, Annette Bradley, describes his condition as like having a camera that can’t be made to focus properly.
Like Weihenmayer, Kyle has been a successful athlete. He ended his freshman year of high school wrestling placing second in the state and compiling a 46-2 record, and he currently is listed second in folkstyle and third in freestyle in the schoolboy division of USA Wrestling Youth National Teams.
Kyle said he is looking forward to the trek through the Andes. At his home in St. Peters this week, his parents displayed a thick binder full of information, Weihenmayer’s book, special poles Kyle will use on the trip and a host of other supplies.
Students had to raise nearly $4,000 to go on the trip. They also had to prepare for it through a series of conference calls and a retreat in Estes Park, Colo.
Ryan, one of the Principia students who will be traveling to Peru, said that the group was quiet through the first few conference calls but that once everyone met in Colorado, the group leaders had to struggle to keep students quiet during the calls. “It didn’t seem like anybody was uneasy about anybody else, “he said.
Ryan and Estey met Weihenmayer when he spoke at Principia. Estey said she is looking forward to practicing her Spanish with native speakers, and she is excited about breaking down preconceived notions about blind people. “It’ll be really exciting to just totally obliterate that, “she said.
Kyle, in a posting to the Global Explorers Web site, said he had similar hopes. He said he wants to learn about Peruvian culture and change perceptions of what people with visual impairments can accomplish.
But he also will be paying attention to what he can learn through touch, smell, hearing and imagination.
“I may not ever lose my sight completely, “he said. “But if I were to lose my vision, this trip will give me the confidence that I can still achieve great things.”
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