|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As a 9-year-old, Kristie Colton started experiencing a rare degenerative eye condition called Stargardt disease that has left her with no central vision. Now 28 years old, Colton says the disease has not kept her from doing the things she loves, including trying to set a world record climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with 10 other visually impaired hikers next month.
“We’re really passionate about trying to break this world record to prove that blind people can do whatever they want to do and that they’re very capable,” said Colton, a Google software engineer who lives in Mountain View.
Colton and the 10 other climbers will have sight guides and porters accompanying them on the trek up Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa at 19,341 feet above sea level. If they summit Kilimanjaro, they will be the largest group of blind people to ever make it to the top.
Colton has always enjoyed being active outdoors by snowboarding, backpacking the Grand Canyon and running races with sight guides, including the Boston Marathon in April.
“I’ve always been interested in endurance-based challenges,” Colton said, noting that she ran her first marathon when she was 16 years old.
When a friend asked Colton if she would be willing to try and break the world record climbing Kilimanjaro, it seemed like a natural fit – although it took some convincing. “My initial reaction was, ‘No, thank you,’” Colton laughed. But the friend persisted and Colton changed her mind, describing the climb as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“A lot of people can’t imagine why someone would want to climb Mount Kilimanjaro if you can’t really see the view at the summit. But I’m doing this to help spread awareness that it’s not about seeing the view at the top,” Colton said. “It’s all about the journey to the top.”
It is expected to take seven days to reach Kilimanjaro’s summit and two days for the return trip, according to Colton. To prepare for the climb, Colton has been doing a lot of leg and ankle strength training.
“Because I can’t always see where my feet are landing, I require a little bit more strength to offer stability,” Colton said.
Colton also has been running, hiking and swimming at Rengstorff pool. The hikes have been especially beneficial not just for the exercise but also for honing Colton’s relationship with her sight guide, a close college friend from Harvard University who will accompany her with another college friend on the Kilimanjaro trip, Colton said.
“It goes to sort of getting a sense of what I can and can’t see when I’m hiking, and what’s most helpful to call out while we’re together,” Colton said, adding that she struggles to see things in detail or directly in front of her like branches.
However, the challenge of trekking Kilimanjaro is not necessarily the technicality of the climb but the altitude, which starts at around 6,000 feet above sea level, Colton said. To help acclimatize, Colton plans to return to her parents’ home in Utah a few weeks before heading to Kilimanjaro.
While Colton is excited to share the experience of climbing Kilimanjaro with her close friends, she noted that one important companion, Vorden, her guide dog, will be left behind. Vorden did not sign up for a high-altitude journey, Colton laughed, adding that he seems tortured every time she tries to jog with him.
To finance the trip, Colton has created a GoFundMe page that has raised roughly $3,200 so far. A documentary filmmaker also will be joining the trip, chronicling the group’s climb.
“My experience as a blind person is still so fulfilling, even though I don’t experience the world in the same way or have sight to view the peak,” Colton said.
