Next month, a group of 11 blind and partly blind hikers will head to Africa in an attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a group.

Kilimanjaro Region

A team of 11 blind and visually impaired climbers is preparing to attempt a summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, with the goal of setting a world record for the largest group of people with low or no vision to reach the top. The initiative was co-organized by Calgary-based hiker Peter Quietini and his friend Dave, who began planning the expedition several years ago, with renewed momentum following encouragement from another blind climber.

The climbers have been training for the physical demands of the trek, which will take nine days—seven days up and two days down. The group is taking a longer ascent to reduce the risk of altitude sickness. Participants describe the unique challenges and experiences of hiking without sight, relying on their other senses and physical awareness to navigate the trail.

Blind mountain climbers get ready to tackle Kilimanjaro

Early next month, 11 blind and visually impaired climbers plan to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. The plan is to set a world record as the largest group of blind or low vision individuals to summit the peak. Peter Quietini is a Calgary based hiker and he's helping organize the journey. How'd you come up with this idea? Oh, it's not my idea actually. Well, it's a co-idea. My friend Dave in Toronto and the GTA came up with this idea back in 2018. And he said, you want to join me climbing Kilimanjaro? And I said, Dave, well, you're not a hiker. If you want to do this, you better get in shape. And to his credit, he started working on it. But you know, something happened in 2020 and we all took a pause. Anyway, back in 2024 then, Dave met up with a mutual friend of ours, Sven, from Denmark at an event called Ski for Light. And Sven is also blind. And Sven said, Dave, I climb now Kilimanjaro, you can too. And Dave said, hey, that's great. We should do that. So that lit the fire under Dave and I again. And for the past 18 months, he and I have been putting this together. How do you explain your vision? We're talking blind, low vision, like how do you characterize? The word blind is misunderstood. When the common person says blind, they think of like nothing, right? But the legal definition of blindness is like 20 over 200. And that's like 10% vision, which is actually quite a lot. So anyways, at me right now, I have no sight anymore. I used to, I used to have moderately functional vision, but as I've gotten older, my condition has progressed. And in the past couple of years, I lost my last remaining vision. I guess I'd like to say I used to see, I've seen better days. What are the considerations and the preparation to hit Kilimanjaro with a group of blind or low vision friends? Yeah, that's a really good question. What are the considerations? Well, I mean, the first one is of course, being in as good a shape as you can. Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb as such. I mean, there's no climbing harnesses and helmets and all that sort of thing. It's a trek. It's for us, it's a nine day trek, seven days up, two days down. So it's seven days climbing. And that's a lengthier site. People can do it in less time. The real reason behind that is the risk with climbing Kilimanjaro, the failure rate is altitude sickness. You're going to almost 20,000 feet. And allegedly the oxygen there is about half of what it is say here. So by having a seven day ascent, it gives your body more time to acclimatize to the higher elevation. So anyways, getting back to the preparation, I can talk about my own. It's really boots on the ground. And as a blind hiker, it's roots and rocks and rocks and roots and rocks and rocks and roots and roots and rocks and rocks and roots and rocks, okay? And that's what it is. So my guide obviously cannot tell me every root and rock on the trail. So my feet just do amazing things insofar as compensating for the irregular ground that's under me. I don't know how my feet do it, but I think they're just incredible. Yeah, no kidding. Tip of the hat to your feet. What do you love about hiking? Oh my gosh, why do I like about hiking? It's one of my ways of experiencing the outdoors. You go to the mountains and you stand there and you look out and you say, what a beautiful mountain, right? You appreciate it for its visual beauty. That's not available to me. So the way I experienced the mountain is in a more visceral, tangible, tactile kind of way by getting my boots and nose and ears up on the mountain. Yeah, so the sense, other senses. Yeah, no, no. And there's a whole range of things that happen in that place. Like you made me think about the smell of alpine meadow. Yeah, you go through a pine forest, right? In the morning when there's dew on it, you say, that smells beautiful.

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