In The Loop Travel
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • The Americas
    • Caribbean
    • Mexico
    • Europe
    • Asia/Pacific
    • Africa
  • Fitness
  • Cruising
  • Travel Tips
  • Videos
  • Work With Us
  • My Work
  • About
  • Colorado Craft Brewery Guide
  • Media Kit
  • TBIN Influencer Network

A World Famous Adventurer Wants You to Live Your Best Life

9/27/2018

0 Comments

 
Erik Weihenmayer, blind adventurer, kayaks at Manhattan Kayak Co., in Manhattan
I met Erik Weihenmayer during a quick kayaking outing in Manhattan in advance of the upcoming No Barriers Summit being held in the city at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
By John Roberts

If you enjoy travel and adventure, you know what it means to push yourself.

To test your limits. To meet new challenges and get outside of your comfort zone.

Erik Weihenmayer has been the living embodiment of what it means to shatter pre-conceived notions about what is possible.

He is one of the world's foremost adventurers, having conquered Mount Everest, climbed the Seven Summits, kayaked the full 277-miles of the Grand Canyon's treacherous whitewaters, and finished the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. These are just some of the top achievements on Weihenmayer's list.

Impressive? Inspiring?

For sure.

Now, consider the fact that Weihenmayer is blind.

The 50-year-old Fort Collins, Colorado, resident has been working hard for more than three decades to create a new template for how people facing challenges can live their best lives and do what they love.

He lost his sight at the age of 13 to a childhood disease and refused to let that hamper his life. To help others, too, Weihenmayer co-founded No Barriers USA in 2005. The nonprofit organization offers support and a range of resources to fulfill its mission to "unleash the potential of the human spirit.  Through transformative experiences, tools and inspiration, we help people embark on a quest to contribute their absolute best to the world.  In the process, we foster a community of curious, brave and collaborative explorers who are determined to live the No Barriers Life."

In that spirit, the organization also hosts the annual No Barriers Summit. This year, the event takes place in New York City at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It will unite 1,500 select attendees to collaborate, share experiences and put forward new ideas and concepts that can help more and more people reach their goals and potential no matter what challenges they face.

In the lead up to the No Barriers Summit, I met up with Erik and other members of his No Barriers team to do some kayaking in the Hudson River (see video at bottom of this post).

Then, we had a chance to chat about some of the goals for his organization, the summit and what he hopes his life and experiences can teach anyone who is facing obstacles or challenges.

5 Questions with Erik Weihenmayer of No Barriers USA

Q: How has No Barriers USA grown and evolved since its inception and what do you hope attendees to the summit get out of it? 
 
A: It's grown a ton. We felt that there was a potential movement here and lots of people who would want to join because a lot of people struggle in the world. They are on the sidelines, not in the thick of things and not the best version of themselves. They feel like they're missing something.

They get shoved to the sidelines for a variety of reasons. Physical disability is a big one. Things like trauma or PTSD or brain injuries. Or maybe just human, invisible things like anxiety and fear.

So, we knew that this movement was potentially massive worldwide. So, then the idea was how to grow it, and we've been trying to do that in fits and starts over the last 15 years.

Now, we impact more than 10,000 people a year, and the summit will be a really amazing opportunity to showcase the message of No Barriers in front of a citywide audience.

We've been going to these incredibly beautiful mountain cities (recent summits have been in Colorado and California, for example). We wanted to take it out of the mountains and bring it into people's faces.

There are a lot of city folks who would not experience this message unless we brought it to them. 
 
Q. What innovations or other developments in adaptive sports are you most excited about these days?
 
A. Represented at the summit, for instance, is Sam Schmidt. He is a huge hero of mine. He crashed his race car and is a quadriplegic, and with the help of this company called Arrow Electronics, they built him a car that he is able to drive with his eye movement. He's driven that car more than 100 mph, and he'll be there with the Arrow Car.

A project like that is inspiring for everybody. I don't care if you have a physical disability or not.

Another person who inspires me is Mandy Harvey. She's a deaf musician who went deaf while in college during her music program, which isn't a very convenient time to go deaf in your life.

But there is a remarkable adaptability in the human brain. Scientists call it neural plasticity.  
So, if you can figure out a way to get information to Mandy (who discovered she still has perfect pitch), then she can sing songs.

She uses a simple app on her iPhone that tells her when she hums something whether she's in tune or not. She's able to learn songs, and she has written her own music.

She sings barefoot, so she can feel the vibrations of the music. And she has all these visual connections with her band, so she knows when to go in or go out.

So, No Barriers is about, yes, innovation, which is hugely important. But at the same time, it's also about the human spirit.

Q. You just had a milestone birthday, turning 50. What will you do to celebrate?
 
A. I have tons of trips. I'm going back to a Himalayan peak called Ama Dablam that I failed at 18 years ago. It's a 22-and-half-thousand-foot peak; some says it's the most beautiful mountain in the world. In December, I'm going to climb for two weeks in Wadi Rum in Jordan.

I'm feeling really fit, feeling really good, actually. I don't plan to slow down.
 
Q. What have you learned over your decades of facing challenges that can also help people not look at age as a barrier, too?
 
I climbed Everest back in 2001 with a guy who was 64 years old. That just shows me that, you know sure, the body does break down eventually, and that's reality. But you can push it for a long time.

You will slow down, but not in a predictable way that you might think.

For me, it's been a little bit of not falling into the trap of that I have to do something harder and higher and riskier. That gets you in trouble and is shallow. It becomes more about your resume.

I think the No Barriers message is about that map that we're building in our lives. It's not like a very neat and prescribed map. It's more like a map that propels you in very unexpected ways forward.

You have to be committed to riding the energy of life to discover new things and not settling for getting shoved to the sidelines.
 
Q. What is your best piece of advice for people who are reluctant to get out of their comfort zones?
 
A. Sometimes, what we need is just a kick start. Sometimes that No Barriers journey is so tenuous. People end up at some plateau in their lives. How do they kick start themselves into moving forward?

We get people who just have the courage to jump in and take part in the No Barriers experience, and that becomes the catalyst to them taking on something in their lives. 
We call them No Barriers pledges. Whether it's writing a book or getting a job or starting a business. That thing that you were just scared to do, you make that pledge and say "I'm going to do it."

We've had soldiers get off of pain killers and work their way out of trauma.

What I'm saying is that sometimes you get stuck a little bit, and you need to find a way to unstick and make changes in your life. No Barriers could be a part of that unsticking process.
 
The No Barriers Summit is October 5 and 6, 2018, in New York City. 
 
Thanks for reading, 
JR
Subscribe today to get the latest reviews, tips and tricks to help you have your best adventure ever.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    AIDA Cruises
    Alaska
    Albatros Expeditions
    Alicante
    AmaWaterways
    Amber Cove
    American Queen Steamboat Company
    American Queen Voyages
    Amsterdam
    Antarctica
    Antigua
    Arctic
    Arizona
    Aruba
    Asia
    Atlas Ocean Voyages
    Australia
    Austria
    Avalon Waterways
    Backroads
    Bahamas
    Barbados
    Barcelona
    Belize
    Blue World Voyages
    Bonaire
    Bora Bora
    Brooklyn
    Budapest
    Burma
    Cabo San Lucas
    Cadiz
    California
    Cambodia
    Cancun
    Caribbean
    Carnival Cruise
    Celebrity Cruises
    Celestyal Cruises
    Christmas Markets
    Cologne
    Colombia
    Colorado
    Corfu
    Costa Rica
    Cozumel
    Craft Beer
    Croatia
    Crystal Cruises
    Cuba
    Curacao
    Dominican Republic
    Dubrovnik
    Egypt
    Emerald Cruises
    Emerald Waterways
    Europe
    Expat Life
    Explora Journeys
    Fathom Travel
    Fitness
    Florida
    Fort Lauderdale
    France
    French Polynesia
    Galapagos
    Galveston
    Germany
    Grand Cayman
    Greece
    Grenada
    Guatemala
    Halifax
    Harmony Of The Seas
    Hawaii
    High Line Park
    Hiking
    Holland America
    Hong Kong
    Houston
    Hungary
    Ibiza
    Iceland
    Isla Mujeres
    Italy
    Jim Thorpe
    Key West
    Kotor
    Labadee
    Lake Minnewaska
    Las Vegas
    Lisbon
    Lithuania
    London
    London Eye
    Maine
    Malaga
    Mexico
    Miami
    Minnesota
    Mississippi River
    Monte Carlo
    Montenegro
    Monterey
    Montreal
    Moorea
    MSC Cruises
    MSC Divina
    Netherlands
    Newfoundland
    New Jersey
    New Orleans
    New York
    New York City
    New Zealand
    North Carolina
    Norway
    Norwegian Cruise Line
    Nuremberg
    Oceania Cruises
    Oregon
    Orlando
    Panama
    Panama Canal
    Passau
    Paul Gauguin
    Paul Gauguin Cruises
    Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia
    Pickleball
    Ponant
    Portugal
    Prague
    Princess Cruises
    Puerto-rico
    Queens
    Regensburg
    Regent Seven Seas
    Rome
    Royal Caribbean
    Saint-Tropez
    San Francisco
    Santorini
    Scenic Cruises
    Scottsdale
    Seabourn
    SeaDream Yacht Club
    Sicily
    Silversea
    Sintra
    Sorrento
    Spain
    Star Clippers
    St. Maarten
    St. Thomas
    Symphony Of The Seas
    Tahiti
    Travel Gear
    Travel Tips
    Tunisia
    Turkey
    Turks And Caicos
    UnCruise
    Un-Cruise Adventures
    UnCruise Adventures
    Universal's Islands Of Adventure
    Uniworld
    Utah
    Utica
    Utica Boilermaker 15K
    Vienna
    Vietnam
    Viking Cruises
    Washington
    Windstar Cruises
    Wisconsin

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2013 | All rights reserved | Ewing, New Jersey.
Contact | About | Media Kit