How did erik weihenmayer die

1969-

American mountain climber

Ninety percent of climbers who attempt Mount Everest—at 29,035 feet, the world's highest mountain—do not make it to the summit.

In 2001, Erik Weihenmayer managed to accomplish the grueling and dangerous trek to the "top of the world," making history in the process. Weihenmayer, who suffers from a retina disease, is completely blind.

How did erik weihenmayer go blind

An accomplished mountaineer, Weihen mayer has reached the top of each of the Seven Summits—the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. "I like doing things that are new and thrilling. Blindness," Weihenmayer told People, "is just a nuisance." In climbing, "you just have to find a different way of doing it."

Weihenmayer was born in 1969 and grew up in Hong Kong and then Weston, Connecticut with his parents, Ed and Ellen Suzanne Baker Weihenmayer, and two brothers.

A slight irregularity in his eyes when he was an infant alerted his parents to seek medical