teacher and future wife, Ellie Reeves. He also coached wrestling in Phoenix. Adventure career Seven Summits Weihenmayer's first big mountain was Denali, in 1995. In 2004, with Jeff Evans, Sabriye Tenberken and six blind Tibetan teenagers, he climbed on the north side of Everest to 21,500 feet, higher than any group of blind people have ever stood. A documentary based on the project, Blindsight, was released in 2006. On May 25, 2001, Weihenmayer became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. For this feat, he was honored with a Time Magazine cover story. Of his Everest ascent, Time stated, "There is no way to put what Erik has done in perspective because no one has ever done anything like it. It is a unique achievement, one that in the truest sense pushes the limits of what man is capable of." He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002, joining 150 mountaineers at the time who had accomplished that feat, but as the only climber who was blind. In 2008, he also added Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, the tallest peak in Australasia, thus completing the more respected Eight Summits. Climbing Weihenmayer has climbed rock and ice faces around the world. These include the first blind ascent of the 3,000-foot Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite, a difficult alpine climb of spectacular Alpamayo in Peru, and an ascent of a rarely-climbed 3,000-foot frozen waterfall in Nepal. Kayaking In September 2014, Weihenmayer and blinded Navy veteran, Lonnie Bedwell, kayaked the entire 277-miles of the Grand Canyon, considered one of the most formidable whitewater venues in the world. Other adventures In 2006, Weihenmayer created the Adventure Team Challenge, a first-of-its-kind adventure race in which teams of disabled and non-disabled athletes compete; his team won five years in a row. In 2010, he completed the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, with elevations all above 10,000 feet, on a tandem, once again becoming the first blind person to complete a world-class competition. And in 2011, Weihenmayer's Team No Limits raced across the deserts and mountains of Morocco for a month, finishing in second place on the ABC reality show Expedition Impossible. He has also completed the Primal Quest, an adventure race over 460 miles with 60,000 feet of elevation gain. Books In addition to being an adventurer and speaker, Weihenmayer is also the author of the book, Touch the Top of