LISTEN: [RealPlayer] [Windows Media] (Requires a FREE media player to listen) Click for Photos Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind climber to summit the traditional Seven Summits when he reached the top of Mt. Kosciusko, highest peak in Australia, on September 5. The ascent symbolized the achievements made by Weihenmayer, who, with the assistance of a number of climbing guides, has climbed such peaks as Denali, Mount Everest, and Aconcagua. MountainZone.com invited its readers to submit questions to Erik on the completion of the Seven Summits. In a live interview conducted October 1, MountainZone.com presented those questions. MountainZone.com This is Peter Potterfield at MountainZone.com and we have the privilege today to be speaking with Erik Weihenmayer (wine-mayor), who has just completed climbing seven of the Seven Summits and is about to embark on the "eighth" of the seven summits, which is Carstensz Pyramid. MountainZone.com: Erik, can you tell me what your plans are in relation to climbing the eighth peak of the seven summits? Weihenmayer: We're going to try to get to Carstenz this February. There is some political instability there now, some freedom fighting going on, and you don't want to get caught in the middle of that. But if things are quiet there until late January then we'll consider going to do the climb. Carstenz is a beautiful climb, we'll try to do the Anglo American route or the American Direct which are these 5.7-5.8-5.9 rock climbs straight up the face. So we should be doing some good rock climbing in the rain. It's always rainy. There's a rainy season and then there's a really rainy season, so you can predict that it's going to rain every afternoon. And Gore-Tex doesn't do well, necessarily that great in the pouring rain. So you have to look carefully at your equipment, you can get hypothermic really easily when you're climbing is 35- to 40-degree rainy weather. We have some great climbers going with us, my friend Mike O'Donnell, one of the world's best ice climbers and rock climbers, and a whole bunch of good friends, some of the people who have been with me on all of the climbs that I've done. Charlie Mace, a neighbor of mine who climbed K2 without oxygen a few years back, is going, so we have a great team, we'll be well prepared and well looked after. Go to Question 2 » [Top] [Climbing Home] [MountainZone.com Home]