The Climb

Trevor Hahn is one of the people who have climbed a dozen of Colorado's "14ers," the 14,000 + foot peaks that dot that state like cloves on a ham.

"I’m a huge outdoor enthusiast,” Hahn, a Colorado native, told a news station. “Just getting into the back country where you don’t see a soul.”

“I just love to be on top of a mountain because I can hear the expanse around me,” Hahn said.  Hearing matters to him...

He can only see light, no shapes at all. Hahn has been legally blind since birth, living with macular degeneration, iritis and glaucoma.

But he wasn't about to let visual challenges keep him on the ground.  He uses  adaptive techniques, things like hearing bells and moving in the direction of the sound, or hearing voice commands from hiking partners.

With these methods, he climbed Gokyo Ri mountain in Nepal - a 17,575-foot summit, but didn't find the experience as satisfying as he hoped it would be. "It it didn’t really give me a purpose. Like, I was just following this bell,” Hahn reports. “It would be really cool if I could have a purpose on the trail.”

And then...

Last year, Hahn and his wife Mandy met Melanie Knecht through No Barriers USA, a group that exists to help people with challenges get into adaptive sports. Melanie lives with spina bifida; she has never walked, but when she met a man who depends on hearing voices to be guided up mountains, she said, "Well, I have a voice."

They became friends and realized the possibilities of her eyes helping his and his legs working for her.  They call it “Hiking with Sight.”

They rigged up a harness that Hahn wears like a backpack; she sits in it, facing forward to see what's ahead, and she gets to leave her wheelchair behind and see places she couldn't previously reach.

“We both serve a purpose on the trail and a huge responsibility to each other,” Hahn said.  Knecht's voice commands tell Hahn about rocks, cliffs, logs, and what-all else is ahead.

For Knecht, the toughest part is remembering the task of calling out the obstacles ahead while enjoying the beautiful views.

“I want to describe what we’re seeing so Trevor has a mental picture,” Knecht said. “Then, I have to be like, 'Oh gosh, we’re turning left!'”

For Hahn, the hard part is building the strength to carry and balance a person on his back. That takes endurance. It's understandable that he needs to stop often for breaks.

“If you have a crazy idea, find another person that also agrees with that crazy idea and then it’s not crazy anymore. It’s just an idea,” Knecht said.

I saw their story on CBS News and it's amazing to see them getting up and down those hills. But it's our daily reminder that two humans can unite to conquer any challenge.