When Eric Alexander and Eric Weihenmayer announced plans to climb Mt. Everest, nobody believed that they would be able to do it.

“People thought that we were going to die,” Alexander said.

“They’ve got a point,” Alexander told himself. After all, he was leading Weihenmayer, the first blind man to attempt climbing Mt. Everest.

Alexander, a graduate of the University of Denver in 1992, spoke at DU April 7, explaining his adventure with Weihenmayer, and the challenges and opportunities that the climb provided.

Both men were experienced climbers. Alexander even worked as a ski instructor for the blind at Vail, and climbed with children considered “at risk” because of their violent backgrounds. Weihenmayer had been climbing since he was 13 years old.

But the odds were stacked against the two men. A year before their announcement to climb Mt. Everest, they failed to summit a smaller but more technically difficult mountain, Mt. Amadablam.

Furthermore, Alexander had almost died descending from the failed attempt when he fell 150 feet off the mountain, and developed high altitude pulmonary edema. Alexander was so sick that he was put into a gammow altitude pressure bag and flown off the mountain.

“I believe it was a miracle that I survived that fall,” Alexander said.

After the fall, Alexander’s life continued to spiral downward. His health problems continued as he developed pneumonia. His personal life also took a turn for the worse when he discovered a friend dead in the snow after a snowboarding accident in Vail.

Alexander didn’t think that he would be able to climb Everest, and neither did his critics.

Alexander was honest with the audience; he didn’t candy coat the difficulties encountered while leading a blind man up the dangerous mountain. The climb up Everest was dangerous for even a healthy or full-sighted man.

As the team climbed they received reports that two men had died on two other teams, and that a Spanish climber attempting the climb was missing.

Just a few yards away from one of their first camps lay a body of a man who died on the mountain in the early nineties. Everything and everyone around the team and Weihenmayer seemed to be saying it was impossible.

They put complete faith in Weihenmayer’s ability to reach the summit-even as they followed Weihenmayer through a severe storm in which no one could see.

During their climb to the summit, the situation started to look bleak. The team leader turned back because of the weather, saying he couldn’t continue.

But the team did continue, with Weihenmayer following the sound of Alexander’s voice telling him where to step and which foot to move, while balancing himself with a set of ski poles.

After a long journey, the team finally made it to the summit May 25, 2001 at 10 a.m. after climbing since 9 p.m. the night before.

Alexander looks back on the experience with fondness. It was a time for him to experience an adventure with not just the first blind man to climb Everest, but his friend and climbing partner. Alexander’s happiness for Weihenmayer and the team making the summit is apparent in his final answer to their critics:

“We shattered the perception of people around the world,” Alexander said.