When Lonnie Bedwell wakes up most mornings, he starts with an hour of ab exercises. Then, he does 20 miles on a stationary bike. Another hour of strength training comes after. Sometimes, he’ll also put on a weight vest and go for a seven-mile run.
He is training for an 80-mile trek to the Geographic North Pole as the last step to complete the Explorers Grand Slam, which only 73 people have completed. And he’s doing all of this without his eyesight.
The Dugger native and veteran lost his eyesight in 1997 and got into skiing and trekking 14 years ago. He has since climbed various summits, including Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Aconcagua. Two years ago, decided to take on the Explorers Grand Slam, a challenge that includes climbing the Seven Summits and trekking to both the North and South Poles.
“People believed in me, and they let me push the limits more and more and more, and that really instilled in me a true belief, and then this overwhelming desire to try to show people what is truly possible, not only for those of us who are blind or disabled, but for everybody. We can all do so much more than we sometimes think we can, and definitely more than sometimes others think we can.”
When trekking, Bedwell takes some extra precautions, such as wearing a headset while skiing to communicate with his guide or hiking more slowly.
“Where someone might just step around the ledge because they can see, we might rope up just temporarily, just in case we would lose our balance and slip off that ledge,” he said, “or we'll go slower, or just reach up and physically grab a hold of somebody and just take baby steps to get around some of these ledges.”
Bedwell will be going with a group on his trek to the North Pole, which could take over a week to complete depending on weather conditions and how they feel.
His next trek will be to Mount Kilimanjaro at the end of February.
