Kosta Papageorgiou set a challenge to climb Lions Head 500 times in 2018 and again in 2019, on the 421st summit of 500 he helped a blind man do it too.
Cape Town, South Africa – The Blind Scooter Guy, Christopher Venter, has become the first blind man summit Lion’s Head.
Christopher lost his eyesight after a virus attacked his retina and left him completely blind. He was in the middle of a 20 000 mile expedition from Cape Town to Dublin, Ireland raising money for a local children’s hospital.
Refusing to let the loss of his sight affect his life, Christopher started the blog ‘Blind Scooter Guy’.
On it, he discusses his thoughts about life and living as a blind adventurer. He also showcases the difficulties a blind person encounters on a daily basis, from online shopping to visiting places such as the Aquarium. He was even invited to be one of the speakers at the TEDx Cape Town.
Chris joined Kosta Papageorgiou on his 421st summit up Lion’s Head. Kosta has been climbing Lion’s head every year, setting the goal of doing it 500 times.
Kosta has been climbing Lion’s Head daily, and sometimes even two or three times a day; braving extreme heat, rain showers, thick mist and slippery trails – in support of the Lion 500 Fund Raising Challenge. Kosta started his initiative after losing a friend to suicide and witnessing another friend work through the stresses after being raped. He needed to do something to balance out the bad, he needed to add more good into the world.
When he initially set out to do the 500 climbs, he was well on his way to succeeding, but health problems and life stopped him from getting the last 200 done in 2018. Kosta picked up his goal as soon as he had recovered. Kosta says that assisting Chris up Lion’s Head was one of his most humbling life experiences.
“Guiding blind scooter guy was truly a humbling and inspirational experience. There have been so many times where I had complaints and felt things were unfair, but after this summit with Chris, I’ve had to review my attitude and harden up like Chris did. It’s life-changing, witnessing the human spirit at full power, defying all obstacles and getting to the top and down a mountain. It was definitely a mental exercise and an example of how in spite of weaknesses, people can always find a way when they work together.”
You can support Kosta’s climbs here and follow his journey as he invites some truly inspirational people to join him for the last 78 climbs.
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