Paralympian plans to handcycle up Mt. Kilimanjaro

From the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. You can follow Chris Waddell's blog dispatches as he attempts to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro and follow him on Twitter @CWkilimanjaro.

Chris Waddell has traveled the world, racing down mountain slopes on his way to becoming a gold medal Paralympian. Now, with his ski career wrapped up, Waddell has turned to climbing up, rather than screaming down, mountains.

The Park City resident hopes powering a handcycle up the highest peak in Africa this month will prove as inspirational to other paraplegics and people with disabilities as earning gold medals.

"It is a way to get me and people like me noticed," said the 40-year-old Waddell, who will use a specially-designed, 4-wheel handcycle known as the Bomba to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

"I want people to know that becoming paralyzed did not stop my life, it just made me change the way I live it."

Getting to the top of Kilimanjaro, 19,340-feet above sea level, will be painfully slow compared to the blistering speed at which Waddell flies down a snow-covered mountain. But relying on a wheelchair has taught him patience, which he'll need while working his way around bowling ball-sized rocks on the trail.

Waddell, who lost the use of his legs in a skiing accident in 1988, discovered the boulders, along with another major trail challenge, during a scouting trip in June.

"I went into that trip harboring some illusions that I might actually be able to climb the mountain," Waddell said. "It was brutal, absolutely brutal. It was more difficult than I ever imagined. It is not like the trail is paved or even flat."

The going was so slow that it took Waddell 2 1/2 days to make it to the first camp, which he was hoping to make in one day.

Waddell didn't struggle because of a lack of training. He is constantly on the handcycle, not only priming his body for the climb, but looking for ways to modify the machine and make it more efficient.

One of his training trips was on the vaunted White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. Waddell completed the 103-mile trail in less than three days on a handcycle. The previous record for a handcycle was six days. Waddell was pleased with his effort on the White Rim, specifically because it showed someone on a handcycle could do the trip with a mountain bike rider.

"One of my overall goals is integration. If I can do the White Rim in three days we can stay at the same camp. It allows for a social aspect of hitting the trails with someone who is disabled," Waddell said. "This whole project is bigger than climbing a mountain. The mountain is in part the vehicle to effect some change, some sense of people with disabilities doing things that some people think they can't do. I might do it differently, but we can all have a good time doing it together."

Waddell's most recent "training' was the 2009 Off-Road Handcycling Championships held Labor Day weekend in Crested Butte, Colo. He claimed the championship in the hill climb portion of the event and finished third in the cross-country competition.

Meeche White, co-founder of the National Abilities Center applauds Waddell's openness about his disability even as he makes it clear he is still capable of pursuing his dreams.

"By going to Africa, Chris is demonstrating that there are no boundaries to what a person with a disability can do; that there is always a way of climbing a mountain, even if you can't walk," White said.

White said Waddell's determination is especially powerful in third world countries where "people with disabilities don't get quite the same respect as they do here."

Waddell has served on the NAB board of directors, worked with ski racers in training clinics, and is a spokesman for the facility, which is committed to helping people of all ages and abilities develop lifetime skills through affordable outdoor sports and recreational experiences.

"The way Chris handles himself and who he is makes a statement that words can't convey," White said. "He is comfortable in his wheelchair and he doesn't view himself as having limits per se. People see that."

Waddell had originally planned to handcycle to the top of Kilimanjaro in March 2009, but his trip was canceled when he developed an infection and spent three weeks in the hospital.

The delay has proved beneficial. In addition to giving Waddell extra training time, the postponement allowed handcycle designer Dave Penney to modify the machine. They have changed its look while shaving weight from the One-Off handcycle Waddell was going to use in 2008.

"The one I had at that point was 83 pounds. I was propelling the shell of a small car with my arms. I felt like I was constantly in the world's strongest man contest," Waddell said. "We have it down to 48 pounds and shortened up the wheelbase by 13 inches, moving the back wheels right under my hips, more similar to my regular wheelchair. We eliminated a fair amount of material and increased the traction immensely."

Penney is working to complete two new "Bombas" before the team leaves for Africa on Sept. 20. One of the new handcycles will include suspension and will be used primarily for the return back down the mountain.

Waddell will ride a Bomba all the way to the top. There are portions of the trail that are dangerously steep on loose scree. For those stretches Waddell will use a winch attached to fixed lines and crank himself safely up the mountain.

Penney, whose official title is expedition manager, will be there to make sure the Bombas and Waddell have every opportunity to reach the summit.

"Everything is about getting Chris to the top. That is what I signed on for," said Penney, who compares the current development of handcycles to the early days of mountain biking, in which he also was involved. "I want to be a part of helping Chris accomplish his goals; for him and the people he represents who can't walk to the top."

The Bomba will not be the only wheelchair/handcycle making the trip to Africa. Waddell has arranged through his One-Revolution campaign to deliver wheelchairs and handcycles to people who need them in the area around Kilimanjaro. The long-term goal is to deliver these mechanisms for travel in areas of need across the globe.

Waddell already delivered some wheelchairs to the area last year. He realized more are needed and that run-of-the-mill wheelchairs just won't work for the terrain in which many Africans with disabilities live.

"We aren't talking about pavement," Waddell said. "Everything is dirt and rocky roads. You need some pretty sturdy mountain bike tires."

He is working with Mobility Care, a wheelchair fabricator in Tanzania, to do the custom building on the wheelchairs and the handcycle.