From The San Francisco Chronicle: (You can see pictures and a video of Coomber hiking on the Chronicle Web site.)Bob Coomber cannot walk, but he sure can hike.
The disabled Livermore outdoorsman is preparing for the hike of his life - an ascent of 19,000-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa or 22,841-foot Cerro Aconcagua in South America.
If he pulls it off, he will be the first person to climb either mountain in a wheelchair.
"I have no idea if it's doable, but I would love the opportunity to just get there and start off," Coomber said. "I have to do something to prove to myself that I haven't reached the zenith of my life yet."
The Americans with Disabilities Act was not designed for people like Coomber, a 53-year-old adventurer known throughout the Bay Area as "Four Wheel Bob."
He got the nickname because he was regularly spotted pushing his wheelchair up mountains, down rocky gorges and along dusty trails in out-of-the-way places. He has been on virtually every hiking trail in the Bay Area, and last year he became the first wheelchair hiker to reach the summit of 14,246-foot White Mountain in the eastern Sierra, the third-tallest peak in California.
He does it, he says, because he loves nature and because the fruits of his labor are so rewarding. Now he is preparing for the most difficult unaided mountain climb anyone on a wheelchair has ever attempted.
Coomber originally chose Kilimanjaro because it is the tallest mountain in Africa and it has a hiking trail leading to the top. Aconcagua was recently added as a possibility because it is the highest mountain in the Americas and also has a relatively smooth trail. The choice of which one to climb will be made based on funding, sponsorships and whether he can find an outfitter willing to spend at least a week and possibly two weeks guiding him on the mountain.
"I figured about 15 years ago that as long as I could keep the chair moving in the right direction, I was going to keep pushing it," Coomber said. "I feel better physically than any time in my life, quite honestly. There is always an excuse to stay indoors. I'm just not much of a giver-upper."Late last month, Coomber completed a four-day, 20-mile trek along the Diablo Regional Trail from Round Valley Regional Preserve to Diablo Foothills Regional Park, a solo expedition he had long wanted to complete.
"It's not ADA accessible, but I don't do much that is," he quipped from his Mount Diablo campsite on the last day of the tour.
His training will include a trip to Arizona next month with his wife, Gina, to tackle the four peaks known as South Mountain, Camelback Mountain, Papago Peak and Piestewa Peak.
Coomber, a collections supervisor at Wells Fargo Bank in Walnut Creek, has worked hard in the gym to increase his strength and endurance, but climbing Kilimanjaro or Aconcagua is beyond anything he could prepare for with weights or on Bay Area trails. Because he has had problems with high altitudes in previous climbs, the effort could be life-threatening.
"That's been my nemesis," he said. "If all I got were headaches like most people, I would be fine. But I get nausea, and I can't keep water down at altitude. I have to take extra time."
His determination is, however, unmatched. That's out of necessity. Nothing has ever come easy for Coomber, who grew up in Piedmont and developed juvenile diabetes in his early 20s.
The disease caused numbness and weakness in his legs, a condition known as neuropathy. But Coomber, who had spent his childhood hiking, fishing and backpacking, wasn't about to let the disease stop him.
He kept hiking while enduring a regimen of blood sugar tests and insulin injections. Then one sunny July day in 1990, he fell, and the brittle bones in his leg shattered. He struggled to rehabilitate his leg and regain his strength, but the problem worsened.
During one period, he suffered five fractures within 18 months. By the time he was 35, simply putting weight on his legs sometimes would cause them to fracture. The condition developed into a debilitating form of osteoporosis, and he was forced into a wheelchair.
At first, he said, he went into a deep depression and just sat at home, but slowly, carefully, he began to reclaim his former life.
He has, over the past few years, wheeled through more than 100 parks in the Bay Area, including all 70 in the East Bay hills. On Aug. 24, 2007, Coomber reached the top of White Mountain after three days. It was his fifth attempt to climb the mountain, which is south of Mono Lake and east of the town of Bishop (Inyo County).
He has since completed a series of treks in the Bay Area and beyond, including 11,459-foot Sonora Peak in the central Sierra earlier this year. Last February, he completed the entire Iron Horse Trail from Dublin to Martinez and back in one day, a total of about 46 miles.The kind of hiking Coomber does is fraught with danger. With very limited use of his legs, he must turn backward on steep hills so he can push with his arms while his feet are on the ground stabilizing his wheelchair.
Going downhill can be even more hazardous. Coomber improvises switchback turns, his wheels often skidding on loose rocks and dirt.
"I've fallen over plenty of times, but I haven't gotten hurt," he said. "I just pull myself up and get back in."
On his recent trek along the Diablo Regional Trail, he struggled for hours to climb one steep, rocky trail with loose dirt and little traction. The rear suspension and nubby tires on his wheelchair were of little help. The climb took so long that he didn't make it to camp by nightfall and had to sleep instead next to the road.
"It was about 3 miles," Coomber said, "but in Bob miles it was about 20."
But he enjoyed it, he said, because he saw tarantulas, snakes, hawks and other wildlife that most people miss when they are hustling around on foot.
"The slowest person on two legs could do what I do much faster, but he would miss a lot," Coomber said. "I see a lot more because I'm out there a lot longer."
Coomber is on the East Bay Regional Park District advisory committee and works closely with the park helping build trails and consulting on accessibility issues.
The district, in consultation with Coomber, recently released an online accessibility guide providing information about the grade, cross slope, tread width, surface, hazards and obstacles on its trails. His wife is urging him to start the Four Wheel Bob Hiking Club, and they are in the process of planning a wheelchair excursion along the Iron Horse Trail.
"What Bob is proving to us is that we shouldn't try to guess what people can do because he blows your mind every time," said Mike Anderson, the park district's assistant general manager of planning, stewardship and development. "He opened our eyes to the fact that there are many people who can far exceed what was considered accessible, so we should give them good information and let them go."
In 2007, Coomber was inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. In July he was given the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Community Leadership Award. Nevertheless, he is after a different kind of reward.
Coomber discovered that there is more to a mountain climbing expedition to Africa or South America than just packing up and going. He has been trying to raise the money for the trip through a sponsor or agent without much luck.
"They only want competitive athletes," Coomber said. "I kind of compete with nature, but it would be nice to have Nike on my side."
Still, he feels an obligation to pursue his dream because, he said, it might inspire wheelchair-bound children, war veterans or shut-ins with disabilities to push themselves out of the house and into the vast, beautiful world that still awaits them.
"Everybody's disability is different, but for many who could do what I do, it is too easy to give up," Coomber said. "I always hope that people will see me and decide that they are doing too little with their lives. It would be nice if more people would test their limits ... and it would be nice to share this with people. It's an awful lot of fun."