Photo: (Polar Vision)
This December--summertime in frigid Antarctica--a team of five guys will drag 100-pound sleds across bleak stretches of ice where temperatures easily dip to -40 degrees. They'll keep moving for about two months, covering 10-15 miles a day. They'll snack on cubes of butter to fuel such a grueling physical challenge. They will steadily make their way to the South Pole to set a record for the first visually impaired person to make this trek. That's right: The Polar Vision project's ringleader is legally blind.
Alan Lock had perfect eyesight until he was 23, when his vision began to fade due to macular degeneration, an inoperable condition very rare in young people. Glasses and contacts couldn't counter the effect, he couldn't read anymore, and he fell into a depression that he says left him with two options: to sit around feeling bad about his situation or to focus on the things he could still accomplish. "I wanted to do something that would fire me up and give me back that lust for life."
So he put together Polar Vision as a way to challenge himself physically while raising money for Sightsavers and Guide Dogs for the Blind, two respected organizations supporting the visually impaired. "We want to inspire people that even when things are extremely bleak, when your whole world falls apart and you wonder how to cope with it--however tough the challenge may seem, you can can put your heart into it and achieve it."
Alan joined forces with an impressive crew of young men: Andrew Jenson, an MBA student who earned two Bronze Stars for serving as a 101st Airborn Infantry Officer in Iraq and Afghanistan; Richard Smith, who founded Tuck Triathlon Club at Dartmouth University, where he's working toward his MBA; Garrick Hileman, an athlete, academic (working on his Ph.D.) and service enthusiast (taking at-risk youth on backcountry excursions); and Sean Swarner, who survived cancer twice as a teenager and went on to climb Everest (and half a dozen other sky-high summits). The South Pole ought to be a piece of cake for these tough cookies.
Though Alan occasionally still struggles with missing the view on a beautiful day, he's clearly doing more than being optimistic; he's giving his all to make a difference with his life.
You'll be able to follow the Polar Vision team as they make their way across Antarctica toward the South Pole. Check the website and read the blog for firsthand reports on the journey, the team and the organizations benefiting from their bold--if possibly crazy--adventure.
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Help the team raise money to support the visually impaired.
