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First blind athlete to summit Mount Kenya
For the young man it is not an obstacle to continue with his challenges in sport.
Gerard Descarrega, Paralympic athlete and amateur mountaineer, gold medalist in 400 meters at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, became the first blind athlete to reach the summit of Mount Kenya.
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in the African country, with 5,199 meters.
After overcoming a storm while descending the African mountain, Gerard Descarrega managed to complete three ascents, after those of Pico Aneto in the Pyrenees, at 3,404 metres, and Mont Blanc, at 4,807 metres, in the Alps.
The ascent to Mount Kenya has had a solidarity action, since it has given material to the blind community of Nairobi.
This expedition was divided into a first section of trekking without much difficulty with family and friends. In the second section, the climb of a 700-meter wall has been included, and he did it together with the German mountaineer Felix Berg, his best friend, Xisco Lopez and the guide and mountaineer Óscar Cadiach.
Gerard was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when he was little. This caused him to progressively lose his vision until he became blind, at the age of 18.
Despite this circumstance, it was not difficult to face this challenge, since he hopes that the mountain will be a very important part of his life in the future.
For Descarrega, his next challenge will be to climb a '6,000' in August, a '7,000' in 2023. After the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, he will try to climb Manaslu, the world's eighth highest mountain in the Himalayas, at 8,163 meters.
