IDAHO — The three athletes from the Challenged Athletes Foundation that competed in the Smoke and Fire 400 are now attempting to start at the lowest elevation and summit the highest mountain on every continent.
The project is called Lowest Highest.
"What's now a global project to do something that nobody has ever done, wheelchair or not, which is an aspect that won't let go of me," said Lowest Highest Founder, Andre Kajlich. "It's a pretty historic opportunity to make something happen like that."
They plan to do this using all their own power whether that be hiking, biking, or even crawling.
Last summer, the team traveled to South America, where they started at Valdes Peninsula in Argentina (131 ft. below sea level) and biked over 1,000 miles. Then, two of them successfully summited Aconcagua--the highest mountain in the Americas.
"If you think about the seven summits, obviously that is a big endeavor, not a ton of people have done it," said Kajlich. "But, they typically start at some arbitrary point you might drive as far as you can to base camp you might helicopter into base camp, but what we are trying to do is use all our power."
Kajlich got altitude sickness right before the summit so he'll have to back and try again. But, for now, the team is gearing up for their Lowest Highest trek through Europe next summer.
Idaho News 6 reporter Lynsey Amundson will have the full story this Friday.
