Meet Vaishak JP, a mountaineering guide for the visuaaly impaired

While growing up in Kasaragod in Kerala, Vaishak JP had to climb the Chandragiri hill everyday to catch a bus to get to school. Backwaters and beaches weren’t too distant from where he lived. This is perhaps why he believes “everyone should experience Nature’s beauty.”

Vaishak’s interest in Nature increased as he grew older. After completing his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, botany and zoology at St Aloysious College, Mangaluru, he joined his grandfather, a forest officer, in exploring the forests of Karnataka.

“I learnt map reading from him, and how to scale maps for different forests,” he says.
Vaishak discovered his love for mountaineering when he and his friends lost their way for two days in Ettina Bhuja, a hill in southern Karnataka.
“It was my first mountaineering experience where my friends and I got lost. We ended up climbing another mountain, which was not part of our plan. That day, I decided that if I went back alive and made another mountaineering trip and got lost, I should be able to survive on my own.”

An inspiring sight

Vaishak, then, joined the indoor climbing gym, Equilibrium Climbing Station in Bengaluru. During a training session, he witnessed a visually impaired person organising a wall climbing session for over 20 visually impaired children.
The image affected him. “I was stunned. I felt like a small bird yet to learn to fly in the open sky,” he says. It motivated him to organise a trek for differently-abled people in Bengaluru.
Soon, he got a chance to work with Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF), a group that organises scuba diving, mountaineering, paragliding and other adventure activities for people with (and without) disabilities.
Since last March, Vaishak says he has conducted over 30 adventure camps that included differently abled people.
This includes an expedition to Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, and a 500 kilometre cycling trip from Manali to Khadrung La.

Guiding the visually impaired

Vaishak considers the Kilimanjaro climb — his first international trek — a life-changing experience. Vaishak was one among the lead guides of the team, which included two visually impaired people, from India and Israel.
For over a week, the group had to trek through different types of vegetation.
“The first five days were amazing and the rest were back-breaking as we had to trek at midnight,” says Vaishak.
Directing the visually impaired, he says, is tough. He had to lock his elbow with theirs. This is how he communicated with them during the climb.
“For instance, when there is a stone, we move our elbow away from our body that tells them to move out one foot, the holding of elbow together gives them the sign to stay straight behind us. One should be extra careful while guiding them, it’s like driving a car in the mountains.”
At present, Vaishak is in Mangaluru, planning his travel company, The Trek Guy Adventures.
He also teaches soft skills for students in schools in and around Mangaluru.
                                                                                                          Content source: The Hindu