THE GRAND ADVENCHAIR
In September I’ll be traveling by wheelchair into the Grand Canyon, an expedition we call the “Grand Advenchair”. I’m hoping that you can help us.
When I survived a brain-stem stroke in 2005, I had to completely change how I looked at the world, approached adventures, and accessed wild places. While this has probably been the hardest challenge I have dealt with in my life, it has also been one of the most rewarding because my family and friends have made the outdoors possible for me.
Using a wheelchair has not dimmed my pursuit of challenges; it’s only made me change the ways that I experience them. This outlook on life led me to begin The Onward Project with the mission to encourage people with physical and life challenges to explore and enjoy wild places, whether in the Grand Canyon or the local park.
The Grand Advenchair team will consist of a hard-core group of family and friends who have been training for this trip. They are wildland firefighters, mountain bikers, backcountry skiers, and outdoor leaders and enthusiasts. Oregon Adaptive Sports will provide critical staff and logistical support and film and produce a video documenting the 3-day expedition.
Early-on it became obvious that a standard, skinny-tired wheelchair was not going to allow me to get to the places I wanted to go. For over 8 years I’ve worked to create and refine a wheelchair that gets me off the road, on the trail, and into the wild. The AdvenChair is now ready: mountain bike tires, a larger front wheel, handlebars and disk brakes that allow control by the “driver”, and a towing system. This is not your grandfather’s wheelchair! My ultimate goal is to design and produce AdvenChairs to allow others with mobility challenges to access their own wild places and nurture their souls.
We will descend into the canyon via the South Kaibab Trail, dropping 5,000 ft over 7 miles to the Colorado River, and after a rest day climb back out on the 10 mile Bright Angel Trail.
Your support will help cover expedition costs within Grand Canyon National Park including food, permits and camping fees, and pack mules to haul gear in and out of the canyon, production of a video and limited travel costs. Any amount we raise beyond our $3,000 goal for trip expenses will go toward developing and promoting the next prototype of the AdvenChair.
Thank you for your support.
Onward!
Please consider making a gift to support the Grand Advenchair at one of these levels:
_____ $500 Condor - help with production costs of a video documenting the Grand Advenchair.
_____ $250 Big Horn Sheep – help defray travel costs of team members
_____ $150 Mule – sponsor one of the pack mules we will use to haul our gear.
_____ $50 Ringtail Cat – cover the costs of camping permits and fees.
_____ $15 Canyon Wren – food for 1 person for a day.
_____ Other
Visit GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/2dg5g9g to contribute.
