Climbing blindly
Freshman doesn't let blindness keep him down
By Britton Dove, Staff Writer
October 15, 2007 | 10:19 p.m.
As soon as students walk into the Charles J. Ping Student Recreation Center, the first thing they see is the rock-climbing wall. Many see it but have not climbed it. For one Ohio University freshman, it is exactly the opposite.
Standing at the base of Ping Center's climbing wall is freshman rock climber Matt Burger. He arrives nearly every night with his bag of chalk and his yellow labrador named Freddy, but Burger is legally blind.
Burger walks in and greets his usual climbing instructors and then eagerly grabs a harness. He then dusts his hands with chalk and prepares to climb. Burger places both of his hands on the surface of the wall and pulls himself up into the footholds.
"That's the easy part," said Burger, as both of his feet were off the ground.
Burger first attempted climbing when he was 9 years old at an indoor climbing wall at Galleon’s Sporting Goods store, which is now owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods. However, he didn't get serious about rock climbing until he arrived at Ohio University.
"I don't enjoy many other forms of exercise, so there had to be some way to get more tone than what I was, so I just do rock climbing," Burger said.
Burger was diagnosed with glaucoma as a child and since the age of 2, has suffered the blindness that is associated with the disease. At the age of 5, Burger was considered legally blind in both eyes.
"My vision is between 20/1600 and 20/2000," Burger said. "I can see one-inch print from one inch away."
Burger has a variety of tools to help him function around campus. He has a desktop computer that repeats to him what he just typed; a BrailleNote, which he calls his Braille laptop, that acts as a Braille typewriter; and his guide dog named Freddy.
Freddy was purchased in San Rafael, Calif., from a company called Guide Dogs for the Blind. Freddy began training to be a guide dog when he was eight weeks old and was sent to help Burger when he was 22 weeks old. Burger trained with Freddy for around a month and has had him for nearly two years.
Since arriving at OU, Burger has trained with many of the climbing instructors but mainly with Cara Varney. She, as well as anyone watching Burger, will relay verbal instructions to him as he climbs, telling him where to place his feet or where his next grip will be.
"You get a lot of people that want to try the wall, but Matt comes, and he wants to climb the wall," Varney said. "We have definitely reached out to Matt as one of our regulars. He needs us, and we enjoy it. Most of the instructors that work here are recreation majors, and this is a great teaching experience for us."
Just because Burger needs instructions at times doesn't mean he can’t conquer the wall successfully. He reaches the top of the wall nearly every time now on each of the three beginning levels Ping's climbing wall has to offer.
He first started on the green level, which has a difficulty rating of 5.7, and he has been steadily increasing his complexity of the walls. The ratings on the scale range from 1.0, flat walking ground, to 5.12, the most difficult level that Ping has to offer. Burger is currently on the Blue
Stage, a 5.8+ level.
"[The hardest part of rock climbing is] finding my footholds," Burger said. "That is because one, I can't look down to see where I am putting my feet, and two, I have tennis shoes and not climbing shoes, and it limits my sense of touch."
Burger has become somewhat of a celebrity at Ping. He is greeted by several people when he enters, and Freddy attracts some visitors as well.
"Every time I've been at Ping, I see him and Freddy," said freshman Lauren Borys, who is a regular member at Ping. "I did rock climbing in high school, and it is so hard to do."
Although Burger admits climbing the wall did make him nervous at first, the sense of accomplishment now has driven him to expand his limitations and set new goals. One of Burger’s new goals is to enter the Ping climbing-wall competition in February at the beginner's level, but for that to happen, he has to practice the routes. If Burger even touches one of the footholds of another color, he will be disqualified at the competition.
"Given his limitations, he is right up there among beginning climbers," Varney said. "He has improved a lot since he first came. The first time he climbed the wall, he made it halfway up, and then the next time he made it all of the way."
Burger’s second goal is to eventually try the Outdoor Pursuits trips that are offered through OU.
"Outdoor climbing does interest me, but it's probably a long way down the road," Burger said. "Maybe in the spring, though."
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