Melanie Knecht was born without the ability to walk. And five years ago, Trevor Hahn lost his sight to glaucoma.

But that hasn’t stopped either of them from literally climbing mountains, with plans to tackle one in August that few others would dare attempt.

When they were reached by phone in Colorado, Hahn explained to CTVNews.ca “she’s the sight.” “And he’s the hike,” Knecht laughed.

Knecht, a music therapist, gets around using a wheelchair because she was born with spina bifida – a condition when the spine and spinal cord don't form properly in the womb.

She spent her childhood camping, exploring and even traversing steep cliffs while riding on someone’s back.

Similarly Hahn, who has always loved the outdoors, didn’t stop loving nature after he became legally blind in 2013. He’d still navigate trails with his wife, Mandy, relying on adaptive techniques such as following the sound of a bell.

After losing his sight, Hahn recalls feeling slightly depressed. But that changed after he met Knecht at an adaptive boxing class last year.

Then, a few weeks later, they bumped into each other while adaptive rock climbing. “I thought it was really cool how she was willing to try anything,” Hahn, a part-time sculptor who runs Art Through Touch, said.

It didn’t take long for the two to bond over their shared love of nature and they soon realized they could help each other to spend time out in the Colorado wilderness. Hoisted by a friend, Knecht is secured into a special carrier which is strapped onto Hahn’s back and she gives him directions on where to go.


'WE’RE THE DREAM TEAM'

At the start of 2019, the pair began using their technique to hike a Colorado trail together.

“It didn’t even hit me until halfway through that this is my first proper hike. My wheelchair was miles away in the car and Trevor was my lifeline,” Knecht said. Hahn laughs recalling how “giddy she was.”

Knecht couldn’t help but describe the vistas she was seeing. And that’s when she realized she could “give him the sighted experience that he’s not getting.” They haven’t stopped hiking together since.

Now the pair is planning their most ambitious trek yet: an August climb up a mountain that ascends 4,200 metres, or 14,000 feet. There are 58 “fourteeners” in the state, and Coloradans climb them as a “rite of passage,” Knecht said.

They haven’t chosen their "fourteener" yet. And while other hikers tend to summit these mountains in four to five hours, Hahn and Knecht expect the climb will take them twice as long.

“Slow and steady. It’s not a race,” Knecht said before Hahn added, “we can take as long as we want.”


‘HIKING WITH SIGHT’ SHOWS THEIR TRAINING PROGRESS

They made the announcement to tackle a “fourteener” in February on their joint Facebook page “Hiking with Sight.” They use this and an identically-titled Instagram page, to document their travels and training together.

Since then, the pair have completed more than a dozen hiking trips together, occasionally joined by Hahn’s wife and other friends.

But they say their unaccompanied trips are the most liberating.

“Early on it was validating to me to be like ‘we can do this’ because I am able to guide him. So it’s just us and we can be independent” Knecht said. “And it’s an awesome feeling, like you are important with responsibilities to another person.”

We are “each bringing something to the table,” she added, and Hahn agrees: “we’re both part of a team, you know?”

“With Melanie, it’s way more rewarding to do this than to follow someone with a bell,” he said, describing his feelings of joy and empowerment doing what he wants.

“I feel like I have purpose on the trail. I feel more like I’m hiking with a friend rather than being guided.”

Knecht said “we kind of lucked out finding each other” and now, with their social media accounts, they’re guiding others trying to follow in their footsteps.

Dozens of people have asked them about the harnesses they use on hikes, the trail difficulties and the adaptive activities classes they’ve taken.

“Everyone has barriers in their life,” Hahn said, adding it’s not enough to stay knocked down. “Barriers are only incentives to prove that dreams are reachable.”

And with their biggest mountain hike yet only a few weeks away, Knecht encouraged people “not to be afraid of dreaming big.”