Jill Wheatley has a complex story - her life turned upside down in a moment and her journey to recovery and into thriving is circuitous. This discussion takes place with Jill in Kathmandu and Matt in Washington state - next month they finish the conversation in Nepal at Manaslu basecamp - a mountain they are each climbing for their own very personal reasons. This is part one of that conversation. While working as a teacher in Bavaria, an accident on a sports’ field changed Jill’s life in a fraction of a second. A medical team, hundreds of hands from 7 hospitals across 3 countries, guided Jill through a seemingly impossible climb, traumatic brain injury (TBI). Now traversing an avalanche triggered by the TBI, which left her days from death, with 70% vision loss and a life threatening eating disorder, Jill chose to adventure in massifs around the world to celebrate the life she nearly lost. Mountains have housed a transformation from losing sight to gaining vision. Jill has run, climbed and skied her way around the world embracing the eyesight she still has. Her trails have connected with the Andorra Pyrenees, Italian Dolomites, French and Swiss Alps, Slovenia’s Julian Alps, Iceland, India and Nepal Himalaya, New Zealand, Argentina, Peru, and the American Rockies. Following Himalayan expeditions on Island Peak, Lobuche East, Mera Peak and summiting the iconic Ama Dablam (6 812 m), along with ice climbing and skiing in the Annapurnas, Jill is currently training to climb Manaslu (8 163 m), the world’s 8th highest peak. You can follow Jill’s adventurers at: Mountains of my Mind Instagram Twitter You Tube Facebook Linked In Photo credit: Vinayak Jaya Malla
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Nov 15 202148 mins