POINT takes on Guadalupe Peak

(L-R) Donny Rogers, Joe Moss, and Dave Kiley on Guadalupe Peak after a five-day climb in wheelchairs, July 16, 1982. "They were doing lots of whooping and they were very glad to be there after five days on the mountain," recounted Bill Dunmire, park superintendent.

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Across the national parks, people challenge themselves to go beyond their comfort zone. For some people, just pulling in the parking lot is a lifelong dream fulfilled. Others feel the need to go beyond and find the isolated trail or climb the highest peaks. In the summer of 1982, one group pushed themselves to the limit on Guadalupe Peak to prove to themselves, and to the nation, that they could.

Beginning on July 12, 1982 a group of six paraplegics, Michael “Shorty” Powers, Robert Leyes, Donnie Rogers, Joe Moss, Dave Kiley, and John Galland, members of a Dallas-based organization known as POINT (Paraplegics on Independent Nature Trails), set out to climb Guadalupe Peak in wheelchairs. Their hike was conceived it in connection with a fund drive for the West Texas Rehabilitation Center in Abilene. Planning began only a week before their attempt began. Park managers, who understood the very real challenges of the climb, and the advance scout for the group, who examined the trail, expressed concern for the safety of the climbers. Park personnel foresaw several special difficulties for the climbers, including the need to carry enough water for a five-day trip and the fact that there were no suitable places along the trail where they could camp overnight. In addition, the regular occurrence of severe electrical storms in the high-country during July, and the fifteen to thirty percent grades the climbers would encounter prompted park personnel to suggest an easier route to a different destination. The men refused, however, and remained dedicated to the challenge of climbing the highest mountain in Texas.

"If you've ever done anything unimaginable, this is twice that," remarked Dave Kiley upon reaching the summit of Guadalupe Peak.

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At the Pine Springs Campground the night before they were set to begin, John Galland developed an infection and was unable to begin the ascent, reducing the originally planned group of six men to five: Michael Powers, Robert Leyes, Donnie Rogers, Joe Moss, and Dave Kiley. The five began on July 12, 1982 and made it 1.75 miles on the first day, but Powers was forced to turn back due to muscle spasms. By the third day of the climb, Leyes had to turn back because of physical difficulties. The two "grounded" climbers watched their companions through a telescope, and stayed in radio contact with the three who continued, offering them moral support until the last day of the climb, when the trail took the climbers behind a ridge that blocked radio reception. The hikers used specially constructed, lightweight wheelchairs on inflatable tires with deep tread. The wheelchairs had no brakes.

Although the men asked that they be left on their own, park personnel checked in with them regularly to obtain information for progress reports being carried by the news media. Park Ranger Jon Jarvis also stayed with the climbers the last two nights and accompanied them the last mile to the summit. They anticipated that the last part of the ascent would be 'hellish,' because of steep grades and loose boulders."Donnie [Rogers] arranges the rocks into a ramp then goes over them," Powers remarked. On the fourth night of the journey, then three climbers were caught in a lightning storm near the bridge on the upper portions of the trail.

During the last few hundred yards the men had to leave their wheelchairs and push or drag them as they crawled to the summit. The three men reached the top of Guadalupe Peak at 7:21 p.m. on the evening of July 16, 1982. “It took me five days to climb the highest mountain in Texas so I can do whatever I want with the rest of my life” said Donnie Rogers.

Upon reaching the summit, Joe Moss, a double amputee, said, "It's been 13 years since I've worked with a team like this, and if everybody would work together like this, the world would be a better place."

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The three men spent the night of July 16 on the peak and were airlifted off the following morning by three U.S. Army helicopters from Fort Bliss. For safety reasons, the climbers did not try to make the descent in their wheelchairs.

Later that day the climbers were the honored guests at a press conference and public reception at the Civic Center in Carlsbad. Their accomplishment attracted nation-wide attention. During the press conference the men received telephone congratulations from President Ronald Reagan and New Mexico Governor Bruce King. Texas Governor William Clements sent a telegram with his congratulations.

For more information

• Guadalupe Mountains National Park: An Administrative History by Judith K. Fabry.

• "Three paraplegic climbers whooped and hollered and doused themselves...." UPI, July 16, 1982