Trekking Patagonia in a wheelchair
Channel: UC Berkeley
Date: 2017-04-06

After six hours of hiking in the rain and mud through the Patagonia, Matias Silberstein was ready to hunker down for the night. But his cousin, Berkeley MBA student Alvaro Silberstein — who was making the trek in a wheelchair — would have none of it. He insisted on pressing on.

Alvaro, who organized the expedition of more than a dozen team members, has been in a wheelchair since he was 18, when a car crash left him paralyzed. Despite five more hours of trekking ahead, he would not allow the expedition to be cut short.

After he lost the use of his legs and hands in a car crash with a drunk driver, he yearned for trips into the outdoors. But hiking trails and campsites are not often accessible to people with disabilities, leaving them unable to experience many of nature’s greatest treasures.

To help make the outdoors more accessible, Alvaro began planning the expedition, which he called “Wheel the World.”

For the full story, visit: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/06/wheel-the-world/

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally
Footage courtesy of Wheel the World
Music: "Staccato" by Vibe Tracks

http://news.berkeley.edu/
http://www.facebook.com/UCBerkeley
http://twitter.com/UCBerkeley
http://instagram.com/ucberkeleyofficial
https://plus.google.com/+berkeley