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Danes help handicapped friend scale highest Nordic peak
Christian Wenande
May 31st, 2016
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This article is more than 8 years old.
Jacob Riis-Nielsen refuses to let cerebral atrophy get in the way of living life to the fullest
On the way to making history (photo: Nikolai Rosbach)
A group of friends from Odder, Jutland have gone viral after helping their wheelchair-bound handicapped friend scale the highest peak in northern Europe.
The group, who went to Egmonthøjskolen school in Odder, pushed and pulled Jacob Riis-Nielsen – who was diagnosed with cerebral atrophy at the age of 15 – to the top of the Galdhøpiggen mountain in Norway, the highest point in northern Europe at an elevation of 2,468 metres.
“It’s among the craziest things I’ve ever been part of,” Nikolai Rosbach, one of the ‘Riis Expedition’ members, told TV2 News.
“In some of the images, you can see how we are pulling him up. But to have to sit in that chair and be yanked around and be exposed to the cold as Jacob was – that is something completely different, so it hinged on whether Jacob was ready or not.”
READ MORE: Cerebral palsy athlete makes ironman history
Living life to the fullest
The group decided last August to do something that no-one had tried before, and with Riis-Nielsen’s condition – which makes him completely dependent on the help of others – it was going to be a challenge.
But despite his condition, Riis-Nielsen is adamant his handicap shouldn’t prevent him from experiencing life to the fullest.
It took the group three days just to get to the foot of the mountain, and the trip through the snow and cold proved to be far more difficult than the friends had initially envisaged.
The group unveiled a documentary of their accomplishment at their old school in Odder last week.
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