MATESHIP HITS PEAK
A PARAPLEGIC has scaled Mt Warning with a remarkable display of strength and determination – and a little help from his friends.
Wheelchair-bound Carl Reimer achieved the extraordinary feat with the aid of 17 friends and strangers on his 30th birthday weekend.
“When I heard about Mt Warning, I thought ‘Bring it on’,” he said. “I’m always up for a challenge which I’m thankful for now I’m in a wheelchair because I’m not stuck in my house not wanting to do anything.”
LIKE thousands of backpackers before him, Carl Reimer has ticked Mt Warning off his Aussie bucket list. Unlike them, he has made the arduous ascent in a wheelchair.
On a 30th birthday weekend to remember, the Canadian – who has had paraplegia since his late teens – enlisted the help of 17 friends and strangers to push, carry and inspire him on a threehour mission that finished within metres of the 1159m summit.
“It was one of those days no one can ever take away from me,” Carl said of an incredible team effort that evolved from a chance meeting with a Gold Coast mum in Thailand late last year.
“When I heard about Mt Warning, I thought ‘Bring it on’. I’m always up for a challenge. I have been my whole life, which I’m really thankful for now I’m in a wheelchair because I’m not just stuck in a house not wanting to do anything.”
Instead, Carl is conquering mountains and banking memories on a seven-month global adventure alongside close mate Daniel Stubbs, 27.
Having flown out of North America in October, the pair always had their sights set on a stint in South-East Queensland but a brief stopover in Thailand has resulted in not only a special friendship with a Helensvale family but one that ultimately led them to the top of Mt Warning.
SLIDING DOORS
“We were on a boat on the way to Phi Phi Island when I offered to take their photo,” 49-year-old Paola Hopkinson-Smith said of how she met the backpackers on a Thai holiday in November.
“We only chatted for about 20 minutes but when they said they were heading to Australia, I said ‘Look us up and we’ll look after you’. Daniel came over later and said ‘Are you serious about us contacting you’ and I said ‘Of course’.
“Between maternal affection and being a nurse, I thought it was amazing what this guy was doing.”
That ‘guy’ was 18 when a church youth group camp changed his life forever.
“We were collecting firewood,” Carl recalled of the accident that has left him with no feeling in his legs and limited use of his left arm.
“A ute was pulling a trailer piled with firewood, which I was sitting on top of. When we hit a pothole, I got tossed off.”
More than a decade on, Carl and Daniel landed in
Brisbane late last year and have since made regular journeys down the M1 to visit Paola and her family. They even spent Christmas Day with the clan, their loved ones back home dubbing the Gold Coasters their ‘Aussie family’. Then came Byron Bay. “I took Carl there one day and he said ‘I’ve heard about Mt Warning and I’d love to do it’,” Paolo said. “And I thought ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to have to start training’.”
GAME ON
Mt Warning was not the first trek the backpackers had tackled since landing in Australia. “They love the outdoors so I said ‘I’m going to introduce you to my brother Leo’,” Paola said.
Leo Hopkinson, who leads tours on the famed Kokoda Track, embraced the challenge of introducing the wheelchair-bound Carl to several local trails. Then when the young man set his sights on Mt Warning, a small army was born.
“They tried to do it a couple of weeks earlier but only made it halfway because there was only four of them,” Paola said.
“This time my (adult) son got a lot of kids together. His friends brought their friends and we ended up with 18 of us. We couldn’t believe it. It was wonderful.”
It was also hard work, more than three hours of backbreaking effort as they took turns navigating, problemsolving and carrying their precious cargo skyward.
“I did feel vulnerable at times but you have to get over that,” Carl said.
“In society there’s a tendency to think you’re on your own, that you’re the only one who can help yourself, so it’s been really good to learn to rely on others.”
The final section of Mt Warning involves a difficult scramble across a rocky incline, complete with permanent chains for assistance. Carl’s journey ended at its base.
“It was a hard call to make,” Daniel said of telling his friend he wouldn’t see the summit.
“I hiked up to check it out and while I think we could have got him up, coming down would have been tough. Safety prevailed.”
As did a sense of elation when the group, many of them previously strangers, realised what they had achieved, all due to a bloke in a wheelchair who wanted to climb Mt Warning.
“People have said ‘What are you doing inviting strangers into your home’ but Carl and Daniel have brought more into my family’s life than I could ever give them,” Paola said.
“They’re the most beautiful guys and I saw a lot of young people like them (last Sunday). It chokes me up a bit. I really believe in young people and what I saw on Mt Warning was beautiful.”