He went to an eye appointment expecting glasses. Instead, Eitan Armon got a diagnosis that changed his life.
“So you’re going blind, there’s nothing we can do to help.”
Armon told OutKick Outdoors he remembers walking back to his car and crying, not only because of what he was losing, but because of what he thought it might mean for his future.
“How would I be a professional? How would I be a husband? How would I be a father?” he recalled. “There was definitely a transition period.”
Armon said that after a period of anger and uncertainty, he began focusing on the values that mattered most to him, including challenging himself, spending time with good people, contributing to something larger than himself and finding adventure.
That mindset eventually led him to Yosemite National Park, where he climbed El Capitan for the documentary “Looking Up.”
The climb up the 3,000-foot granite monolith would be notable for anyone. Armon did it with about 5 percent of his vision remaining.
“I like being outside. I love skiing and hiking and that kind of stuff,” he said. “There was definitely a trial-and-error process and a training process because I hadn’t done something like this before.”
Armon and his team developed systems to help him move safely on the wall. Pieces of equipment were marked with textured tape so he could identify them by touch.
Asked about the steepest learning curve, Armon said, “Definitely going to the bathroom on the wall by far.”
He also said limited vision may have eased some of the fear.
“A lot of times when people ask me about the climb, they want to know, ‘Were you scared?'” Armon said. “I think not being able to see actually is an advantage from that perspective because if you can’t see how far you’re going to fall, then there’s actually less to be concerned about.”
Still, he described a tense moment on the second day of the climb, when he was suspended above Yosemite Valley and needed to unclip a piece of gear before moving to the next anchor point.
“My heart was racing very, very fast,” he said. “I had to go, ‘Okay, I’m going to trust the system. I’m going to trust the gear. I’m going to trust myself.'”
Nearly a decade after his diagnosis, Armon said there are still difficult moments. He misses details while watching sports, and he sometimes trips over things or breaks something at home because he did not see it.
“When those things happen, it stinks,” he said. “When something hard happens, it’s important to say, ‘This is hard, and this is challenging.’ And then also to recognize that hard and challenging things are part of life. Everyone has limitations. This happens to be mine.”
During filming, director Elena Neuman said she was struck by the way Armon moved through places he could not fully see. She recalled speaking to him off camera as the crew drove into Yosemite.
“I said to him off camera, ‘It makes me sad that you can’t see this,'” Neuman recalled.
She said his response stayed with her.
“Don’t be sad. I can imagine it.”
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