The project title, Pelion, is adapted from Greek Mythology. The giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes were battling with the gods and wanted to get to the heavens. They piled Mt. Ossa on top of Mt. Olympus and then put Mt. Pelion on top of Mt. Ossa. Mt. Pelion was a stepping stone to the heavens.

The project reflects the spirit and philosophy behind the Institute For Outdoor Awareness that nature provides the basis for growth, for learning and for demonstration.What more graphic way to demonstrate potential of a person with disabilities than to climb a mountain.

In this adventure seven blind, two deaf, an amputee and a person with epilepsy climbed Mt. Rainier as a premier project for the International Year of The Disabled.

One reason for writing this account is to provide a record for the people with disabilities and for the therapists, counselors and others working with the disabled, that the living joy of adventure in life is possible.  If when Judy Oehler lost her sight to diabetes in 1970 somebody had told her that she would climb mountains she would have had no reason to believe them.  Now Judy has become a reason for others to believe.  In fact, the myth of statistics would have given Judy five years to live. That was almost ten years before Pelion.