Erik Weihenmayer - the first blind person to reach the summit of the world's highest peak - has experienced some of nature's most amazing wonders in his lifetime, but Hong Kong's mountains hold a special and irreplaceable place in his heart.
On his first trip back to the city since 1980, Weihenmayer recalled how as a child he used to spend hours trekking through the hills near the Hong Kong International School in Tai Tam where he was a pupil from grades two to six.
A skinny child with thick glasses, he was fighting a losing battle against retinoschisis - a degenerative disease where the retina splits and cysts form between retinal layers.
'Exploring Repulse Bay and hiking around Hong Kong's mountains - there was just so much potential to discover cool and exciting things. I don't recall where exactly it was but I remember hiking up these long stairs and at the top there was this little peaceful monastery,' said the 37-year-old.
'I remember how awe-inspired I was. I thought I was somewhere really special. It was not just the adrenalin. I would round a corner and come across something I have never seen before that's just beautiful. Mountains are like that, and when you reach the summit of any mountain you always get that same feeling [of accomplishment].'
The images of beauty he saw during those years remain firmly imprinted in his mind, partly due to the fact that two years after leaving Hong Kong, at age 13, he lost his vision completely.