Every Body Climbs | A Blind Trio featuring Justin Salas, Seneida Biendarra, and Chaz Misuraca
This is the final episode in this special series with host Emily Chen-Newton. In keeping with the themes of community-built and community-led, this episode features three truly incredible blind athletes leading the conversation. Emily takes a step back from the mic as Justin Salas, Seneida Biendarra, and Chaz Misuraca carry us through a conversation about each of their unique and ongoing journeys with vision loss and how climbing – the sport, and the community – provides support. We begin the conversation with each of them explaining their sight loss and their relationship to climbing.
Justin Salas is a passionate rock climber and advocate for adaptive sports. He's known for his remarkable achievements as a visually impaired athlete. Justin lost his sight to optic neuropathy at age 14 and discovered climbing eight years later, igniting a fire that would lead him to become a six-time national champion and a world champion in para climbing. He has tackled some of the hardest outdoor climbs through grit and determination, including being the first blind climber to complete a V11 boulder problem.
His approach combines muscle memory, tactile exploration, and unique visualization techniques is a testament to hisinnovative spirit. He shares these techniques in clinics like the "Fundamentals of Visualization," intriguing and motivating others in the climbing community.
Follow Justin on Instagram.
Justin Salas makes his way up the route, Fat Bastard (5.11d/12a) on Powers Wall in Ten Sleep, Wyoming. The canvas colored stone is steep and appears pockmarked at best. Salas finds pockets to sink his fingers into as he moves up the wall with the green highlights of his climbing rope, athletic pants, and tattoo sleeve standing out in contrast to the pale rock he’s climbing.
Photo credit: April Davidson
Seneida Biendarra is a Softgoods Product Developer at Black Diamond, co-Founder of Skillzboard, and a 4-time medalist at IFSC Paraclimbing competitions in 2023 and 2024. She began losing her vision at 17, around the same time that she discovered climbing.
As her sight loss progressed, she found the Adaptive Climber's Festival, where the instant connection with the paraclimbers there set her on a course towards competition climbing and learning to accept her disability, she says. This summer (2024), she was part of an expedition in the Bugaboos; the first unassisted adaptive team to climb the Beckey-Chouinard (5.10) on the South Howser Tower.
Follow Seneida on Instagram.
Seneida Biendarra is on the summit of Sundial Peak, Wasatch Mountains, UT. She has an easy-going smile as she stands balanced on the gray stone. She’s wearing a light blue jacket and helmet with tree-tufted mountains slightly out of focus in the background.
Image credit: Nate Gamble
Chaz Misuraca is a single father of two boys who proudly represents Canada on the national teams for blind hockey and paraclimbing. After losing his sight, he committed to showing that visual impairment doesn’t define ability, using adaptive technology to push his limits in hockey, rock climbing, skiing, and mountain biking. His mission is to inspire his sons and others by breaking stereotypes about blindness and proving that with the right mindset, anything is possible—able, not disabled.
Follow Chaz on Instagram.
Surrounded by the dramatic limestone formations of the Italian Dolomites, Chaz Misuraca stands looking towards the horizon with a hiking pole and backpack. His bright mustard yellow jacket is brilliant against the gray stone formations and storm clouds gathering in the distance.
Photo Credit: Katie Jo Myers
Every Body Climbs (EBC) is a collaborative podcast bringing you interviews with para and adaptive climbers. These profiles can be heard on The Power Company Podcast and Sends and Suffers. Content about festivals, engagement projects and other modes of community building air on Sends and Suffers, while training and nutrition focused interviews can be heard on The Power Company Podcast. Host, Emily Chen-Newton is a freelance adaptive sports reporter working in both print and broadcast. Living with a chronic medical condition herself, her journalism centers athletes, not their disabilities. When she’s not reporting, she’s rock climbing with her husband and their two cats.
EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
More episodes of Every Body Climbs
More episodes of Sends and Suffers
REWIND | Craig DeMartino on Making Hard Decisions and Using Limitations
SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
LISTEN ON YOUR PODCAST APP OF CHOICE
We’re a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
