HIKING the third-highest peak in Ecuador, north of the Equator, Newcastle's Joey Fry is pushing himself to heights he didn't know he was capable of, and he's doing it for a good cause.
The 27-year-old is part of a team made up of 17 amputees, veterans, athletes and humanitarians climbing up extinct volcano Cayambe in South America, together this October, in the 10th annual Range of Motion Project (ROMP) event.
The global, non-profit charity provides quality prosthetic care to amputees in need. Mr Fry lives with an amputated right leg above the knee, and continues to share his story for positive impact as a disability and mental health ambassador.
"I'm on a team full of bad-ass individuals and amputees like myself that are climbing to show what we are capable of when given the right access to high quality prosthetic care," he said.
For the past nine months Mr Fry has been preparing physically and mentally for the climb, and on Tuesday, October 1, he was at the base of the summit ready to embark on a testing journey.
"Literally at the foot of the mountain and I'm pinching myself. I can't believe it," he said.
Over the course of the next two days the group made their way to the refuge climbing high altitudes, and started the climb on Wednesday night.
"At about 10 o'clock we start our climb and we're on the ascent and descent for over 12 hours," Mr Fry said.
The summit is 5790 metres above sea level, and Mr Fry says acclimatising has not been easy.
"It's tough I'm not going to lie. From being at sea level in Newcastle to coming all the way up here - it's rocking me a little bit," he said.
But it was the challenge he was most looking forward to and sharing it with "a number of incredible people with incredible stories".
"I'm most looking forward to the challenging parts, the mental toughness I'm going to have to go through. I'm gonna have to put the past behind me," he said.
"And just really focus on the now and here, to get myself and my teammates up to the summit. It's not an easy task what we're doing, and doing it with one leg for a bunch of us, it's quite an incredible journey."
"We all have our own reasons for climbing, and we all have our own background stories with an amputee journey but we are here together as a family and as a crew to get this climb done."
Mr Fry said he wanted to do the climb to "pay it forward" and provide opportunity to others in need of prosthetic care.
"I've been quite fortunate to be given access to high-quality prosthetic care at no cost, whereas some people in the world don't have that same sort of access and that breaks my heart," he said.
"Children are not being able to go to school or play, or have the mobility that everyone should have, or a father or mother not being able to stand and hold their child - that's kind of my reason for climbing."
"The other reason is, I want to support everyone that supported me through my amputee healing journey and prove that this is the best version of me."
Mr Fry wanted to thank APC Prosthetics for sponsoring his climb and building his leg. He also encouraged people to donate to ROMP via his donation page.
