Lonnie Bedwell

Move United / Our Athletes /

Lonnie Bedwell

“Your disability is a part of you but it does not define you. We are able to adapt and do so much more than we think if we simply work together. So let's get up, and go live our lives to their fullest potential! Sports is not only a way of life but a mission - it is my next duty assignment. It is to show people what is possible and to help each other.” - former Navy Petty Officer, Lonnie Bedwell

A former Navy Petty Officer, Bedwell was critically injured during 1997 in a hunting accident that instantly took his sight. Nevertheless, he raised three daughters as a single father, teaching them all to hunt and fish — and, against all odds, to drive. Once the girls graduated from high school, Bedwell continued to challenge himself, ultimately becoming a renowned extreme sports athlete. When the threshold for running the Grand Canyon was placed at 1,000 kayak rolls, he took his donated kayak to the pond on his farm and rolled it 1,500 times. The rest is history.

Bedwell’s mission is to motivate and inspire others to embrace life with confidence and courage. He accomplishes this by the way he lives his life and sharing his story with others. He’s an advocate for many including the blind and our military veterans, and is living proof that we can define ourselves on our own terms.

Bedwell has kayaked some of the most challenging whitewater in the world and is best known for having completed the first blind descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, summited several of North America’s highest mountains, rock climbs, and is an avid downhill skier when he has time away from roofing work in his hometown of Duggar, IN.

Lonnie is the founder of Sightless Summits, the mission is to take on some of the worlds most challenging adventures. In May 2023, the Sightless Summits team climbed Mt. Everest. Bedwell set a world record for being the first blind veteran to reach the summit. He is currently on a summit to climb Mt Vinson and ski to the South Pole.