Paraplegic Climber Poised to Touch the Sky

Using his arms and his will, Chris Waddell finally has the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in his sights.

The paraplegic climber with his eyes on history has climbed to 15,000 feet and spoke with CBS News' Karen Brown via satellite phone in an exclusive interview.

When asked how hard the mountain had pushed him, Wadell said it had "pushed me pretty hard, harder than I guess I hoped."

Waddell is trying to become the first paraplegic to reach the summit on his own power. He's using a highly engineered four-wheel mountain bike that he showed CBS News on his final training day in Colorado.

"I climbed up a lot of things that I thought 'No way am I going to be able to do that,'" he said then.

Waddell Summit Update, 9/26
Waddell Summit Update, 9/25
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Waddell Summit Update, 9/21 Late
See Karen Brown's profile of Chris Waddell
Read Karen Brown's profile of Chris Waddell

But the critical push to the 19,340 summit starts early Monday. He has 4,000 vertical feet to climb. The rocks will be loose and the temperatures below freezing. He'll have to use a winch to pedal up a rope for any chance of traction.

"The winch is a big concern," he said. "I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work. The other big concern is the altitude. I don't know what the altitude might do to me."

Originally, the final leg was slated for 10 hours. But Waddell said it might take 20 instead.

"We might break this up into two days," he said. "We might end up sleeping in the crater tomorrow."

Waddell is the top Paralympic skier of all time. This climb has been his toughest challenge yet.

"The mountain has thrown everything at me," he said.

Day one, Waddell climbed 3,000 vertical feet in seven and a half hours. Expedition porters used boards to help him ford the deep drainage ditches in his path.

Day two was brutal, with Waddell pedaling for 10 and a half hours to climb 3,300 feet in a dust storm.

Day three, he covered nearly 10 miles.

"It was really tough and steep and rocky," he said.

What drives Waddell - his desire that the world stop seeing the wheelchair and notice the man.

"I want them to see the possibilities - of me and other people like me. But I also want them to see the possibilities in themselves.