CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Erik Weihenmayer stood on a concrete berm above a gushing crest of white water and cocked his head slightly. “Sounds gnar,” he said. He was referring to the ear-bone-rattling roar surrounding him, the sound of 536,000 gallons of water spewing each second through six industrial pumps at the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

Weihenmayer, considered among the most accomplished blind athletes in the world, is perhaps best known for being the first person without sight to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. But his accomplishments extend to other extreme sports, including ice climbing, solo sky-diving and paragliding. Now he wants to add kayaking, and he is gravely aware of the challenges.

“I think blind kayaking is a different sport than a sighted person kayaking because you rely on your eyes so much,” he said. “I’m trying to feel what’s under my boat and what’s under my paddle, and to use my ears, and everything is happening so quickly. Without eyes it’s like sensory overload.”

Weihenmayer, 44, has come to the white-water center to train with Robert Raker, a friend and a paddling coach, and to master the necessary techniques to navigate a small plastic boat over a moving mountain of white water. If the training goes well, Weihenmayer said, next year, he will attempt to descend the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, one of the nation’s most challenging stretches of river. It is a feat no blind person has attempted.