Eric ruptured a disc in 2006 at 34 years old, had surgery, and spent the next 14 years protecting his back. No deadlifts. No squats. When he walked into SSC in 2020, he started with a PVC pipe. Months later he lifted 75 pounds and felt like he’d won something.
Now at 52 he’s training for an 80-100 mile solo ridge traverse along the Selkirk Crest — eight days, 30,000 vertical feet, off-trail, with grizzly bears and no rescue plan closer than hours away.
This conversation is about what it takes to rebuild confidence in a broken body, why the hardest part of any hard thing is the voice in your own head, and why sometimes the best thing you can do in the gym is put down the weight and be okay with it.
