An American man lost a leg in a rock climbing incident but continues to climb with a prosthetic limb.
Perhaps for most people, scaling steep cliffs with just one leg is simply unimaginable, but some can do it — one such person is 48-year-old American Craig DeMartino. With his prosthetic, Craig goes rock climbing five times a week on cliffs and it was also rock climbing that cost him his right leg.
In 2002, while climbing in the Rocky Mountains, Craig fell from a 30-meter cliff due to incorrect information relayed by his partner. He suffered severe injuries to his neck and back vertebrae and had to have his right leg amputated, but he didn’t give up on climbing. Craig said that when he decided to start climbing again, his wife, who is also a climber, gave him tremendous support. In addition, he wrote a book titled “After the Fall,” which details the events of the accident and his experiences afterward. “There’s always fear, but climbing teaches you how to deal with it and keep moving forward. Overcoming fear is a pretty long process, but now I climb as freely as I did before,” Craig said.