Podcast appearances and mentions of Hugh Herr

AMI Procedure and The Future of Amputations Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital   "For 200 years there has been no real difference in amputation; it's technique and how it's done." Do you know anything in our world that hasn't evolved in 200 years? No! This was a statement that Dr. Carty stated today in our conversation and I was in disbelief. How could that be? With so many engineering marvels happening at an exorbitant rate it is only natural to turn our eyes on the other side of this coin, the surgical procedure. Prosthetics have evolved and become more advanced than ever before but our residual limbs are the same they have always been, not allowing amputees to truly reap the benefits of these technological advancements, but that is changing. Dr. Carty with the help of Dr. Hugh Herr at MIT worked together to improve the human body to be a more synergistic with the devices of today and the future. Dr. Matthew Carty-Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon   Dr. Hugh Herr-Bilateral below knee amputee, biophysicist, mechanical engineer, co-director of MIT Media Lab   The Agonist/Antagonist Myoneural Interface (AMI) procedure was born out of the ideas of two men who each had something they were searching for to improve functionality of a residual limb and to make it more compatible with the future of prosthetics. I am excited to share that I will be heading to Boston this weekend to have Dr. Carty perform this procedure on me, as a study candidate, and in hopes to improve my overall functionality. I am truly very excited for this opportunity. Join us in today's Real Talk as Dr. Carty goes deep to explain the process of creating, changing, and implementing a new medical procedures, and what exactly the AMI is and what the hopeful outcomes are of a successful surgery. I am truly honored and  appreciated the time you spent with me to record this episode in the midst of your busy schedule, Dr. Carty, and I look forward to working with you soon. See you win Boston! Enjoy this deep and impactful interview and be sure to subscribe to my Vlog channel on YouTube @OneLegis Enough-BAW to follow my journey through this amazing experience. Have an amazing week ahead, Warriors! And as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!!   Much love,

Alison Osius is easily one of the most impactful people in climbing media. She helped to shape how so many climbers learned more about and engaged with the sport from the 80s into the 20s. She's a former editor at Climbing, Rock and Ice and Outside, the first woman president of the American Alpine Club, wrote Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr and has received the AAC Literary Award.  She's a climbing legend.  In this episode we discuss how she discovered climbing through journalism, her first times meeting the other top women of the 80s, and some of the first big competitions. We also get Alison's side of the rivalry with Bobbi Bensman that we heard about last season, and of course, because she's a media legend, I ask her theorize about the answers to impossible to answer questions. We start the conversation talking about a big event that had just happened before we recorded.  Power Company Climbing Anniversary Sale!  Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more! Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes. ---------------------------------- Season Two is generously supported by Rab.  This episode is supported by Tension Climbing. Use code WRITTEN15 at checkout. Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

https://slasrpodcast.com/      SLASRPodcast@gmail.com    This week, writer Ty Gagne joins us to discuss the release of his new book, The Lions of Winter, the story of a search and rescue of two young climbers on Mount Washington, Hugh Herr and Jeff Batzer. The book chronicles the events of this multi-day rescue that took place in January of 1982 focusing on the men and women involved in the rescue including Albert Dow a young member of the rescue team that lost his life in an avalanche below the Lion Head area. This is the second part of our discussion.    Note - This episode contains spoilers. If you have not read The Lions of Winter,    This weeks Higher Summit Forecast   Donations Conservation Officer to run Boston Marathon in memory of Levi Frye and suicide awareness.   About Ty Gagne/ Lions of Winter Ty Recommends Purchasing the book from local bookstores. Here are some options:  Mount Washington Observatory Bookstore Bondcliff Books Gibson Bookstore Full Conditions NH Website   Topics Welcome Back Ty Part 2 of our discussion about The Lions of Winter   Show Notes Apple Podcast link for 5 star reviews SLASR Merchandise SLASR LinkTree   Sponsors, Friends  and Partners Wild Raven Endurance Coaching CS Instant Coffee 2024 Longest Day - 48 Peaks Mount Washington Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies  Vaucluse - Sweat less. Explore more. – Vaucluse Gear Fieldstone Kombucha

https://slasrpodcast.com/      SLASRPodcast@gmail.com    This week, writer Ty Gagne joins us to discuss the release of his new book, The Lions of Winter, the story of a search and rescue of two young climbers on Mount Washington, Hugh Herr and Jeff Batzer. The book chronicles the events of this multi-day rescue that took place in January of 1982 focusing on the men and women involved in the rescue including Albert Dow a young member of the rescue team that lost his life in an avalanche below the Lion Head area. To start the show, we have forest road updates, the first avalanche of the year on Tuckerman Ravine, the countdown to winter, a sinkhole swallows a grandma in Pennsylvania (a cat is involved in this situation), plus some recent search and rescue events in NH.  Note 1 - This episode contains spoilers. If you have not read The Lions of Winter, Ty's segment starts around 45 minutes into the show. We get into more specific details (caution - spoilers)  around the 60 minute mark.   Note 2 - We turned on Ads from our Podcast Publisher this week as a test. Will determine if we keep them on for next year.  This weeks Higher Summit Forecast   Donations Conservation Officer to run Boston Marathon in memory of Levi Frye and suicide awareness.   About Ty Gagne/ Lions of Winter Ty Recommends Purchasing the book from local bookstores. Here are some options:  Mount Washington Observatory Bookstore Bondcliff Books Gibson Bookstore Full Conditions NH Website   Topics Welcome Ty Winter is here because the annual Snowshoe / Posthole social media arguments have begun Live from the Woodpecker Studio - Mike recording in the same room with Stomp Forest Road  Avalanche in Tuckerman - Eastern Snow and Avalanche Workshop Full Conditions Rek Lis Event Pushups and Situps / Planet Alignment Lady falls down a sinkhole in PA Leavitt's Bakery Lawsuit goes to trial in February  Recent Search and Rescue News Ty Gagne - Intro and Background info - Pinkham Notch / SAR (Timestamp - 45 minutes)  Ty Gagne - Part 1 of an overview of Lions of Winter (60 minute mark)    Show Notes Apple Podcast link for 5 star reviews SLASR Merchandise SLASR LinkTree Wild Raven Endurance Coaching Forest Rd update Video captures skier triggering small avalanche ESAW Record for most push-ups in an hour by a woman has been broken Sinkhole may have swallowed grandma Another Article - 3am, looking for her cat Doughnut shop to get their day in court, this February Youtuber dies in Swedish Wilderness Hikers rescued from Lincoln Brook Trail Littleton man recovered from Kinsman Ridge   Sponsors, Friends  and Partners Wild Raven Endurance Coaching CS Instant Coffee 2024 Longest Day - 48 Peaks Mount Washington Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies  Vaucluse - Sweat less. Explore more. – Vaucluse Gear Fieldstone Kombucha

Bionic Skins: Working Towards the Perfect Fit We all want to feel our best, and live a life without pain, but at times it seems so out of reach for us amputees. Donning a prosthesis that is suppose to emulate a real leg gets the job done but, trust me, it is far from comfortable and often it becomes such a painful devise that amputees choose not to wear it for too long, even taking days off from wearing it, leaving them feeling incomplete and frustrated. Today I wanted to share with you an extraordinary company, created by Dr. Hugh Herr-bilateral below knee amputee, MIT professor and co-leader of the Yang Center for Bionics at MIT,  Bionic Skins is changing the comfort game for the better. Lauren and Eric head up the Bionic Skins headquarters in Bedford, Mass. and graciously came on my podcast to share what Bionic Skins is, how it works, and the hopes and aspirations Hugh and his team have for building a better and more comfortable prosthesis for the amputee community. Eric is the "numbers guy", checking stats, running the biometrics of the patients and making sure the measurements taken are accurate... among other hats he wears for the company.     Lauren is the prosthetist; working with the patients, creating the sockets, and making sure the fit is everything it should be for comfort and durability.   As we sit down and talk you can see how bright the future is for amputees. The technology is getting better and the understanding of what is needed for improving the quality of life for amputees is increasing. More research is being done, and talking with amputees helps bridge the gap of what we currently have, what we struggles with,  and what is still needed to live actively and without restrictions. Bionic Skins is doing just that.  They are currently work with patients, and taking new patients, that are below knee amputees all the while continuing to research, build studies, and improve on the technology that they are producing in house and through MIT's Media Lab.   Check out their website HERE You can also follow them on social Media platforms like Instagram and Facebook @bionicskins to stay up to date on their research and studies in which you may qualify to take part. Also, you can listen to my interview with Hugh Herr, himself, from this past April, on my podcast HERE Hugh and I discuss Bionic Skins toward the end of my interview where he discusses his design and how it was created.   Thank you again, Lauren and Eric, for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us about the incredible work you're doing  to improve our lives. You are amazing people! Keep doing what you're doing and I look forward to checking in with you again in the near future!   I hope you've enjoyed, and found promise for a brighter future, listening to today's podcast. Please remember to like, share and SUBSCRIBE to my podcast and my YouTube channel so you don't miss an episode! Have an amazing week and as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!!   Much love,   Dr Hugh Herr-Founder of Bionic Skins and "Yours Truly' all set up for a gait study I did last year at MIT.  

Kendinizle, başınıza gelenlerle, başarılarınız veya başarısızlıklarınızla ilgili yazdığınız hikayeleri hiç düşündünüz mü? Kendinizi tanımlarken kullandığınız kelimeler nereden geliyor? Podcastin bu bölümünde hikayemizi değiştirirsek olduğumuz kişiyi, hatta hayatımızı değiştireceğimizi savunuyorum. Adem ve Havvanın öyküsünden başlayıp, dağ tırmanışçısı Hugh Herr'e ve oradan kendi hayatıma uzanan örneklerle hem insan beyninin işleyişini hem de doğru soruları sormayı araştırıyorum. Şimdiden keyifli dinlemeler :) Bahsettiğim pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HsqmMpnDH0PFd9osH-qu0_FRCrZTIF54/view?usp=sharing Önerdiğim kitap: Kendine Hikayeler Anlatan Beyin - Michael Hyatt İlham Postası bültenine ücretsiz kayıt ol: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.substack.com/pub/genelsesler?r=jttw9&utm_medium=ios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Kitap kulübüne katıl: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://superpeer.com/bilgesen/collection/kitap-kulubu-felsefe-edebiyat-ve-psikoloji-uzerine-okumalar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beni Instagramdan takip edin: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/genelseslerpodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bana yazın: info@genelsesler.com (Gelen mailleri okumaya bayılıyorum)

BELIEVE - Inspirational Story of Hugh Herr To Achieve Success! Get inspired and motivated every morning with our podcast, featuring insights from successful individuals on changing your mindset and achieving your goals. Don't miss out on this opportunity to start your day off right! If you find our podcast helpful, please take a moment to rate the show and leave us a review. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us provide you with the best possible content. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest episodes and receive exclusive content and tips on personal growth and success. Thank you for tuning in and being a part of our community! http://bit.ly/3HMlZW5 My motivational speech podcast inspires listeners to reach their full potential through powerful stories and thought-provoking discussions. Your support by buying us a coffee helps us continue to create uplifting content. https://bit.ly/3RQKlTc Earn money by testing new apps and writing reviews! Register with Write App Reviews, choose apps to review from our database, and get paid at least $15 per review with no limit on how many you can do. Sign up now! https://bit.ly/3Bb8FbG BELIEVE, Inspirational Story, Hugh Herr, achieve success, motivational story, personal growth, inspirational video, empowerment, motivation, personal development, life-changing story, motivation for success, transformational story, powerful story, success mindset, resilience, motivational talk, best inspirational story, success journey, staying strong, motivational speaker, inspirational video, achieving greatness, life transformation, mindset shift, motivation to succeed, motivational quotes, inspire change, overcome obstacles, self-confidence, self-belief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From robot helpers to smart body parts, the line between humans and machines is blurring. This hour, TED speakers design tech that enhances us without diminishing our humanity. Guests include robot choreographer and computer scientist Catie Cuan, engineer and biophysicist Hugh Herr, material scientist Anna Maria Coclite and biochemist Jennifer Doudna. TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind the scenes look with our producers. A Plus subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign-up at: plus.npr.org/tedLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Episode 293 of the Enormocast, I connect with paraclimber Jim Ewing. Jim grew up climbing in the storied days of 1980s North Conway in New Hampshire. In his formative climbing years, Ewing rubbed elbows with the likes of Randy Radcliff, Alison Osius, and Hugh Herr. He didn't know it while eeking out a dirtbag … Continue reading "Enormocast 293: Jim Ewing – The Quality of Life"

Once in your life, if you're lucky, you experience something so profound it changes the course of your life for the rest of your days. This is Hugh Herr's story.  This episode is blip in time to discuss how he went from a child prodigy in rock climbing, to a front line career in bionic limbs.  Thank you for listening!  The outdoors are a beautiful that can be filled with light and bliss and many different ways to bring yourself closer to those you love and yourself. But they can also be filled with terror and death, imminent and oppressive. Join me as we dig into these stories that inspire you to be just a little bit more careful while you're in the outdoors. Please rate and subscribe from whatever listening platform you use.  Want some merch? Find it here! https://5c8ffc-3.myshopify.com/ Be sure to join us on Patreon and become a happy hiker for bonus content, or get the bonus content AND sneak peaks on future episodes by becoming a Trail Blazer: https://patreon.com/TragedywithaView?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Be sure to follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tragedywithaview?igsh=MTN2ZDF3dWhobHI2Yw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr  and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092478859666&mibextid=LQQJ4d to get the most up to date information on episode and merch.  And don't forget to send us a Campfire Confessional to tragedywithaview@gmail.com - accepting all stories from the outdoors but especially looking for those that make us laugh to help lighten the heaviness that comes with tragedy.  Sources:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Herr https://aspirin.media.mit.edu/biomechatronics/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/03/MensFitness_Dec2013.pdf https://www.businessinsider.com/bionics-researcher-hugh-herrs-mountaineering-accident-2014-8 http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13198304600/Frostbite-Hypothermia-Bad-Weather-Exposure-Lost-Inadequate-Equipment-New-Hampshire-Mount-Washington https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/tools/biomechatronic-man/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/09/disability-amputees-bionics-hugh-herr-super-prostheses https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/mount-washington-observatory-worlds-worst-weather/ https://www.nhstateparks.org/getmedia/a131860b-ba4f-4873-9391-074d1a009580/About-its-Weather.aspx#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20its%20lofty,routes%20that%20affect%20the%20Northeast. https://mountwashington.org/the-worlds-worst-weather/ https://mountwashington.org/worlds-worst-weather-why/ https://www.backpacker.com/trips/see-just-how-windy-earth-can-get-on-the-most-dangerous-small-mountain-in-the-world/#

The New Age of Bionics     What happens to you when you find yourself in a do or die situation? Hugh Herr was in that position as a teenager, barely making it out alive while doing something he loved and excelled at, a savant at his young age. But he didn't make it out unscathed, he lost both of his legs below the knee. What would you do? At that young age would you have given up, abandoned your dreams, or hid from life? Would you believe that this situation inspired Hugh to become a creator, inventor and innovator in the prosthetic world? He went from a kid set on rising to the top as a professional climber, to figuring out how to navigate life AND climbing again as a bilateral below knee amputee with prosthesis he created! He changed his path to one of college and higher education. Getting his masters and doctorate degrees from Harvard and MIT, and is currently a professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-leads the Yang Center for Bionics at MIT. He is known for creating bionic limbs that emulate the movement of natural limbs and has been called the "Leader of the Bionic Age" by Time Magazine. He has TED talks, authored/co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and patents, and most recently Hugh and his research group invented the Agonist-Antagonist Myoneural Interface, which is a surgical procedure for limb amputation that allows the person with limb loss to control their synthetic limb with thought. His research and studies are beyond amazing! The ideas and possibilities to come for those of us with limb loss from what he is inventing are going to be incredible and will make losing a limb less traumatic and more doable with the hope of what we will be capable of accomplishing with such high-tech and realistic bionics. The age of bionics is growing by leaps and bounds and this past December 2023, I was blessed with the opportunity to work in the MIT Media Lab, meet Hugh, and participate in the current studies with several PhD students. I was blown away, to say the least, by what they are working on and what will be out on the market in the not too distant future. We are going to be seeing more stable, more controllable, and more comfortable fitting prosthesis which will give us our lives back and with more meaning.   So, yea, the first time I get to meet Hugh I look like this! Strapped in and ready to do research for the greater good!   This week, as we close Limb Loss/Limb Difference Awareness Month with my 4th and final interview with such an important innovator, as Hugh Herr, the pioneer of our bionic age, you do NOT want to miss what he shares about what is up and coming in the world of prosthesis and bionics. Join me and Hugh Herr for this incredible interview! Please share today's podcast to bring hope and excitement for what's to come to those in our amputee community. Again, thank you, Hugh, for giving me the time to talk with you, pick your brain, and for your genius and creativity in helping us gain back our independence and ability to move smoothly despite our limb loss. I am truly inspired and excited for the future.   I hope you all enjoy today's podcast and as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!!   Much love,   John, Me and Tony-PhD students from MIT that were in charge of the study.   You can watch the NOVA production of Hugh Herr's life: NOVA "Augmented" HERE  

En este episodio te revelo los 4 elementos que construyen y moldean la narrativa que se genera y corre en tu cabeza.  Cuando digo narrativa, me refiero a esos pensamientos anclados que te dices una y otra vez.  Te explico el impacto de estos pensamientos cuando estás trabajando por tu meta y como la popular e inocente frase "bien vale la pena" puede arruinar el éxito de alcanzar tus objetivos. Al final del episodio te cuento la potente historia de Hugh Herr y como la transformación de su narrativa cambió su vida y la de cientos de personas.  Y te la cuento para darte la evidencia que siempre tu cerebro está buscando para adoptar cualquier nueva idea.   Hit play! Siempre con amor, Cindy

In Part 2 of Adapted, Mo Beck and Jim Ewing head to the Lotus Flower Tower. Hugh Herr embarks on life after climbing and tackles one of humanity's greatest challenges. Denny Kowska seeks to build an adaptive community from the ground up.  Resources Hugh Herr's Ted Talk Jim Ewing's Film Adaptive ParaCliffHangers Paradox Sports Adaptive Climbing Group Thanks to our sponsors The North Face Momentous Peak Design Dr. Squatch Watch Climbing Gold on YouTube

Climbing's first phenom survives a near death experience and life altering accident on Mount Washington. In rural Maine, a young girl born without a hand discovers climbing. In the aftermath of an accident, an engineer resolves to complete a lifelong dream. Hugh Herr, Mo Beck and Jim Ewing take us on a journey in a two part series about human potential, generational friendships and the power of climbing. Thanks to our sponsors The North Face Momentous Peak Design Dr. Squatch Watch Climbing Gold on YouTube

Change Is in the Air     I had the distinct honor of being a part of a gait study at MIT in their Media Lab in Boston. It was the final project of a PhD student's program and it was amazing! To see what the future of prosthetics is heading toward and being able to test something that is still a ways out from being on the commercial market was such a blast and a lot of work. Testing the product through different scenarios and also using my own leg to show my baseline capabilities for comparison was so interesting and enlightening. I would never have picture myself, in a million years, being able to be a part of this, nor did I ever picture myself without a leg.. oh the places I have been, the people I have met and the experiences I have enjoyed, all because of my decision to amputate almost 5 years ago.   MIT Media Lab lobby   Getting geared up for my baseline study with my own leg   Gathering data   Making adjustments   Such an honor to meet the man who created his own prosthetics after losing his own legs, Dr Hugh Herr.   Would I do it all again? Yes!   First off, I am not a person that looks back and says, "if only I had..." or " I would have done this differently". Instead I focus at what's happening now and what's in front of me. This makes me a happier person. Second, I wouldn't trade all the problems I have had (phantom pains/sensations, fitting issues, rashes and burns from sockets) because everything I have been blessed to experience has also been met with amazing people, experiences and seeing and doing new things. I am a better person, a more well-rounded person, for having this life altering surgery.  I am happy that my life changed direction. I have been able to test my will power, my integrity, my character much more by going through something so big. I have been tested and been able to rise up and become a stronger individual, both physically and emotionally. I wished I could share with you so much more about my time at MIT, but until this student's study is published it needs to be hush hush. Someday next year I will talk about it in more detail, but until then, I suggest that if you ever get a chance to take part in a study, one that helps make progress in our prosthetics, take it. Not only are you helping the future, you will also get to learn more about yourself.     As the past couple of weeks I have pushed you all to get active during this busy time of year. Taking care of yourself is so important for your mental and physical well-being but we tend to put it off for other things. Don't wait! Join me on my Fierce and On Fire challenge. It's a virtual challenge by RunMotivators and if you'd like to join you can register and receive a medal for accomplishing this virtual challenge. The goal? 100 miles, your way. What does that mean? You decide how you accomplish 100 miles. I set the goal timeline for December 31st but you can always set your own timeline since this started 3 weeks ago for me. How can you reach 100 miles? Whatever is comfortable and easiest for you and your circumstances. If you are wheelchair bound them maybe do some upper body workouts. 15 minutes=1 mile You can swim, walk, hike, ski, surf, run, bike...the sky is the limit and you decide what challenges you, where you are at. The idea is to get moving for YOU! Making yourself a priority during this time of year, when we tend to ditch the things we do for ourselves to doing things for others. Are you in?? Join me TODAY and get a jumpstart on your own health and fitness goals.   I hope you have a blessed week ahead and as always, Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be YOU!!!   Much love,        

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Old Episode: Hugh Herr Conversation (Enhanced Audio) by Marwa ElDiwiny

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Jim Ewing has been an avid climber most of his life. He would injure his foot during a climbing trip in the Cayman Islands. After realizing amputation might be the best route to regain some mobility, he would connect with Hugh Herr, a biophysist at MIT and would undergo a radical new amputation, now known as the Ewing amputation. All of this is the subject of Augmented, a feature documentary that premiered this past month on Nova PBS. Jim is back to climbing so we chat with him about this journey and the documentary.

The Xapiens Podcast (XPC) Episode 8: Join Xapiens Co-Director Loyd Waites in a discussion with MIT professor Hugh Herr. After his own double amputation, Herr was driven to make some of the most advanced bionics in the world. He currently is one of the leads of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics. You can learn more about him here: https://www.media.mit.edu/people/hherr/overview/

Clip: Hugh Herr "Bionics" by Marwa ElDiwiny

Hugh Herr "Bionics" by Marwa ElDiwiny

Hugh Herr is an engineer, biophysicist, and pioneer in the field of biomechatronics - technology that marries human physiology and electromechanics to provide greater mobility for those with physical disabilities. A double amputee himself, Hugh has made breakthrough advances in bionic limbs and prostheses that interface with neurology, allowing both control by thought and sensory feedback. In this episode of Create the Future, we discuss the technologies employed in biomechatronics and explore the implications of Hugh's work in everything from regenerative medicine and surgery to elderly mobility. We discuss the rise of robotic exoskeletons, explore the challenges of product commercialisation, and Hugh shares some personal highlights from his journey to end disability. New episodes of ‘Create the Future: An Engineering Podcast' every other Tuesday. www.qeprize.org/podcasts Follow @qeprize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador interviews Dr. Hugh Herr, Associate Professor MIT Media Lab and head of the Biomechatronics group, MIT Media Lab. Ira Pastor comments: Dr. Hugh Herr, is Associate Professor MIT Media Lab and heads the Biomechatronics group at the MIT Media Lab, as well as the Center for Extreme Bionics at MIT, and is creating bionic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs. In 2011, TIME magazine coined him the “Leader of the Bionic Age” because of his revolutionary work in the emerging field of biomechatronics – technology that marries human physiology with electromechanics. A double amputee himself, Dr Herr is responsible for breakthrough advances in bionic limbs that provide greater mobility and new hope to those with physical disabilities. He is the author and co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and patents, chronicling the science and technology behind his many innovations. These publications span the scientific fields of biomechanics and biological motion control, as well as the technological innovations of human rehabilitation and augmentation technologies. Dr. Herr’s Biomechatronics group has developed gait-adaptive knee prostheses for transfemoral amputees and variable impedance ankle-foot orthoses for patients suffering from drop foot, a gait pathology caused by stroke, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. He has also designed his own bionic limbs, the world's first bionic lower leg called the BiOM Ankle System. Dr. Herr has received many accolades for his groundbreaking innovations, including the 13th Annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment; the Prince Salman Award for Disability Research; the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Technology; the 14th Innovator of the Year Award; the 41st Inventor of the Year Award; and the 2016 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research. Dr. Herr's story has been told in a National Geographic film, “Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr.” He has also been featured on CNN and other broadcasters and in many press articles, including The Economist, Discover, and Nature. Dr. Herr earned an undergraduate degree in physics at Millersville University, a master's degree in mechanical engineering at MIT, followed by a PhD in biophysics from Harvard University. On this episode of ideaXme we will hear from Dr. Herr about: His background - how he developed his passion for rock climbing, for science and technology, and his fateful story about being caught in a blizzard during a climbing trip that lead to his double leg amputations An introduction to the topic of Biomechatronics An overview of the BiOM Ankle System, clinically shown to be the first leg prosthesis to achieve biomechanical and physiological normalization, allowing persons with leg amputation to walk with normal levels of speed and metabolism as if their legs were biological once again An overview of Dr. Herr’s team developing the first autonomous exoskeleton to reduce the metabolic cost of human walking, a goal that has eluded scientists for over a century His work with the Haptics program at DARPA The recent Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announcement that it has invalidated a rule adopted by World Athletics (formerly "IAAF") – the international sports federation governing track & field – which imposed the burden of proof on disabled athletes requiring them to prove that their prostheses do not provide them with an overall advantage against able-bodied athletes Credits: Ira Pastor, ideaXme ambassador interview. Visit ideaXme www.radioideaxme.com Follow ideaXme on Twitter:@ideaxm On Instagram:@ideaxme To discuss collaboration and or partnerships please contact the founder of ideaXme: andrea@ideaxme.com Find ideaXme across the internet including on ideaXme YouTube, SoundCloud, Radio Public, TuneIn Radio, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and more. ideaXme is a global podcast, creator series and mentor programme. Our mission: Move the human story forward!™ ideaXme Ltd.

Climbers are drawn to the challenges and potential adversity of the steep. Great climbers embrace grand challenges--and almost certain adversity--in achieving hard and rare accomplishments. This podcast will equip you with five powerful strategies to leverage, in times of hardship and adversity, as you pursue big goals both in climbing and in your everyday life. And now in this era of COVID-19, you face risk and potential adversity at every turn...so don't miss this powerful podcast--it's an instant classic in the genre of mental training for climbing! Podcast Rundown 0:15 - Opening comments about the ongoing COVID crisis,  positive trends we're seeing, and the hope for a summer climbing season. 2:20 - Shifting gears with this podcast away from physical training to important strategies for succeeding on challenging outdoor adventures. Learn the importance of the mental game--perhaps it's exactly what you need to make the next grade?! 9:30 - Strive to become a Maximum Climber. Read the book. Pure gold! 10:00 - Introduction to the powerful topic of...persevering in the face of challenge...and overcoming adversity. 13:36 - The utility of PURSUING adversity....for recalibrating your brain and opening the door to great achievement. All legendary climbers have done it--Harding, Bridwell, Skinner, Hill, Caldwell, Honnold, Harrington, Ondra, and countless others. 22:05 - Embrace adversity...to learn, grow, build character, and "hardness". 23:06 - FIVE powerful strategies for succeeding, despite hardship, and overcoming adversity. 23:16 - #1 Strive for Flexibility of Perspective - Become a spin doctor! 29:30 - #2 Use Optimism as a Tool...a mental lever to sustain forward movement, trouble-shooting, belief in the end game, and finding a way to your goal. 32:04 - #3 - Become Reverse Paranoid! Believe that the universe is conspiring for your success...and that what you want, wants you! Stay aware for synchronicity and other clues from above. 36:36 - #4 Develop World-Class "Hanging-On Power". Mental fortitude is a skill developed over years of striving for one more move, one more rep, one more day of work on the project...or whatever it takes to hang-on to success! 40:45 - #5 Assume a Philosophical Forward-Looking Perspective. Powerful lessons from Tommy Caldwell, Jeff Batzer, and Hugh Herr. 49:05 - Closing comments on developing into a maximum climber. 50:20 - Please check out and support T4C podcast sponsor PhysiVantage. Research-based, athlete-proven performance nutrition for climbers--use checkout code PODCAST15 to save 15% on your order. Used by a growing number of pro climbers and thousands of recreational climbers around the world. Give PhysiVantage a try! 51:09 - Hörst Out! PLEASE write an iTunes review of the T4C podcast, and consider sharing this podcast with a friend or on social media. Thank yous: La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs, Organic Climbing. Music by Misty Murphy Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing Check out Eric’s YouTube channel. Follow Eric on Facebook! And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing

For our fourth episode of our Alchemy Series, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Prudential, there is no greater example of harnessing adversity than No Barriers co-founder, Hugh Herr. In his early 20s, Hugh had both of his legs amputated after a tragic mountain climbing accident. An avid rock-climber, he was determined to return to the sport. Hugh created new iterations of prosthetic limbs for legs and feet he could use to climb even better than before. Watch some of his videos in the resources below to see his technology in action. Inspired by his own self-improvement through tech he set out to change the world for others. Now, Hugh heads the Biomechatronics group at the MIT Media Lab, where his team is creating bionic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs; providing greater mobility and new hope to those with physical disabilities. He is the author and co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and patents, chronicling the science and technology behind his many innovations. These publications span the scientific fields of biomechanics and biological motion control, as well as the technological innovations of human rehabilitation and augmentation technologies. As published in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation in 2014, Herr’s team advanced the first autonomous exoskeleton to reduce the metabolic cost of human walking, a goal that has eluded scientists for over a century. Takeaways from Hugh:Tip 1: Pause to Process this Moment in TimeRecognize the current situation you live in. Embrace what you are feeling and take a moment to understand what others in your life are going through in light of this pandemic. Examine how you should invest your energy and time now and in the future. If this means not working (if you are able) then take a break. Now is the time to reset.Tip 2 - Perform Acts of Good Will & Strengthen Human Connection During these uncertain times, look beyond yourself and your fears. Find ways to help others and demonstrate kindness. For example: reach out to senior citizens, sew masks for first responders, or donate goods or funds to your local food bank.Right now there is a lack of human connections which can cause a lack of empathy. By performing small acts of kindness, you are reminding others of the goodness and love in the world.Tip 3 - Rethink FailureWhen testing new ideas in his lab, Hugh emphasizes that failure is common. Reframing those failures as explorations that help bring them closer to their goal.  Each new failed experiment is not a waste of time but rather provides new knowledge and information to bring them one step closer to their vision and desired outcome. What perceived “failure” in your own life can you reassess with this mindset? For example, maybe a job loss due to the pandemic, make you reevaluate your future career aspirations.Tip 4 - “Believe Without Seeing”In order to achieve a goal that others might see as impossible, you must have faith in yourself, your vision, and be emotionally committed. Hugh’s work has often been considered groundbreaking and unthinkable before he demonstrated it was possible. When faced with a difficult or daunting goal ignore the naysayers, and have faith in yourself. What audacious goals can you set for yourself? After you’ve had time to process and reflect, what are some takeaways you’ve learned about yourself over these last few weeks?  Perhaps the current situation makes you realize the importance of family or finding a new career path. Use this time to put a plan in place for refocusing your attention on what matters most to you in the upcoming year.  Develop your No Barriers Mindset! Enroll now: www.nobarriersleadership.com/join Resources:NoBarriersPodcast.com for a downloadable Tip SheetCheck out Hugh’s Vineyard: Mermaid HillHugh Herr's story has been told in a National Geographic film, “Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr” Hugh Herr's page at MITTED talk 2014No Barriers Leading Beyond Barriers video: PioneerFurther Reading on Hugh Herr

For our fourth episode of our Alchemy Series, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Prudential, there is no greater example of harnessing adversity than No Barriers co-founder, Hugh Herr. In his early 20s, Hugh had both of his legs amputated after a tragic mountain climbing accident. An avid rock-climber, he was determined to return to the sport. Hugh created new iterations of prosthetic limbs for legs and feet he could use to climb even better than before. Watch some of his videos in the resources below to see his technology in action. Inspired by his own self-improvement through tech he set out to change the world for others. Now, Hugh heads the Biomechatronics group at the MIT Media Lab, where his team is creating bionic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs; providing greater mobility and new hope to those with physical disabilities. He is the author and co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and patents, chronicling the science and technology behind his many innovations. These publications span the scientific fields of biomechanics and biological motion control, as well as the technological innovations of human rehabilitation and augmentation technologies. As published in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation in 2014, Herr’s team advanced the first autonomous exoskeleton to reduce the metabolic cost of human walking, a goal that has eluded scientists for over a century. Takeaways from Hugh:Tip 1: Pause to Process this Moment in TimeRecognize the current situation you live in. Embrace what you are feeling and take a moment to understand what others in your life are going through in light of this pandemic. Examine how you should invest your energy and time now and in the future. If this means not working (if you are able) then take a break. Now is the time to reset.Tip 2 - Perform Acts of Good Will & Strengthen Human Connection During these uncertain times, look beyond yourself and your fears. Find ways to help others and demonstrate kindness. For example: reach out to senior citizens, sew masks for first responders, or donate goods or funds to your local food bank.Right now there is a lack of human connections which can cause a lack of empathy. By performing small acts of kindness, you are reminding others of the goodness and love in the world.Tip 3 - Rethink FailureWhen testing new ideas in his lab, Hugh emphasizes that failure is common. Reframing those failures as explorations that help bring them closer to their goal.  Each new failed experiment is not a waste of time but rather provides new knowledge and information to bring them one step closer to their vision and desired outcome. What perceived “failure” in your own life can you reassess with this mindset? For example, maybe a job loss due to the pandemic, make you reevaluate your future career aspirations.Tip 4 - “Believe Without Seeing”In order to achieve a goal that others might see as impossible, you must have faith in yourself, your vision, and be emotionally committed. Hugh’s work has often been considered groundbreaking and unthinkable before he demonstrated it was possible. When faced with a difficult or daunting goal ignore the naysayers, and have faith in yourself. What audacious goals can you set for yourself? After you’ve had time to process and reflect, what are some takeaways you’ve learned about yourself over these last few weeks?  Perhaps the current situation makes you realize the importance of family or finding a new career path. Use this time to put a plan in place for refocusing your attention on what matters most to you in the upcoming year.  Develop your No Barriers Mindset! Enroll now: www.nobarriersleadership.com/join Resources:NoBarriersPodcast.com for a downloadable Tip SheetCheck out Hugh’s Vineyard: Mermaid Hill Hugh Herr's story has been told in a National Geographic film, “Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr” Hugh Herr's page at MITTED talk 2014 No Barriers Leading Beyond Barriers video: PioneerFurther Reading on Hugh Herr

A man with a bionic limb considering his legs. He loves to run but then he had an accident that involved running. And so on

I’m excited to post another episode of “ten talks” in celebration of the Graduate Commons Program's tenth anniversary. We hosted a number of special events during the 2018-2019 academic year to mark this milestone, including a five-part “Meet the Scholar” lecture series. We had faculty and professional staff from across the university give special private lectures to our GCP members. On this episode, you’ll hear reactions to our second speaker of the series, Hugh Herr

Jeff and Erik met up in Golden following Thanksgiving to hang out with Craig Demartino, a renowned rock climber who is also an amputee. They are missing their “fearless leader,” Dave Shurna. Craig works with an organization called, Adaptive Adventures, that helps folks of all abilities get out and experience athletic endeavors. Craig works with helping people learn to or get back to rock climbing despite any challenges they are facing. Half the population he works with are Veterans (they are a vetted VA provider) and will come in a few times a week to the rock gym before they venture outside. He talks about the different adaptations and innovations they use to get anyone up the wall. But before Craig worked with this group he was just a regular climber. Before 2001, he was focused mostly on what he wanted to do and where he wanted to be, along with his wife and two kids. They traveled and climbed as Craig worked as a photographer. In 2002, Craig was climbing with a partner in Estes Park and has a life changing accident that resulted in the lower part of right leg being amputated, a fused spine, and an array of persistent nerve pain, along with PTS related to climbing again. But even despite this he looks back and think he was lucky considering how much worse it could have gone. “I had so many things stacked in my favor when it happened.” The first time Craig went back out climbing he was terrified. The experience had left him unsure and scared with all the fear flooding back when he was ready to rappel down. Unlike the movies - Craig wasn’t ready to rejoin the climbing world after confronting his fear one time. He was still a ball of nerves whenever he tried again for the next few years. “I was scared on so many levels I can’t even tell you.” Despite all the fear and uncertainty, Craig was determined to keep climbing. It had always been such a major part of his identity and couldn’t conceive trying any other sports or athletics. But suddenly, Craig’s right leg started to throb with pain. After repeated visits to the Doctor and to a neurosurgeon it was determined that he would need to have his leg amputated. On choosing to go forward with the amputation: “It was the first thing in the whole accident storyline that I had power over...good or bad at least I’m making this decision.” “You realize that the chapter is turning. I don’t know what it’s going to look like but at least I get to decide what that becomes.” 4 months after his surgery Craig got back out to climb. He felt more solid; less breakable. He connected with some great folks in the adaptive world, like climber and engineer, Hugh Herr, who helped him move on and figure out what his new life would look like. “This isn’t the end of the world...I know this sounds really weird, but everything will be fine.” Craig did the first amputee ascent in a day of El Capitan in Yosemite after meeting with other Veterans and climbers who were also disabled and was swayed to try climbing with them. He talks about how having these commonalities lend a special bond to the group. Finding that community was crucial to Craig’s journey from a solo climber to helping others like him. “I was blown away by how inspiring they were and how they get after it.” “We’ve all been through the machine as it were but I’ve come out the other side and am still here.” Craig had a new role - to help others. He possessed a clarity he had never had prior to his accident. He admits he otherwise never would have followed this path. He would have continued living his life just as he was before - climbing and traveling with his family - with no higher purpose or meaning. “It took that time to realize this is who I am supposed to be now. It lent clarity in my life I had never had before.” “I wouldn’t trade any of it, the things I’ve gained from the accident I can’t even count ‘em. I get to give that to other people now, which is amazing.” Finally, Craig discusses his film, Craig’s Reaction, playing on the film circuit now and available on iTunes and Amazon. If folks are looking to climb with Craig or his organization visit Adaptive Adventures or find Craig on social media: Instagram: @craigdem Twitter: @demartinoclimb Facebook: @Craig Demartino

Andy and Dave discuss a series of announcements: President Trump signs an Executive Order to prioritize and promote AI; the U.S. Department of Defense releases its 2019 AI Strategy; DARPA announces an Intelligent Neural Interface program focused on improving neurotechnology, and DARPA announces Guaranteeing AI Robustness against Deception (GARD), intended as an almost immune-system like approach to increase the resistance of ML models to deception; Securities and Exchange Commission filings from both Google and Microsoft disclose in “risk factors” that products with AI and ML may not work as intended, and may exacerbate a variety of problems, which could adversely affect the companies’ branding and reputation; and Uber AI releases Ludwig, an open source deep learning toolbox that allows users to train and test deep learning models without writing code. In research topics, DeepMind sets its sights on using ML to conquer Hanabi, a cooperative game with imperfect information, that requires a “theory of mind.” The Allen Institute for AI releases “Iconary,” a game of Pictionary with an AI partner. Research from Expedia Group uses a attentional convolution network for facial expression. IBM publishes research on a neuro-inspired “creativity” decoder. IBM Research AI and Arizona State University examine when AI bots might lie (in the context of “acceptable” social white lies). And research from Munchen demonstrates that humans are less likely to hurt or sacrifice a robot, if it is more human-like. In reports, the McKinsey Global Institute examines Europe’s Gap in Digital and AI. In papers, Johns Hopkins University publishes an opinion paper on the strengths and weaknesses of deep nets for vision, and the Centre of AI in Australia and the University of Illinois at Chicago publish a comprehensive survey on graph neural networks. John Brockman will be releasing a new book, Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI. A TED Talk from Hugh Herr looks at bionics ability to extend human potential. And registration is now open for the Sackler Colloquium on the science of Deep Learning at the National Academy of Sciences.

Are we simply the sum of our experiences? Or can we choose our own path? In this hour, TED speakers share stories of undergoing remarkable transformations despite extraordinary challenges. In a special updated interview, biophysicist Hugh Herr explains that in the coming decades, wearable robotics will allow humans to augment their physical capabilities. Other guests from the original 2014 episode include peace advocate Zak Ibrahim, model Geena Rocero, and criminal justice reform advocate Shaka Sengor.

Mark Wellman is a nationally acclaimed author, filmmaker and motivational speaker. Despite being paralyzed in a mountain climbing accident, Mark has inspired millions to meet their problems head-on and reach for their full potential. A two-time Paralympian and former Yosemite Park Ranger, Mark's NO LIMITS philosophy encourages individuals to adventure into new horizons; to go beyond the seeming unreachable. Mark is used to being on the road since he travels throughout the year, bringing his adaptive climbing wall to companies, organizations, and schools. We caught him during one of his road trips and he agreed to swing by Golden, Colorado to the No Barriers podcast studio and catch up with his old friends, Jeff, Dave, and Erik. Mark is unbelievably accomplished but also reserved and humble. He talks about his legendary, groundbreaking athletic achievements with the same tone most use to describe what they had for lunch. But there was a time in Mark's life where he was unsure, depressed, and hopeless with no clear path ahead. Mark discusses his near-death injury that he sustained on a climb that left his paralyzed from the waist down. He spent months in the hospital unsure of how to go forward and lost. That was, until he received some wisdom. I had this one physical trainer, she was from Germany, and she said: “You need to train like your training for the Olympics!” And I just really took that to heart.” Mark first was determined to find employment where he could stay connected to the outdoors. So, he went back to school and got his degree in Park Management. He worked as a Park Ranger in various capacities, already shattering people's ideas of what he was capable of, but that was just the beginning. He soon discovered the world of adaptive sports and threw himself into learning more and designing his own adaptive equipment to get back out into the field. It was then he came up with the crazy idea of climbing the sheer granite face of El Capitan. He found a partner, built an ascending rope pulley system, and started to train. Now, folks of many different abilities have climbed El Cap, but until Mark, this was unthinkable. He pulled it off and became the first paraplegic to make the ascent. “Are you crazy to take this paraplegic guy up El Cap? Seems like a really stupid idea. Something could go wrong,’ but fortunately we didn’t really listen to that.” Mark went on to gain tons of media attention, made national and international news, met the President, lit the flaming torch up a 120-foot rope at the Paralympic games in Atlanta; a fun story he shared with us, and continued on to break even more records of athletic achievement, like being the first paraplegic to sit-ski unassisted across the Sierra Nevadas. Listening to Mark describe his epic achievements it's easy to forget he has a disability or about all the struggle that led him to this point in his life. But for Mark, it's about mindset. “I learned my disability wasn’t a death sentence - let’s get on with life, dude!” But Mark wanted to share what he learned with others. He details the spark of an idea he had with a friend that led to the formation of the nonprofit, No Barriers, and the humble beginnings of an organization that is now becoming a movement. He uses his time to speak to groups and offer inspiration, as well as lead hands-on adaptive activities that get people out of their comfort zones. “Let’s get out and enjoy life.” Read Mark's Autobiography Here Visit Mark's website: No Limits Learn more about No Barriers autobiography Climbing Back. The first paraplegic to sit-ski unassisted across the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, --------------- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ------------------------- Dave: Well welcome to our No Barriers podcast. We are thrilled today to have Mark Wellman with us, who's one of the founders of No Barriers. Can't wait to hear some of his stories about what this organization was founded upon. He's really the heart and soul behind why many of us are here at the organization. Before we get into that conversation, Erik, you just came back from a really interesting experience, why don't share with our listeners a little bit about it? Erik: [00:00:30] Yeah, I was at a conference with all these authors. There were four of us, and the first was a lady, she was the author of Hidden Figures, this great book that was made into a movie, these African American women who were behind getting us to the moon, didn't get any credit at first, but then their stories were really illuminated by her book. And this guy who is falsely sent to death row for 30 years. He was incarcerated- Dave: Wow. Erik: In a five by [00:01:00] seven room, had to kind of go into his mind and think about how to expand his mind. He said in his mind he married Halle Berry. They were married for 25 happy years. Dave: When was this set? Erik: Recently. Literally just got out of ... he got out of jail, no apology from Alabama. But he wrote this amazing book, so ... And then a lady who wrote a book called Beauty Sick, mostly [00:01:30] about girls who struggle with body image, and how much productivity is lost in the world because girls are having to pay attention to makeup, and weight, and all the things that they worry about. Guys too, but mostly the focus was on girls, and I have a daughter, so I was sitting there just hanging on every word, thinking about my daughter and her struggle, so it was really book because it was four very No Barriers... Dave: That's a lot of No Barriers. Erik: ...authors right there. [00:02:00] Maybe we'll get them on the podcast at some point. Dave: That sounds like perfect fit for the kinds of topics we explore. Erik: Yeah. And I am totally thrilled... this is great. I'm so psyched to have my friend, all our friends, Mark Wellman on the podcast today. Dave: The legend. Erik: The legend, the dirt bag... is that okay to say? Mark: Yeah, yeah. Dave: You embrace it, right? Mark: It's great to be here. I embrace everything. Erik: Mark almost doesn't need an introduction, but Mark is [00:02:30] a world class adventurer, and an innovator, and is the key founder of No Barriers. Has done amazing things that blow your mind as an adventurer. Has skied across the Ruth Gorge. Has traversed the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Has mountain biked the White Rim Trail. Has climbed El Capitan, Half Dome. We were just talking this morning, your Half [00:03:00] Dome ascent was 13 days? Mark: Yeah, it was. Erik: On the wall. Just, Mark, a hero of mine for sure. You're a few years older than me. When I was a teenager and you were just a little bit older climbing El Capitan and doing all these amazing adventures, you were a huge part of my motivation, so I'm psyched right now. Mark: It's great to be here, thanks a lot Erik. Yeah I guess I could [00:03:30] start off with... 35 years ago I was an able bodied climber and we were climbing a peak called Seven Gables, which is pretty close to the Mount Whitney area. We had a 20 mile backpack to get into the base, and this is back in 1982, I was 22 years old. My good friend Peter Enzinger and I were back there to do this climb. [00:04:00] We set up a base camp about 10,000 feet, and the next morning we got up pretty early, grabbed our technical rock climbing equipment and left most of our provisions at the base camp, our sleeping bags. Sure would have been nice to have that sleeping bag with us but didn't have it. And we climbed Seven Gables. It was sort of technical, kind of a mixed route. There was a little bit of ice, a little bit of rock, and made [00:04:30] the ascent. By the time we topped of it was a little bit late in the afternoon, about five o'clock. We just embraced this beautiful view from the summit. American Alpine Club places sometimes these cairns, or climbing registers, at the top of the mountain. It was kind of cool to see this. In this case it was just a pile of rocks with a Folgers coffee can. And I opened up the Folgers coffee can and dumped out the little pieces of paper, and there's my [00:05:00] hero Royal Robbins had climbed it. "Cool man, I'm gonna put my name next to Royal." Did that, and then we decided we're gonna go down a class four descent on the backside, just scrambling, not roped. We were just kind of walking down a tail of slope. I'll be the first to kind of admit my guard was down. My partner said, "Hey, maybe we should put a rope on [00:05:30] this one section here." I go, "No, no. I wanna get down to base camp, I'm really hungry. There's some really good freeze-dried food I wanna eat." You know that wonderful Mountain House stuff. Erik: And 35 years ago. Dave: Delicious. [crosstalk 00:05:44] Mark: So next thing I knew, I slipped on some scree, and I pitched forward and I started rolling. I made a couple of somersaults and I rolled off about a 100 foot cliff. When I landed I broke my lower back at T 11, T 12. Of course at the time I didn't know it. [00:06:00] I was 22, I didn't even know what a wheelchair was. That happened, and my partner thought I possibly could have been killed. But he heard me yell back at him. He got down to where I was... he said he spent a couple hours with me stopping some bleeding on my legs, and some other stuff. Jeff: What's your recollection of that period of time... Mark: He said he was with me for two hours, it felt like ten minutes. Erik: Right. Mark: And then he left. [00:06:30] He left an orange, an extra jacket, and some trail mix and said "Man, I gotta get out and get some help." So after 30 hours, the best sound I've ever heard in my whole life was the sound of this... [helicopter sounds] ...coming up the canyon. Erik: You almost froze to death. Mark: It was cold that night. Yeah it was real cold. I was laying on some ice. That probably helped because it kept the swelling down in my back. So I'm an incomplete [00:07:00] para. I have a little bit of movement in my legs. They said that might have helped me, the swelling. But the helicopter got up there, it was actually a ship from the Forest Service. They were gonna just go up and see if it was more of a body recovery, but fortunately I waved to them and the helicopter disappeared. About an hour later, a second helicopter came up and this time was from Lemoore Navy Base, and they did [00:07:30] a technical rescue. Flew in, brought the rotors within several feet of the cliff surface, lowered a navy medic, got me in a stokes litter, got me back up into the ship. I was down at a trauma center, they were cutting my clothes off, and a nurse said, "Who's your insurance company?" And fortunately I did have insurance, I had Kaiser. I went through stabilization of my back with Harrington rods. I was in the hospital in 1982 for seven months. Dave: [00:08:00] Wow. Erik: Including rehab? Mark: Including rehab and the whole nine yards. And nowadays, a paraplegic if you go to Craig Hospital, it's kind of the factory up here in the west. A paraplegic will be in the hospital for about six weeks. It's pretty dramatic... in those days, it was a much longer hospitalization. Learning how to take care of yourself. And then... Erik: More time is better, right? I mean, [00:08:30] would make sense right? You can develop more time? Mark: Yeah, a little bit. I think seven months was a little excessive. Erik: Right. Mark: But you know, there's a lot to learn. Your life has really changed. Your spinal cord runs your body, and you're paralyzed from your waist down. You have bowel and bladder issues. You have skin issues you have to be careful about. So all those things were really important, and I had this one [00:09:00] physical therapist who was from Germany and she goes, "You need to train like you're training for the Olympics." I just really took that to heart and started lifting weights. Was ambulating with long leg braces. This was sort of the beginning of the wheelchair revolution where wheelchairs weren't a stale piece of medical equipment, they were a lightweight piece of aluminum that was more of an extension of your body. And the wheelchair [00:09:30] could take you from point A to point B. Fortunately, in 1982 was really when these wheelchairs... they started making lightweight chairs. And I was a part of that. Erik: Not the clunky Vietnam-era things, right? Mark: Exactly. The old Everest and Jennings chairs were more obsolete, and they were using... well there was a woman who started Quickie wheelchairs, Marilyn Hamilton, she got hurt in a hang gliding accident. They took hang gliding technology, clevis pins, aluminum, powder coat. [00:10:00] And they kind of messier of manufacturing these wheelchairs sort of like... taking the technology from hang gliders and applying it to wheelchairs. Erik: We're still less than ten podcasts in here, but we've already heard a lot of stories of people... these No Barrier stories of people who go down deep into these dark places. I don't want to bring you down, but you have a lot of experience right now and so you can look back. You went to a dark [00:10:30] place, obviously. Mark: Yeah. It was close to saying goodbye to this Earth. Fortunately I made it through. I remember getting back into rehab, then I met a state rehab counselor who said, "You know Mark, you have this great love, this great passion for the outdoors, why don't you become a park ranger?" And I'm thinking, "How's somebody in a wheelchair gonna be a park ranger?" I'm thinking [00:11:00] law enforcement, search and rescue, and she goes "No, there's many hats in the National Park Service, or many different jobs." She took me down to Fort Funston where I met a ranger who kind of showed me the ropes and said "Hey, you could maybe do a job, this would be an entry level position, but you could help us plant dune grass and work in the nursery, or you could go to the entrance gate and help out there." [00:11:30] So I did that for a summer and then I went back to school and went to West Valley College and studied park management. Erik: Cool. Mark: And became a ranger at Yosemite. I remember my first job wasn't exactly my idea being a ranger. There I was sitting in this little kiosk, this little booth, at Big Oak Flat, the entrance to Yosemite. In those days it was a three dollar entrance fee and I'd collect the money and be breathing in auto fumes all day long. That really wasn't [00:12:00] my idea of being a ranger. But it was entry level. The next summer I went down to Yosemite Valley and started working at the visitor's center doing interpretation. Interpreting the natural processes of the park, the public. Bear management, geology, climbing was a big subject too. I'd give programs on climbing, talk about A climbing versus free climbing. Jeff: Were you transparent with people that would come through the park, with how your injury took place? [00:12:30] When you'd talk about the [crosstalk 00:12:31] Mark: I was, I was. I would start my climbing program off with my accident, actually. And bring that in, because I think that was a big part of it. They might say, "Well who's this guy in a wheelchair, what does he know about climbing?" I'd kind of bring that in. That was before I climbed El Cap, I was doing those things. Jeff: Were you percolating on doing something like that when you were there? Mark: I was. It's kind of an interesting story. There was a magazine called Sports And Spokes, it was a wheelchair [00:13:00] athletic magazine. On the front cover on that magazine was a DSUSA chapter, a woman who was being lowered down a cliff in a wheelchair on a river rafting trip. The river went over a waterfall, and then you did portage all the equipment around the waterfall. They had a swami belt and a climbing rope and they had a helmet, I guess they wanted to put a helmet on her for safety, sounded like a good idea. And they lowered her down this cliff in this wheelchair, [00:13:30] and it was on the front cover of this magazine, Sports And Spokes. I got the magazine at my little cabin in Yosemite and I had it on my lap. I was wheeling over to the visitor center to open it up in the morning, and I bumped into my future climbing partner Mike Corbet. And Mike's nickname was Mr. El Cap back in the 80s, he had climbed El Cap more than anybody else in the world, over 50 times. And Mike had never really talked about climbing to me because he knew that's how I got hurt. But when [00:14:00] I showed him this picture, Mike's eyes got really big, and he got really excited. He goes, "You know what Mark, I wanna start climbing with you, but what I really wanna do is climb El Cap." And we had no idea how we were gonna do it. Dave: That's great. Mark: That evening, we were sitting at the mountain room bar, we might have had a beer or two. Dave: Or three. Jeff: That's where all good decisions are made. Mark: Where all good decisions are made. So we had a little beer napkin and we started writing down notes. We said, "Okay, [00:14:30] we're gonna take a jumar..." A jumar is a rope ascender, this was back in the day, kind of like what Kleenex is to tissue. So we took a jumar, and we mounted a pull up bar and a jumar, and then we had a second ascender on a chest harness. And we put a rope up right by the Ahwahnee Hotel. Church ball tree. It was an oak tree. We had this rope and we started ascending up into the tree and then he'd lower me back down. So we go, "Okay, [00:15:00] so a paraplegic can ascend a rope using their upper body strength. Now to get on El Capitan, we got to actually protect your lower extremities from the granitic rock." We knew we were gonna be up there at least a week. I don't have feeling in my legs, so I really needed to protect my legs from any kind of abrasion or any kind of sore that could have occurred up there. We went down to this hardware store in Fresno, California outside [00:15:30] of the park. We bought some leather, a speedy stitcher, some closed cell insulation foam, and we just started making these rock chaps and they sort of evolved over a course of six months. We were climbing Jam Crack, Warner's... Erik: Weren't they... what was the material of those? I've felt your chaps before. That sound's weird... Dave: The truth comes out. Jeff: Hey, we're all friends here. Mark: The original [00:16:00] rock chaps were made out of leather and canvas. But the pair of rock chaps you felt were actually made out of some kind of silky material. No, no... Dave: Oh that was lingerie? Not chaps. Jeff: This was the first No Barriers improv meeting, what you're talking about, with your buddy Mike. Mark: Absolutely. Jeff: That was it, that was the genesis of what... fast forward to today, that was the beginning. What [00:16:30] year was that? 1980... Mark: That was 1988. Jeff: 88. There you go. Mark: Yeah 88. I was 28 years old. Erik: So if you think about it that way, No Barriers began in the Ahwahnee bar. Jeff: Yeah, on a bar stool. On a bar napkin. Dave: I know you guys are all dirt bag climbers. I'm not a dirt bag climber. For our listeners who are not dirt bag climbers, someone paint a picture, because we're getting to the El Cap story. Which is a phenomenal story. Paint a picture of El Cap for us, because not everyone knows what that is. Jeff: Yeah, well. El Cap [00:17:00] is probably the most revered, iconic, monolith in North America if not the world. Uninterrupted, over 3000 feet of granite. It is... when you're in Yosemite, you look up at it and it's got this perfectly symmetrical flank apron on both sides that comes out into this promontory called the nose. And [00:17:30] you can't take your eyes off it. If you look away for a minute, you have to look back at it just cause it's so magnificent and powerful. And it represents so much too. If you want to call yourself a climber, you kind of have to climb El Cap at some point. Erik: When you stand in the meadows below, which is just clogged with tourists just all driving by gawking. What I've heard, is you have to look up and up and up, way higher than [00:18:00] you think you have to. Dave: And if you see a person climbing, as a person who's not a technical climber speaking, you think "Those people are crazy. They're insane. What are they doing up there?" Jeff: Erik and I climbed El Cap. And his dad, Erik's dad, and future wife were down there in the meadow with telescopes watching us. We had one of those little lighty things, little sticks, and we were shining our headlamps down at everybody. It's [00:18:30] a magnificent thing, but it's also very intimidating. It can be very cool when you stand up and look at it, but then the idea of going and climbing it I think is a whole different story. Erik: And as a quote on quote gimp, and that's a word by the way that Mark taught me. I never even heard that word before. It's one of those words I guess you somehow have the license to use if you are... Mark: If you are. Erik: If you are in a chair or you are blind. So what did, when you talked about this out loud, what did people [00:19:00] think? Are people like, "You're nuts." Mark: Yeah, we had kind of a mixture of both. People that knew us, were "Oh yeah you guys should go do this." Mark's been training, he's always skiing, always riding his bike, hand bike around... well in those days it was more of a row cycle. And then we had people say, mainly not to me so much but more to Mike, "Are you crazy? Take this paraplegic guy up El Cap? Seems like a really stupid [00:19:30] idea. Something could go wrong." But fortunately, we didn't really listen to that. We just started training, we made these rock chaps. Like I said, they kind of just evolved over about a six month period. We kind of have a little circuit in Yosemite Valley that we climbed together. We did Jam Crack, the Prude, Warner's Crack, The Rostrum, we went over there. Erik: Oh, wow. Mark: So we did some stuff in the Valley [00:20:00] just to really warm up. And then I actually went up and spent a night on El Cap. Because we wanted to feel what that was like. Jeff: Up at sickle? Mark: We actually went to Heart Ledge. Erik: Wow. Jeff: Over on the south. Mark: Yeah, over on the south. The route we were gonna climb was a shield. So... Jeff: Cause it's overhanging. Mark: It was overhanging... once you get over the shield roof it's overhanging. The beginning of it's not. It's pretty low angle. Jeff: Were you scared at all before you did this or [00:20:30] were you just super fired up and kind of naïve? Mark: I was scared the night before. Jeff: You were. Mark: Yeah. Jeff: Like really scared? Mark: Yeah I was... couldn't sleep. This kind of what happened was... really Mike, about two weeks before we're gonna blast off, Mike goes, "Man we've trained so hard for this, I'm gonna write a letter to Tom Brokaw..." who is the national NBC News guy, who is a climber too, a little bit. And, I'm going, "Okay... " so basically [00:21:00] Corbet just wrote out a note with a pencil. He was a janitor at the Yosemite Medical Clinic to support his addiction to climbing. He just wrote a little note to Tom Brokaw, and I think three or four days later he's talking to... Tom Brokaw called the medical clinic and talked to Mike, and said "We want to come out and do this story." Erik: Gosh. Mark: And all of a sudden the pressure was on. That's when I really was thinking, "Wow you're telling national news, this is gonna add [00:21:30] a lot more pressure for myself." But as soon as we got to the base of El Cap and I touched that granite, all that training and preparation really got into par, and I got relaxed. I started doing pull up after pull up, dragging myself up the largest unbroken granite cliff in North America, El Capitan, and the first night... we do something called, we fix pitches. So we were fixed [00:22:00] up about 800 feet. So we had... Mike used to say, "It's always nice to kind of have a jumpstart." Erik: Right. Mark: You know, fix those lines, get all your water, we had 250 pounds... Erik: It's like a trail of ropes that go up 800 feet so you can just... Mark: The next morning... Erik: Start on the ground and zip up 800 feet and have like a jumpstart on this gigantic monolith. Mark: Exactly. And have all your water, all your gear up there. So he had to work three or four days to make that happen prior to us [00:22:30] leaving. Once we left Mammoth Terrace, we were on our own. We went through the Gray Ledges, and we went over... the roof was really tremendous. Because Mike is basically climbing upside down, and then gets up onto the pitch above it and fixes a rope. Then I kind of untied myself and I swing underneath that roof, and you can hear the cheers of the people down below. It's like [00:23:00] what Jeff was saying, It's quite a scene at the El Cap meadow. You really have to have binoculars. It's hard to see climbers up there, because they're so tiny, they're like little ants up there. If you don't know what to look for, it's hard to see these people. The crowd was yelling, and the green dragon would come by. It's a tour vehicle that has it's open air shuttle. Erik: "If you look upright you will see a nutcase [00:23:30] climbing El Capitan." Mark: We could actually hear them talking about "Mike Corbet, Mark Wellman, first paraplegic..." So that was kind of interesting. Finally when we topped out, it was seven nights, eight days of climbing. This was before digital technology on El Cap, when national news came out. They had a mule train, they brought out a satellite dish that was like five feet wide, and we were live on top of El [00:24:00] Cap talking to Tom Brokaw. Jeff: Sick. Mark: And we've got... between the Today Show and NBC News, and in a week we were on TV for like several hours if you took all the time that they played this. There wasn't really much going on in the news, so they really kind of played this story up in a big way. As soon as we got off that climb, about a week later, we're sitting in the Oval [00:24:30] Office talking to President Bush. It was myself, Mike Corbet, "Writtenaur" who was Secretary of the Interior, and Jack Morehead, superintendent of Yosemite. The four of us are in the White House, in the Oval Office, talking about bone fishing because President Bush loved to bone fish and we presented him with a flag that we took with us on the climb, and it changed my life. Erik: Mark, so you're not that old, but I see [00:25:00] you sort of as the father of adventur e sports for people with disabilities. I want people to understand that the idea to climb El Cap back in the 80s... nowadays, I think... how many people have climbed El Cap in chairs, paras? Mark: Oh the chairs? Erik: Dozens, right? Mark: Yeah, dozens. Erik: But you sort of unleashed that. You opened up this door. And now, quote on quote gimps are doing everything, right? Mark: Every summer there's [00:25:30] a paraplegic. Erik: But you opened that door for all of us. So, it's sort of a crazy thought to me. Mark: It is. You can't take the first ascent of El Cap, you can't take that away from me. That's something I'll always remember. It was a huge accomplishment for both Mike and I, and there's been different paraplegics who have gone up it. A gentleman with cerebral palsy, Steve Wampler, was probably the most [00:26:00] disabled person that's been up there. Lots of amputees. I call them amputees, hardly disabled. Paraplegics wanna be amputees. Erik: Those will be our first complaint letters. Dave: Exactly. [crosstalk 00:26:15] Mark: Quadriplegics wanna be paraplegics. Everybody has their differences. There's been a quadriplegic, incomplete quadriplegic, climbed El Cap with Tommy Thompson, good climber. [00:26:30] Steve Muse. Erik: There's that kid who climbed The Chief, he was inspired by you. Mark: Yep. Erik: He was a quad, and he climbed The Chief. He invented kind of this, almost like a contraption with wheels if I remember right, that kind of rolled up the face. Mark: Yeah it was... the premise was taking the Dolt cart. A climber by name of Dolt had this cart and he used to use it for a hauling system on El Cap. Brad "Szinski", the Canadian guy you're talking about, he came up with this [00:27:00] cart. His hands didn't really work as well as a paraplegic, he lost some muscle mass in his hands and fingers. So he had a different type of system where he could ascend a rope using a crank, and developed that. So there's been all kinds of different adaptations that allow people that are wheelchair users to go rock climbing. Jeff: This sort of set you [00:27:30] on this course to being an improvisational pioneer, those are my words. Were you like that always or do you feel like your accident cued you up for this opportunity to then over the past thirty years... Mark: Thirty five. Jeff: Yeah thirty five years. Now you've continued this trajectory of being this pioneer when it comes to just making it work. You make it work, right? Mark: I was so young. When I got hurt [00:28:00] I was 22. I wasn't climbing big walls, I hadn't got to that point yet of climbing El Cap. Finally, when I did have my accident it kind of made sense. The steeper the climb for somebody in a chair the better. Mountaineering is gonna be really tough. There are ways of doing mountaineering. We got four paraplegics on top of Mount Shasta. Erik: Yep. Mark: And there was a guy named Pete "Rikee". It's funny... people [00:28:30] come to me if they've got an idea, a lot of times they'll want me to be a part of the project. Least... Erik: That was a pod that they were in, that had almost like tractor wheels, right? Mark: Exactly. What we did is we took a snowmobile and cut the snowmobile track in half and made a tractor stance. So you have two tracks and a seat with a bicycle crank, and we actually crank our way up Mount Shasta. We had to get special permit from the Forest [00:29:00] Service. You can only be on Shasta for three days, and we knew we were gonna be up there for a week. So I had to drive up... I was trying to explain to this district ranger on the telephone, he really wasn't getting it. Erik: Sometimes they don't get it. Mark: And he wasn't getting it at all. He was thinking mechanical device... Jeff: Motorized... Mark: Right. He knew who I was, so he said "Come up and bring the machine with you so I can take a look at it." So I brought one of the snow pods up there and I met with the district ranger [00:29:30] and a couple of his back country rangers, and they got it. They said, "This is cool man, we'd like to let you guys do this." They gave us a special use permit. The big thing about the Forest Service and wilderness, or National Park Service wilderness, you cannot take... supposedly mechanized devices cannot go into the wilderness. But if you have a disability, your bicycle could almost be considered a wheelchair, or your snow pod can be considered [00:30:00] a wheelchair. Long as it doesn't have a Briggs and Stratton engine on it. That was the big thing, it has to be a manual piece of a gear that's human powered. So we got that, and we got four paraplegics on top of Mount Shasta. Erik: And El Cap really launched you into being able to do all these amazing things, right? You pretty much became a professional climber, adventurer, doing these things around the world. I know you lit the torch for the Paralympics, right? Mark: I did, I lit the Paralympic torch in Atlanta in 1996. [00:30:30] Muhammad Ali lit it for the able bodied Olympics. They had this torch, and the night before we're training for it... it's a big surprise, they don't want to see the person light the torch the night before, no media, so we're out there. I was gonna climb an 80 foot rope doing rope ascension, doing pull up after pull up. And North Face made me a little, kind of a... we envisioned this Robin Hood thing with... behind [00:31:00] my shoulders, this arrow quiver where I put the actual torch in. I didn't wanna burn my hair, what's left of it, so... Erik: You had a lot more hair... Mark: So I said, "Let's make this torch holder so it comes off your legs." So they made that for me. That night we're training, I get up the 80 foot rope, and I lit the fuse and the fuse blew out. Erik: Oh no. Mark: And the pyrotechnics guy goes, it was windy, and the [00:31:30] next day it was gonna be windy too. So the pyrotechnics guy guys... "Okay Mark, I'll make sure this fuse doesn't go out the night you do it." And I go, "Great." So I get up there in front of 80,000 people, I'm climbing up this rope. Liza Minnelli is singing this song and she's going "Go Mark, Go Mark." The whole stadium of 80,000 people is going nuts. So I lit this fuse, and literally the thing blew up. There was fire all over me. And I'm leaning back, hoping I'm not gonna catch [00:32:00] on fire. Then the fuse went up and lit the actual cauldron, and that was the start of the 1996 Summer Olympics. Jeff: You did not combust. Mark: I did not combust. I had the best seat in the house. Erik: You'd be like a Motley Crue drummer. Mark: Exactly. So that was fun. Erik: Takes us on a little tour of what you did. All those amazing adventures that you did after that. Takes us on a little tour around the world. Mark: What a lot of people don't realize, which I think is harder than climbing [00:32:30] El Cap, or spending 13 days on Half Dome was another big ascent we did years ago... but was doing the Trans Sierra ski crossing. I've done it twice now. I did it in 1993, it was a big winner, and I did it in 2011. So we took a cross country Nordic sit ski. You sit low to the ground, you have two skis mounted underneath a frame with a seat, and you're sitting maybe a foot off the snow. And you have two [00:33:00] poles, and you actually double pole. So you're double poling to make this device go down the trail. I was on the US Disabled Nordic Ski Team. Competed in two Paralympics, in France and in Norway. Got beat up by the Finns, the Norwegians, they're so passionate about that sport. Jeff: And they're vikings. Mark: And they're vikings, man. They're so tough. My best finish out of 30 guys was of fifth place, that was in France. [00:33:30] In Norway, I got even more beat up. I wanted to actually get into Nordic ski racing because I had other things I wanted to do. I wanted to try to get into the back country in a Nordic ski. Back in 93 a guy named Jeff Pegles and myself was also on the US disabled Nordic team. We took sleds, little polks, behind our rigs. We had our bivy gear. And we skied 55 miles from Snowline [00:34:00] on the east side of the Sierra on Tioga road, we got someone to open up the gate. Guy that worked for the power company opened up the gate. We got up to Snowline and we skied from Snowline to Crane Flat, which is 55 miles. Jeff: Wow. Mark: Following the Tioga road. Jeff: Just the two of you? Mark: Well we also had Pearlman with us too. Erik: Filming. Mark: He was filming, yeah. Erik: And, you gotta tell the story about the White Rim. So you biked the White Rim, I think you were on one off mountain bikes? Mark: [00:34:30] Yep. Erik: Or some kind of devices, hand crank mountain bikes. And it was so sandy, the story I heard, you had to get out and you had to pretty much pull yourself on your arms and pull your chair, did you pull the other guys chairs too? Or were the other guys' bikes... Mark: It was an epic, groveling adventure. Seems like everything I do turns into that. Jeff: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:34:50] Mark: If you're not suffering, you're not having a good time. That's kind of how it is out there. We had these one off mountain bikes and [00:35:00] we actually did a Jeep tour to kind of check it out a couple years prior. We did have it a little easier, we didn't carry all our water and food with us, we had a swag wagon out there. Suburban, follow the four paraplegics. Myself, Bob Vogel, and Steve Ackerman. We rode this, 52 miles is the full circumnav of the White Rim. There was times, [00:35:30] yeah, it was an interesting experience out there because some of these washes were like moon dust. We couldn't get our bikes through it. So I had a pair of rock chaps with me and I threw the rock chaps on and did some crawling. Had an 11 mil static rope and dragged the guys behind me. Did a few epic things like that. Jeff: I mean, If I'm riding my mountain bike and I come up on that scene in the middle of the White Rim, who knows what to make of that? Mark: [00:36:00] You can walk man, so best thing to do is just walk your bike. Jeff: Like, "You guys are good right?" and they'll be like "Yep, we're good man." Erik: Leave us alone. Jeff: Leave us alone. Mark: Don't touch me. Jeff: There's nothing to see here. Yeah. Erik: Yeah. Jeff: Wow, that's rad. Mark: And then recently, just a couple of years ago... in the winter we had a drought in California and Tahoe, so I circumnaved Lake Tahoe in a kayak in winter. And that was a really amazing adventure. It was 72 [00:36:30] miles, two nights of camping. But the cool thing was, and it was cool at night, it was really cold at night. There was no power boats. In the winter you don't have any power boats on Lake Tahoe, it was kind of like being out there in the 1800s. Seeing bald eagles, none of the tourists were on the water, it was really a fantastic trip. Dave: So Mark, you are someone who really embodies the spirit of No Barriers and you helped [00:37:00] start the organization. So tell us, all these adventures, all these things you've done to challenge what's possible, what people think is possible. Why No Barriers? Tell us that story. Mark: You know, No Barriers... I did a movie called No Barriers, and I got a poster out called No Barriers. It was a word that really meant a lot to me. My wife and I, we were down in San Francisco at a fundraiser... in those days it was called Yosemite Fund, now it's called Yosemite [00:37:30] Conservancy. We were at this dinner, and I met this kind of wild old character named Jim Goldsmith. And Jim came up to me, knew who I was... we started talking. He had a cabin in the subdivision I live in called Tahoe Dawner. So Jim and I, and Carol, and his wife Connie would get together, we had a couple of dinners together. And then Jim started talking about the Dolomites, and his [00:38:00] son-in-law and daughter. And he said, "Man, it would be really neat to kind of do something for disabled people and able bodied people if we did something in the Dolomites." And I go, "Man, I know a couple of guys who I've done some stuff with, a guy named Hugh Herr, double amputee who's done some rock climbing with him, and Erik Weihenmayer." This was probably after your Everest... Erik: Yeah, after. Mark: This was after your Everest climb. And I said "Hey, these [00:38:30] guys..." we did a climb out in Moab Utah, the three of us, it was kind of gimp helping gimp, it was this real magical event out there. Which was really cool... Erik: Climbing the Fisher Tower. Mark: Yeah. The Fisher Tower. Ancient Ark. Erik: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mark: And it was this really fantastic climb. I'd like to get these two guys involved with what we're talking about. SO I called Erik, I called Hugh, and we ended up putting our first [00:39:00] little... in those days, it was more of a festival, we called it, instead of a summit. We did it in the Dolomites. It was a very obscure little place up in the mountains, this real beautiful location, but nothing was really accessible. The hotels weren't that accessible, everything was kind of difficult to put this together. But it was this real magical place in the mountains... Erik: I remember the chair operators didn't even know how to get people with disabilities on the chairs. Mark: They didn't have [00:39:30] an idea. They didn't... yeah. Erik: On the ski lifts. Thank you. Yeah. Mark: They weren't doing adaptive skiing in those days in that little village. It was actually the home of the 1956 Olympics. SO that was kind of my envision was to start this, and who knew it was gonna get into what it is today. It's just amazing what you guys have done, and all the different things No Barriers has to offer people. Erik: What do you think about when you think about the evolution? You had this little germ [00:40:00] of an idea to go to this town and start talking about accessibility and innovation, and some of your lessons about how you've broken through barriers, or how the three of us had broken through barriers. And now, when you look at it today... Mark: [sighs] It's kind of mind boggling how it's grown so big and how many different people it affects, it's not just the disabled community, it's able bodied community bringing everyone together. Trying new experiences. The youth programs [00:40:30] that you guys have been doing is tremendous over the years. Soldiers to the summit. We're having all these guys coming back doing ten tours, they're not adjusting back into society very well, and taking them out into the outdoors with Jeff and different mountain guides, it just changes their lives. Brings them more back into a reality where they can really kind of adjust back into society. And then the summit is just... I love [00:41:00] coming to the summits. I've been to every one now, I haven't missed one since the beginning. It's gonna be fantastic in New York, I'm really looking forward to that. Erik: And you bring your climbing wall, your portable climbing wall. Mark: I'll have... Erik: Almost to every summit. So that's your mission now, right? To go around and use your climbing wall as a No Barriers tool to help people break through barriers. Tell us about that. Mark: Absolutely. Climbing has been such a big part of my life, that I just like to introduce different [00:41:30] people to the sport. A lot of times, somebody that's... we don't say electric chair, electric chair is something you die in. Power chair. A power chair takes you from point A to point B. A power chair user, a lot of times doesn't have all the... there's not as many things out there for a power chair user to participate in. Climbing on my wall, they can. We have these harnessing systems [00:42:00] that support your core. It's almost like a Bosen's chair, pulley system. If you have the desire to get on the climbing wall, we can facilitate that. We don't turn anybody away. We've had people that weigh 500 pounds on my wall before. Very obese wheelchair users... it doesn't matter. I had a gentleman that had spina bifida and he was unfortunately caught up in the American society of drinking a lot of soda, [00:42:30] and became really big. We got him on the wall, it was really difficult for him. We would talk to him and he wouldn't really look at you eye to eye as we were talking. I saw him a year later, he dropped 150 pounds, quit the soda, got into a training, cut his hair in a mohawk, and it just changed his life. Got out of the power chair and was in a manual chair. So climbing was kind of the responsibility of really changing this guys life, and now I see [00:43:00] him down in Los Angeles. I probably take the wall to Southern California maybe seven or eight times a year, San Francisco, Bay Area. I sort of have different groups hire me year after year, once they experience the wall they really want to have it be part of their event. We bring in, mini El Cap I call it, and we get people on it and we have a great time. Erik: And you're traveling around with your wall, full time. People bring you in to create this experience for their [00:43:30] rehab hospital or organization or team, right? Mark: Exactly. All those venues... I do adaptive climbing seminars. So a gym might call me and wanna know, "how do we get an adaptive climbing program going?" So I do that. And a lot of times I'll do not only a seminar on adaptive climbing, but then maybe that evening do a show and tell about adventure sports and where adventure sports have taken the disabled in the last 35 [00:44:00] years. Erik: And you are like Kleenex now, because... you talk about the pulley system, it's not a pulley system, pull up system, a lot of people say, "Oh yeah, Mark Wellman system." Mark: Yeah, it's... yeah it's kind of getting that way. Jeff: You're like Beyonce now. Mark: I'm like Beyonce. It's just kind of neat that my passions over the years... everybody should have a passion. And my passion has always been [00:44:30] to be out camping, doing something in the outdoors, coming up with new ideas, new technologies... and some of these technologies are more like a backyard technology. It's not that fancy. Sometimes some of the most simplest things can change something. Like mountain bike tires on a wheelchair can change a chairs getting into the back country tremendously. Mounting a pull up bar in a sender can allow a paraplegic [00:45:00] to do 7000 pull ups in eight days to go up El Cap. Just simple little technologies can really change peoples' lives, and you can take that backyard technology, garage technology, put something together that works for you that can help a whole bunch of people. Dave: I'd like to go back to that... You've told us a story, sort of the arc of your life, and when I look at you Mark and think about what you've accomplished I think "God, this is incredible. [00:45:30] This is an incredible human being that very few people who had what happened to you would ever have chosen the path that you have chosen." And I think, when I think about our No Barriers community, every so often you get folks who will say "Yeah, that's Mark Wellman but that couldn't have been me. You're putting someone in front of me that's so incredible, how could I possibly do this?" Erik: Yeah, you're de motivational. Mark: Right, right. I know, I get it. Dave: I'd love to hear, what do you think we can... 'cause this is what we do at No Barriers. We... If you're [00:46:00] listening to this, it's not like we take everyone up mountains, but we try to remind them about something in their spiri t... Mark: Yeah. Dave: ...that teaches them anything is possible. So talk to us a little bit about, Mark, how did you get to that point? Is it just sort of who you were from the beginning, was it an evolution? It just seems like everything you encountered, you are like, "I can do more." Mark: I think it's really important for people to get out of their comfort zone. Nowadays, it's so easy for young people to get... they get into gaming. And they [00:46:30] just, you know... it's stagnant. You're not getting out of your comfort zone. And the outdoors has a way of getting you out of your comfort zone. And you can make it safe... you don't need to think about what I do, it's more about finding, maybe getting some different experiences. And that's what's so cool about the summit. You have all these different activities going on where you just get a little taste of it. And hopefully [00:47:00] that little taste will inspire your imagination to want to try it again. And that's where I think it's really important if you're facilitating skiing or climbing, or whatever you're facilitating, you have to make sure that these people, their first experience is a good one. If they don't have a good experience, most likely they're not gonna go back to it. And, it's really important that the very first time... One of our board members, Sasha. [00:47:30] He was an academia guy, a professor. He came to the No Barriers event in Squaw Valley, the first one. Never had tried climbing before, and we took him to Donner Summit and got him up on this road cut climb that's 80 feet with big exposure, and it changed the guys life. It was something he was real nervous about, but it was getting him out of his comfort zone, and him [00:48:00] really having, you know... it was exciting for him, it was thrilling, it was challenging not only physically but mentally challenging at the same time. All those things combined. Kind of changed his life. And he became a board member of No Barriers because of that. Dave: Yeah. Mark: And there's stories like that all the time. Or Mandy, I remember her... wonderful singer. She got on my wall, it was 25 feet, and she [00:48:30] was really scared. It was a really scary moment for her where she had this big fear of heights. It wasn't like she was on a 1000 foot rope, she was on a 24 foot wall. But she might have well have been. Jeff: Relative for her. Mark: Could have been a 1000 foot climb. But she made it through. And came down... I got a guy that helps me, Wes, he's a search and rescue guy, kind of a big guy. He's just magical with [00:49:00] people, and really helped her a lot. So, you have all these different experiences... Erik: And I think that experience, by the way, gave her the courage to go out and do something completely non-climbing related, which was to write music and to go on to America's Got Talent, and... Mark: Exactly. Erik: Get into the finals, and now skyrocket into stardom. Mark: To fame. Absolutely. Making a better quality life for herself. [00:49:30] A lot of times when you say, somebody that's a wheelchair user... what is it, like 90 percent of the people in wheelchairs don't have jobs. And it's always kind of bummed me out, I'm thinking, "Wow." Why would you wanna be caught in a system like with Social Security and be basically poor your whole life, because "Oh I have Medicare, I have my Social Security disability," So you're trying to live on six to eight hundred dollars a month. And you're caught [00:50:00] in this kind of vicious circle. You've got to get away from that somehow, and get into the workforce, be productive. You're gonna feel better, you're gonna be a more productive citizen in this country, and you're not gonna be wrapped up in this vicious circle of never getting ahead and always having the government thumb you down, so to speak. Erik: Last question for [00:50:30] you from my end, this is Erik, and I wanna know, I've made it kind of clear that I look up to you. Tell me, who are the people that you look up to? Tell us about that guy Larry, tell us about some people who influenced your life. Mark: Oh man. There's been a lot for sure. There was a guy named... actually I think you're thinking of a guy named Mark Sutherland. When I first got hurt, Mark was a quadriplegic ten [00:51:00] years post to my injury. And he was back in the hospital. He had a bone spur, the spur was touching his spinal cord, and he was losing some of his action. Some quadriplegic can move their arms and they can push manual chairs, and he was one of those. But he was losing some of his arm strength, so he was in the hospital, and my room was next to his. We would talk at night. 'Cause I was really bummed out when I was first injured. To me, being a paraplegic was a fate [00:51:30] worse than death. I was on the sixth floor, if I could have crawled over to the window and jumped out I would have cause that's how bad I felt. I was just thinking, "Not having the use of my legs, I'm not gonna ski again, I'm not gonna climb." I was 22, I was just like, "Why didn't the mountain just take me." Those were the kind of thoughts I was having. But then I would go into this guys room, Mark Sutherland, and he would talk about, "Oh I had this milk truck that I converted, and I had a stool. One time I was driving it with my hand controls [00:52:00] and I fell off the stool, and I was on the ground and I had to throw my hand on the brake to stop it so I didn't kill anybody." Jeff: And you were like, "That's the greatest story ever." Mark: Yeah. I wanna do that. So I was just hearing this stuff from this guy, and he was talking about girlfriends, and how he was running around doing this and doing that, and I'm going, "Man, this guy has a life." And it was really inspiring to be... so where I was really depressed and laying in the hospital bed, and couldn't feel [00:52:30] my lower extremities, and "What's a catheter?" And I'm just like, "Man, this is horrible, what did I get myself into." And this guy was really upbeat and uplifting... Jeff: Showed you it wasn't a death sentence. Mark: Yeah. Showed me it wasn't a death sentence, and let's get on with life, dude. And it was like, boom. That just changed me. Then we went into rehab together, we were more in a hospital setting and then we both went into our physical rehab. That's [00:53:00] when it just started clicking for me, and that was it. Dave: Well, just to wrap up this excellent conversation that we're having about the history of No Barriers and all that you've done as well just individually, you've seen No Barriers be this thing that started in the Dolomites in 2003, we're 15 years into this. What's your dream for what it becomes? Mark: Wow. I would just consider it to be... I'd like to see maybe a couple summits a year, possible. [00:53:30] More, smaller clinics would be really cool too. I think you guys are really on a good, good path. But maybe some smaller events too. Just keep growing it. Keep doing more of these kinds of things. More technology. Bringing in more people, better speakers. Better people that are... or people that are doing more things that inspire others that give the ideas [00:54:00] to do more things. I'm amazed in 15 years where it's come to. Who knows where it's gonna go. Another 15 years from now, man this could be a huge, huge organization that could affect a lot of people and bring a lot of people together. This whole family, bringing the tribe together. It's always fun at the summits, and seeing people I haven't seen for a year, [00:54:30] spending time with them. I love getting people out climbing, so that's my passion. Erik: What if people want to learn how to get in touch with you, how to work with you, how to bring your wall to their organization? Mark: Yeah. Google Mark Wellman or just go to my website, No Limits Tahoe dot com. Give me a call. Erik: Although they won't talk to you, 'cause you're never home. You're always out [crosstalk 00:54:55] or something. Dave: Always on the road, right. Mark: Well, no, yeah I'm easy to get a hold of. Talk to my wife, Carol, [00:55:00] and I can get back to you. Erik: Right. Mark: Send me an email. I'm better on the phone, I don't like to email tons. Love to talk to you, if you have ideas lets talk about, lets see you at the summit. Lets get out and enjoy life. Erik: Cool. Well thank you so much Mark. Jeff: Listen Mark, I know you well enough to know you don't need to hear what I'm about to tell you, but, I think it's important for you and the listeners to know [00:55:30] in conversations like this, it becomes so clear how you are sort of the upside down pyramid. And you're the point on the upside down pyramid. And it all sort of funnels up from you, really. And I know there's others, but you're the man. And I know it's important for you, it is important for me to know that you know how many thousands of lives you've impacted. Erik: Tens of thousands. Jeff: Thousands of lives dude. You have been the kick starter [00:56:00] and the imputes. And you're just one of the most wonderful pioneers. I know you know it, but you need to hear it more, because you're the man. Mark: I appreciate it man, it's humbling. And, to take a passion that I had and a dream... and like I said, just simple adaptations, a pull up bar on a jumar. Man, how that changed other people to go climb up El Cap, or do Castleton, or whatever [00:56:30] mountain you want to get up, it's been a pretty cool experience. It's been fun to work with other companies. We're making more adaptive climbing equipment now. It's really kind of evolved from just handmade rock chaps to a real sophisticated pair of rock chaps that allows people to get out there and do a lot of cool stuff. Dave: Well it's been an honor to have you here Mark, I know many of our listeners are part of that No Barriers tribe. Many of them will know you, but a [00:57:00] lot of them won't. The movement has grown so big that it's well beyond you. But per what Jeff was saying, it's so important I think for the people of our community to know where this began. Mark: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Dave: And you are the point that Jeff mentioned where it began, and so, thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate having you. Mark: My pleasure. Erik: What did you guys take away from that? Might take us a while. Dave: Yeah. Exactly. Jeff: Might be a lengthy debrief on that one. Dave: I guess for me, as someone who's helping to build [00:57:30] this movement, like I was ending with there, just to remember the roots of where No Barriers began which is individuals coming together in small communities around creative ideas to do stuff that people didn't think was possible. And as we start to move to tens of thousands, maybe millions over the next ten years of people that we impact, that there's something in that special sauce that's still about the [00:58:00] individuals getting together having a fun, creative idea and going out and pushing their comfort zone. Erik: Yeah. I think that, No Barriers recipe is sort of hidden right in the story of El Capitan, which is... Mark's a smart guy, but he's not a scientist or anything, he's not Hugh Herr, who's inventing stuff where you go, "I could never do that." What he said is a pull up bar and a jumar. These are commercially available things. I think he had to adapt a few things, but [00:58:30] not all that crazy technology. Pretty simple. You combine that series, that innovation with the human spirit and a great friend or great support system, a great rope team, you do this amazing thing that opens up the door for a lot of people. It's a pretty simple recipe. Dave: It is. Jeff: All the big things that have happened with regards to our species all started with this small [00:59:00] germination of somebody sitting in their theoretical garage just being like, "How do I do this? Hmm?" And head scratch, and start piecing these things together, and then, boom, the movement begins. I think Mark embodies that, and what a great cornerstone for this organization. Dave: Well, and the movement continues. So if you're sitting there listening saying, "I wanna be a part of this organization, I wanna be a [00:59:30] part of No Barriers," please go to our website, No Barriers USA dot org. You can join us at the summit that Mark mentioned that's coming up in October in New York. There are many more ways you can join us but please, No Barriers USA dot org is our website. You can also share our podcast with your friends and colleagues and families, and follow us on our Facebook page. Thank you so much for listening. Erik: Live No Barriers. Dave: Thanks.

This episode will introduce our listeners to the mission behind the No Barriers Podcast and what we are trying to accomplish with putting this out to our community. To start you will meet our hosts and hear about their background. Host Erik Weihenmayer discusses his background as a blind climber and being known most widely as being the first blind person to summit Mt. Everest and what got him interested in starting an organization that helps people challenge themselves to break out of the barriers that confront them in their daily lives. Jeff Evans, who was on Erik's Mt. Everest team, goes through his back story as an adventurer, speaker, and high altitude medical expert. Jeff explains what fascinates him about listening to people share their stories and his experience working with No Barriers. Dave Shurna introduces himself as the Executive Director of No Barriers and his trajectory with the organization and his desire to learn more from our guests. Jeff and Erik talk about the seeds of forming the organization, No Barriers, and how it's turned from a small endeavor into a movement that we hope to continue to expand to anyone that can benefit from this message. No Barriers podcast is about sharing stories of transformation - introducing our community to people who have encountered a barrier and have confronted it and are thriving (or working on thriving). We want to highlight that struggle and maybe unearth some nuggets of wisdom in what was discovered in that process. We hope you listen to these stories and extract meaning in your own life. Subscribe, rate, and share with your friends and family. Learn more about No Barriers --------------------------- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT ----------------------------- Erik: It's easy to talk about the triumphs, but what doesn't get talked about enough is the struggle. Erik: My name is Erik Weihenmayer. I'm an adventurer. I've climbed Mount Everest and the Seven Summits, the tallest peak on every continent, and I happen to be blind. And I can tell you it's been a struggle to live what we call a "no barriers" life--to define it, to push the parameters of what it can mean. And part of the equation of this life is understanding this process of growth that we're all striving for--to dive down into that experience and illuminate the elements, those universal elements that we have to harness along the way, like way points on a trail, like holds on a rock face, that lead us forward towards change, towards growth, towards transformation. And that unexplored terrain between those safe dark places that we find ourselves in and the summit, is a map that we can use to navigate our lives. It's a far messier, gritter map than we're led to believe, with more flailing and bleeding along the way, but there is a way forward. That map is what we call "No Barriers". Erik: This is the No Barriers podcast. Dave: Hi, this is Dave Shurna, and I am the executive director of No Barriers, sitting here with Jeff Evans and Erik Weihenmayer and, let's get this started, Erik. What are we doing here? Erik: Our first podcast. This is exciting, guys. Jeff: Christening room. Erik: I know, yes. Yeah, so- Dave: Tell us a little bit about why we're here. What do you want to accomplish here? Erik: God, where do I start? My name is Erik Weihenmayer, and I am an adventurer and a climber. I happen to be blind, so it's sort of--being a blind climber is sort of like being a Jamaican bobsledder. Erik: I was a teacher for six years. I had an idea to be a full-time climber and adventurer, which I've been doing the last twenty years. I climbed Mount Everest in 2001, with the guy that's sitting in front of me, Jeff, who we're gonna learn more about later, but that experience was so transformational that that led to this amazing climb that I did with these two guys, Mark Wellman and Hugh Herr. Erik: Mark Wellman is a paraplegic. He's my hero because he climbed El Capitan, basically seven thousand pull-ups up the rock face. Just amazing. And Hugh Herr is a double leg amputee, and he climbs with these prosthetic legs. And the three of us were like these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We climbed together. And then, at that experience, I realized that we'd been sold the wrong ideas--that when I looked at people who excelled, like Mark and Hugh, that they didn't do it in the traditional ways that TVs and books always make it look like, that it was much gritter. It was much bloodier. There was much more struggle along the way. And so I thought, "I don't understand what that map looks like." And No Barriers, the podcast and the theme, the message that we're gonna be diving into, all grew from that first experience, because I wanna understand. Like Mark and Hugh and me, we'd all been crushed, and we had to reemerge. What does that process look like? Erik: I realize that most people in the world aren't physically disabled like the three of us, but they have invisible barriers. And so what is the process look like for people as they go from those places that they don't want to be, and they climb to the summit, whatever that looks like for each person? I wanted to understand what that gritty map is that we build and navigate with our lives. And so I'm here fleshing out this subject with amazing people that we are going to interview, because I've gotten to meet people in our No Barriers programs and experiences that have taught me so much about this topic, and I thought "We gotta highlight these people! We gotta understand what makes them tick." Erik: So Jeff and Dave and I are gonna be doing that, and Jeff is my good climbing partner, we've been climbing together for 25 years, and we climbed Everest together. And when I met Jeff he was just a dirtbag. Well, he's still kind of a dirtbag, but-- Jeff: I'm still a dirtbag. Erik: Yeah. Jeff: You can't really divert too much from that. Erik: But Jeff, even though you started as a dirtbag, you've done some amazing stuff, and you've really grown and had your own No Barriers story. Tell us a little bit about that. Jeff: Well, when you and I met, we were both very raw, and I think we met at the right point in our lives where we were just seeking. We were looking for adventure first and foremost, and then looking for allies to share it with. We met at a very fortuitous time, and we've obviously... golly, man, I mean, we've done a lot, you and I. I've had some of the best and worst moments of my life standing right next to you. Jeff: And I think that in a way, maybe that's sort of the take-home for me personally, while you and I have been such good friends and partners along the way, but also, my understanding of the human condition. I used to not want to admit it to your face, but now that I'm older and more mature and I can pat you on the back, is that you've taught me a lot. You've taught me a lot about life; in a way, you've asked me to ask questions of myself, and that's the extension of why I'm here, is that in turn, by asking questions of myself, I wanna ask questions about other people. I wanna understand who they are. I like that grit that you speak of. I like the determination, and I like how folks deal with adversity in this map that gets laid out in front of them, and all these variables that play into where we are--societally, biologically, emotionally--and I think that honestly, that was sort of the impetus behind you and I starting the Warriors program. Maybe you could tell the listeners just a little bit about that and how it came to be. Erik: Well, because it's hard to brag on yourself, I'm just gonna brag about you, because even though Jeff did start out as a dirtbag, he was a smart dirtbag and he had a No Barriers Story of his own, and he went on to climb mountains with me and also went back to medical school to get a physician assistant degree, working in emergency rooms all around the country, and then now being one of the foremost high-altitude medical experts in the world. I can't imagine having anyone next to me in the high mountains, Jeff, who I'd want more than you, because I've seen you save people's lives, putting them in hyperbaric chambers and administering IVs on mountains. Erik: Jeff, you helped us start the No Barriers Warriors program. The tenth-year anniversary of our Everest climb, we decided we're gonna do something really cool. What were we gonna do? Were we gonna do a Disney Cruise reunion? Nah, maybe not; let's do something big. So we decided to climb Labuche, twenty thousand feet, in the Himalayas, and we all got together and then we decided "Well, let's have some other people whose lives have been transformed. Let's see if we can bring together some other people whose lives might be transformed by the mountains, like us." And so we brought together a team of injured soldiers. Talk about the team just a little bit, Jeff, and the culmination of that experience, that first No Barriers Warrior experience. Jeff: We knew, I think, intrinsically, that the mountains provide this great backdrop. It's got all the ingredients that you need to have an experience that's both rich and transformative. You've got built-in adversity, the potential for a massive shitshow, but you also have this rally point, which is this summit. It can be figurative, it can be literal, but whatever it is, we rally around it, and it creates a sort of call to action. We knew that. We knew that the stage would be there for us, and so we took the chance and gathered up a group of injured veterans, in a way to say thank you to them, but also to give them the tools that we discovered, personally, along the way, and help them regain their momentum. Jeff: We hand-selected a group of folks, we took of for Nepal, and sort of set the table. We had a fair bit of adversity, but the mountain did what we wanted it to do, which was be sweet and loving and also be angry and mean. And in experiencing that, it gave us the opportunity to talk about these things, sort of distill out the learning points that can come from that, and create a loving atmosphere, create an atmosphere of fellowship. And I think that community that exists in the mountains was a big stepping stone for us, and I think another extension for us going forward. Did you even anticipate then--I mean, this was seven years ago, right? Erik: Look, let's be honest, we didn't know exactly what we were doing. And that's a good message for our audience here, and that is that a lot of times when you start an idea, it's just a little seed of an idea. That's what we had with our Warriors program, and now it's blossomed into incredible stuff, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of vets that we work with, and getting to know them and getting to know their stories, and we are gonna interview a lot of veterans on this podcast. Erik: Dave, I wanna introduce you, because you are the executive director of No Barriers. You do the real work. You lead our team and put together all these amazing, transformative expeditions behind the scenes. I met you... you came to me out of the blue and asked me if I'd help you start a program for kids, and we started out with blind kids and deaf kids teaming up with sighted and hearing kids. That's all fallen into the melting pot of No Barriers. Tell us how you got into this club. Dave: I think that my role from the beginning, as one of the powers of the organization and the executive director, has always been to build the infrastructure around this global movement that we want to create. My role is to create this organization that can take this message that you guys are alluding to here and bring it to as many populations around the world as possible. Dave: We've been doing that work for nearly fifteen years now, and so as I think about this podcast and what we're here together doing, I was at an event a couple months ago where Richard Saul Wurman was speaking, he's the founder of TED, and he said "Nobody ever writes a book or creates a script for a movie 'cause they know what the heck they're talking about, and if they tell you they do, they're lying. They write the book to learn what it is that they might already know and to discover new things." So when I think about this podcast, I think the same thing; we've been doing this work for fifteen years, with youth, with Warriors, with companies, with women, and this is partly to understand what makes people come to this movement. And as we bring in guests and learn from them, what can we take away from individuals who have overcome great odds, overcome barriers in their lives and achieved that purpose-driven life we all seek? What can we take away from that and learn and apply to our own lives? Dave: I'm here to create that organizational infrastructure, to do that with as many people as possible, and I can't wait to learn from individuals to help us do that work better. Erik: We're gonna be bringing a lot of amazing people to the world--a lot of people that haven't been highlighted in traditional podcasts, from business leaders to youth who struggle to veterans to people with physical challenges, all who have had some difficult things happen to them in their lives and have figured out little bits and pieces of that map that we all wanna walk. Erik: I just wanna lastly say that I think we're gonna try to be different, because when I went blind--it was my freshman year in high school--I remember realizing that when you look out on the world, it can kinda lead you astray. I was blaming and attacking and reacting and responding, and saying "Why me?", and I realized that I was looking in the wrong place--that what I had to do was to turn inward and find out what I could grow inside myself, and how I grew that thing and nurtured that thing and used it to blaze into the world. I think, if we succeed, what we're gonna do is really dive down beneath the surface of people and try to understand what that internal landscape looks like--how they go from those places that they wind up and they don't necessarily wanna be there, to the summit, to that incredible place of purpose and fulfillment that we're all looking for. What are the way points along the way? Let's identify those so that we can dissect this No Barriers life and we can all learn. Dave, what do you say? Dave: I think that's why we're all here. One of the things I loved about our conversation when we thought about starting this podcast was: We've heard lots of podcasts, we've met lots of people, and one of the things we feel is missing is, no one really dives deep into talking about the struggle. It's often glossed over. I think that this podcast is going to be partly about discovering what we can learn from that struggle we all go through in our lives as we're trying to be purposeful. Jeff: The reality is it's not pretty. I think that we've all agreed that there's gonna be moments when we want to ask those questions that allow people to dance around that darker space and explain how they got... how they rose from it, and the tools that they used to be able to come out of it, and I think that's an important thing. You're right, the podcasts I listen to, I'm not sure if I hear that very frequently, and I wanna hear that, I wanna know that. I don't wanna get bogged down in the mire, but I wanna know what that mire looks like and how they got out of it, because to me, that's the true definition of transformation. Erik: And Jeff, you told me something I like. You said, "Growth is volcanic," and I love that. So get ready for some volcanic and explosive storytelling, full of grit, full of flailing, full of some blood, either physical or psychological-- Jeff: Metamorphic, if you will. Erik: --because that is what it's all about, No Barriers to everyone.

What happens when an engineer loses his legs in a mountain-climbing accident? In the case of Hugh Herr, he uses his brilliant mind to overcome his physical disability – and the result is a set of prosthetic legs like none ever seen before. Now Herr climbs at a more advanced level than he had before the accident – both literally and figuratively: His achievements have led him to the brink of discoveries on the future of human-computer interaction. Will we all be cyborgs one day? Hugh Herr says he has the answer.

Humans will soon have new bodies that forever blur the line between the natural and synthetic worlds, says bionics designer Hugh Herr. In an unforgettable talk, he details "NeuroEmbodied Design," a methodology for creating cyborg function that he's developing at MIT, and shows us a future where we've augmented our bodies in a way that will redefine human potential -- and, maybe, turn us into superheroes. "During the twilight years of this century, I believe humans will be unrecognizable in morphology and dynamics from what we are today," Herr says. "Humanity will take flight and soar." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans will soon have new bodies that forever blur the line between the natural and synthetic worlds, says bionics designer Hugh Herr. In an unforgettable talk, he details "NeuroEmbodied Design," a methodology for creating cyborg function that he's developing at the MIT Media Lab, and shows us a future where we've augmented our bodies in a way that will redefine human potential -- and, maybe, turn us into superheroes. "During the twilight years of this century, I believe humans will be unrecognizable in morphology and dynamics from what we are today," Herr says. "Humanity will take flight and soar."

Les humains auront bientôt de nouveaux corps, qui confondront les mondes naturels et synthétiques, selon le designer en bionique Hugh Herr. Dans son exposé inoubliable, il nous décrit le « design NeuroIncarné », méthode qu’il développe au MIT et qui permet de créer des fonctionnalités cyborg. Il nous présente un futur dans lequel nos corps augmentés redéfinissent le potentiel humain et nous transforment, peut-être, en super-héros. « Au crépuscule de ce siècle, les humains seront méconnaissables, de par leur morphologie et leur mouvement, » dit-il. « L’humanité va prendre son envol. »

Os humanos em breve terão novos corpos que para sempre tornarão indefinida a linha entre o mundo natural e o sintético, diz o designer biônico Hugh Herr. Em uma palestra inesquecível, ele detalha o "Design NeuroIncorporado", uma metodologia para criar ciborgues que ele está desenvolvendo no MIT, e nos mostra um futuro em que teremos nossos corpos aprimorados de tal forma que o potencial humano será redefinido – talvez nos tornando super-heróis. "Durante o crepúsculo deste século, acredito que os humanos serão irreconhecíveis na morfologia e na dinâmica em relação ao que somos hoje", diz Herr. "A humanidade decolará a um patamar superior."

Los humanos pronto tendremos cuerpos nuevos que borrarán para siempre la línea divisoria entre el mundo natural y el mundo artificial, dice el diseñador biónico Hugh Herr. En una charla inolvidable, detalla el diseño "NeuroEmbodied", una metodología para crear funciones de ciborg que está desarrollando en el MIT, y nos muestra un futuro en el que hemos aumentado nuestros cuerpos de una manera que redefinirá el potencial humano convirtiéndonos quizá en superhéroes. "En los últimos años de este siglo, los humanos seremos, con respecto a lo que somos hoy, irreconocibles en apariencia y modo de movimiento", dice Herr. "La humanidad tomará vuelo y se elevará".

생체 공학 디자이너 휴 허는 인간이 곧 자연과 인공의 경계가 사라진 새로운 신체를 갖게 될 것이라고 말합니다. 이 인상적인 강연에서 그는 사이보그의 기능을 창조하기 위해 그가 MIT에서 연구하고 있는 "신경 체화 설계"를 자세히 설명합니다. 또한 미래의 인간은 인체의 기능을 증대하여 새로운 잠재력을 가지게 될 것이며, 어쩌면 우리가 슈퍼히어로가 될 수도 있을 보여줍니다. 그는 이렇게 말합니다. "이번 세기 막바지에 인류는 형태와 역동에 있어서 완전히 다른 모습이 될 것이라고 저는 믿습니다. 인류는 땅을 박차고 날아올라 하늘 높이 날게 될 것입니다."

Schon bald werden Menschen neuartige Körper haben, die die Grenze zwischen der natürlichen und der synthetischen Welt verwischen, sagt der Bionik-Designer Hugh Herr. In einem unvergesslichen Vortrag erläutert er "NeuroEmbodied Design", eine von ihm am MIT entwickelte Methode zur Schaffung von Cyborg-Funktionalität. Und er zeigt uns eine Zukunft, in der wir unsere Körper so ergänzt haben werden, dass das menschliche Potenzial neu bestimmt wird -- und wir vielleicht sogar zu Superhelden werden. "Gegen Ende dieses Jahrhunderts werden Menschen hinsichtlich Morphologie und Dynamik nicht mehr vergleichbar sein mit heutigen Menschen", glaubt Herr. "Die Menschheit wird fliegen und sich in die Höhe schwingen".

On Episode 148, I had the honor and pleasure of talking to Hugh Herr. Hugh was a prodigy rock climber as a kid, and in 1982, at the age of 17, an accident on Mt Washington in New Hampshire changed the course of his life forever, and ironically, perhaps for the better. Hugh and his … Continue reading "Episode 148: Hugh Herr – Never Broken."

Gaia Hypothesis The idea that the biosphere self-regulates to support life. Does it hold up? Civilization Reboot Sim cards. Better ways to select the humans that will survive. Minimum populations. Oddjob with swordlegs Sword legs! Cleaving humans not just through but vertically. Prosthetic feet/legs Butts! And their utility for distance running. Hugh Herr and awesome climbing feet. Augmented Reality Versus virtual reality. Physical positioning and orientation fudging in virtual and augmented reality shared spaces. Rainbows End. HoloLens. Church Scene It’s so good! Also: long shots, real or otherwise. The Culling SIM card splodeyheads. Transcranial direct current stimulation. To cull, or not to cull. Kingsman: not so secret effects: FXGuide Arrival Science Fiction Film Podcast: LSG Media Support the show!

Meet the man, Dr. Andy Walshe, who led the performance team for Red Bull Stratos -- the group that helped Felix Baumgartner with his record-breaking jump to Earth from the stratosphere. For over 20 years, Andy has developed custom programs that help elite athletes unleash their potential by moving them away from their comfort zones in the most unique and uncommon ways. This episode delivers some intriguing insights as Andy shares his passion for precision performance in this episode of Impact Theory.   SHOW NOTES Andy describes his passion for optimizing human performance and creating anchoring moments. [2:43] Andy explains Project Acheron and how it pushes people in obtuse and uncommon ways. [5:54] Tom and Andy discuss relying on the wisdom of the ancients and suffering as keys to self-actualization. [8:51] Andy goes deep into the training evolution and translating simple challenges into learning opportunities. [16:10] Andy reveals commonalities among the mindsets of elite performers. [21:35] Andy communicates the importance of creativity, how to measure it, and how to optimize it. [24:55] Tom and Andy further explore character training and the dark side of success. [30:22] Andy addresses the cycle of human optimization and how it relates to augmentation. [34:06] Andy dives into robotic-level prosthetics, the human 2.0 conversation, and AI (artificial intelligence). [38:31] Andy addresses precision performance benchmarking programs to carve your own path. [44:06] Andy discloses the practical and spiritual principles he’s learned and put to use. [48:09] Tom and Andy discuss the role that nutrition plays in human optimization. [52:00] Andy describes the impact that he wants to have on the world. [55:08]   MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE PEOPLE Felix Baumgartner - http://bit.ly/Paxfzr [1:56] David Goggins - http://bit.ly/2qkQbyR [10:30] Hugh Herr - http://bit.ly/PbdWWr [38:22] Elon Musk - http://bit.ly/28S0hRw [40:21] Ray Kurzweil - http://bit.ly/1l7VSrK [40:33]   ORGANIZATIONS/PROJECTS Red Bull Stratos - http://bit.ly/2rHz0ux [1:55] Project Acoran - http://bit.ly/2sFlncP [5:44]   TERMINOLOGY Bushido code - http://bit.ly/2gFsFYa [8:40] Hacking Creativity - http://bit.ly/2ceVuZB [26:05] Singularity - http://bit.ly/2hud4Md [40:35]   FOLLOW ANDY TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2rUbBa8 LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/2rzGHB5 FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/2rrc7ex WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/2rzTzae

Not everyone can say they made a college from scratch, but Dr. Anthony Paustian did. A former air force pilot and marketing VP, he created the West campus of DMACC which hosted ciWeek featuring speakers like Grant Imahara, Thomas Dolby, Steve Wozniak, LeVar Burton, Dr. Hugh Herr, Howard Berger, Daymond John, Kari Byron, who endorsed his new book A Quarter Million Steps. Go to www.justinkbrady.com/podcast for more info

Hugh Herr on the amputation of both of his legs below the knee, orthoses and exoskeletons, and the future of bionic technology.

In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Hugh Herr, Director of the Biomechatronics Group at MIT. Herr talks about the accident that led to the amputation of both of his legs below the knee and how this shaped his rock climbing and academic career. Herr also discusses orthoses and exoskeletons developed by his research group, as well as the future of bionic technology. Transcript below.

Could humans one day scrap our flesh-and-blood limbs for bionic ones? High-tech prosthetics are improving in leaps and bounds, so bionics seemed like the perfect topic for the fourth episode of our Futuropolis podcast. In the past few years, researchers have developed bionics that can act on signals from muscles--we talk to actress Angel Giuffria, who uses one--and even the brain. And we speak with a researcher who’s working on prosthetics that give the wearer a sense of touch. We also look at prosthetics from the past, when they were far less advanced. For that, we turn to a couple of 1940s stories in the Popular Science archives. But for the future, bionics could go beyond replacing body parts--and start augmenting them. As inventor Dean Kamen reminds us, this idea is not that crazy: If you’re reading this thanks to corrective lenses, you’re already participating in such a world. Hugh Herr, who co-directs the Center for Extreme Bionics at MIT and is a member of the IEEE, helps us see what that future will look like if bionics go even further. Plus, we dive into the philosophical questions of the difference between human and machine. Futuropolis is a biweekly podcast on the Panoply network. This week's episode is sponsored by Braintree, code for easy online payments. If you're working on a mobile app and need a simple payments solution. check out Braintree. For your first $50,000 in transactions fee-free, go you braintreepayments.com/future.