When we initially planned our “Overcoming Obstacles” contest last month, we knew that we’d be hearing some amazing stories. But we weren’t prepared for the emotionally charged and immensely moving tales of athletes who have had to deal with massive brain trauma, intense heartache, loss of life, and/or simply coming to grip with reality when life decides to throw you a curve ball. Editing these stories, watching submitted videos, and learning about all the passionate individuals our community is filled with has been both heart wrenching and heart warming. Our #1 mission of spread stoke is to pass the stoke forward, to encourage outdoor enthusiasts to continue pushing forward, no matter how hard or how scary, and to continue inspiring each other to follow our passions and dreams.  On behalf of our brand, we thank all our contributors who submitted their “Overcoming Obstacles” stories last month!

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles” - Christopher Reeve.

A part of our contest was awarding all of our winners with a pair of Skullcandy Navigator headphones. Below are the selected winners based off of their incredible tales and stories of overcoming whatever life has thrown their way. We also included a few season edits to keep everyone generally pumped on living. Keep passing the stoke forward! Additionally, a special shout out to High Fives Foundation for helping us connect with their athletes stories!

We encourage you to read, watch, and learn about these amazing athletes and beautiful stories. A renewed gratitude for living is guaranteed.

1. Moving Forward: A Life-Altering Ski Accident
2. Soul Shred: Coping in Alaska
3. Resuming Life After a Traumatic Brain Injury
4. 4 Days in Trauma, 1 Broken Back, and a Road to Recovery
5. Befriending Evil Elves & Overcoming Nerve Pain
6. Monster Factory: Waste
7. But There Isn’t Any Snow in Florida
8. Becoming a Committed Athlete
9. Dropping the Knee in the Rockies Edit
10. Yule Creek Madness Edit
11. Skiing in Jackson Edit

Thank You for Sharing Your Stories!

- The Spread Stoke Team

Remember Indian burns when you were a kid? My brother and I would give them to each other for fun. We would grab the other’s arms with both hands and twist, quickly in opposite directions, and then we’d fall over laughing about the brief pain it caused. Now imagine having that feeling all the time in your shins along with intense stabbing, like a toothpick was boring into your leg. I came to call this stabbing pain my “tiny, evil-elves.”  I could see them laughing and poking me with little pitch forks.  This is chronic nerve pain.

It was spring of 2011 and the snow season was a good one! We had just come back from a trip with out of state friends to Vail, CO. The back bowls were so heavy with snow our friends got stuck. It was one of those trips that keep you chasing fresh tracks and dreaming of cold smoke.  I was starting to notice that I had low back pain, sciatica in particular. That’s the hot, radiating pain from your low back that spreads across your butt cheeks. I thought it was just from being at a desk for 8+ hours each day since I had been working at my 1^st sedentary job in years.

Being a person who is pretty proactive when it comes to health, over the next 2 years I tried everything from chiropractors, massage, acupuncture, exercise physiology to prescription anti-inflammatories and pain medications. Everything helped, for a little while. I would feel great and the pain would go away, then it would slowly start to creep back in. These were elves I could live without.

In June of 2013, after dealing with my elves for over 2 years, I decided it was time to see a specialist. An MRI revealed a herniated disk. What caused it? Good question. With an L5, S1 herniation it’s really hard to say. That’s the joint in your low, low back that connects your pelvis to your spine. It’s the most common place to get a herniation. Disks are made up of spongy, crab meat like material. A herniation is when the lining that holds the crab meat in, ruptures and the crab meat pushes out into your spinal canal that holds all your nerve roots, thus the nerve pain in your legs and sciatica in the low back. It’s this particular area of the spine that the nerve roots come out of the spine and run down into the legs. So I had disc material compressing my nerves.

Can this be healed on its own? Yes, in many cases this is possible. However, since I had already done just about every conservative treatment available the less invasive methods were looking grim for me. More physical therapy was prescribed and then a cortisol steroid injection into my spine was tried. This was partially to diagnoses the kind of surgery I would need, as well as to relieve pain. Since sleeping was becoming sporadic the pain relief was welcomed! The decision to proceed with a micro discectomy surgery to clean out the herniation was made. I felt thankful for not needing a fusion.

I spent New Year’s Eve 2013 on pain medication recovering from surgery. Not an ideal party, but at least today I’m mostly pain free. Although it’s proving to be a long and challenging road to recovery, I am thankful for my health and know that it can always be worse. I was saddened to miss the season last year. But I’m super stoked for the coming one!

I’ve come to a place with my snowboarding and my back pain that has made me appreciate quality riding over quantity. I’m no longer a beginner just trying to improve on a groomed run. I’ve been there already. So what’s next with my great love of snowboarding? I believe the answer is backcountry.

As I spent my disability recovering from my tiny, yet huge, 2” incision I started to look into backcountry riding. I found tons of information and sites that offer everything from avalanche education, gear, guides to snowcat and helicopter tours. Wow! It’s overwhelming in fact. Intimidating is somewhat of an understatement. Do I need to be a professional to do this kind of thing? The information was not very centralized. I’ve spent hours researching and combing through all the sites.  I feel like I have just as many questions as when I started. Then I had an ah-ha moment! What if I came up with something to centralize all of this information? I’ve always wanted to be self-employed and I am passionate about snow play. The idea for Snow Minions was born.

My vision for Snow Minions is that it will become the hub of backcountry resources and education. A central location for people to connect with what they need to fulfill their passion for powder. Why not share my learning with others so that they can progress too? So I’m building a website and blog that will create a place for people to learn and grow into the backcountry experience. This backcountry concept feels elusive, like it’s something meant for professionals or adrenaline junkies only. Snow Minions is the bridge between those that want to drop off a 30 foot cliff face and people like me, who are simply looking to have quality days on un-groomed snow. This is my chance to do something that both me and my body love.

I see an opportunity to reach out to all of the other people like myself that want more out of their skiing/riding experience than lift lines and crowds. I mean, there’s no way that I’m the only person seeking this change in their snow experience that’s feeling a bit lost in the backcountry conversation. I’m just not that unique. This seems to be the right idea at the right time. I hope I’m right.

So this is my shot at getting out of the “cube farm” career path and onto something more active. Something that will help my back get better and stronger, not possibly cause another surgery. It’s crazy to me that sitting could be the culprit. I may have to learn to live with some intermittent nerve pain for the rest of my life anyway. As I sit and type this story, my elves are back. I can hear them laughing maniacally. Ironically, this motivates me. I’m on a mission to heal my body, get stronger and happier even if I have to accept that these elves could be my life-long friends. At least I know they love to snowboard. Maybe one day I can consider them my friends, warning me of when I have done too much.

This is my journey on the path of health and recovery. Overcoming the Evil Elves has opened my eyes to dreams I was unaware I wanted to chase. It may not be pain-free, but I guess life isn’t either. I’ll see you at the next peak, chasing that cold smoke. Race you to the top?!

I had my first paragliding experience last fall and it was hands down one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. Ever since, I’ve been dreaming of geting back out there on a glider and I’ve been telling everyone I know to do it at least once in their lives. Hanging in the sky and floating on an air stream is simply an incredible feeling that can’t be described in words. But it’s more than just a feeling.

The paragliding world is made up of a tight-knit and supportive community passionate about creating positive change in the world. Whether that is enjoying a motor-less way to fly to educating students to follow their dreams, paragliding athletes and entrepreneurs are doing incredible things to leave this world a better place than they found it.

This morning, I was sent an incredible story about Nick Greece & the Cloudbase Foundation, both committed to supporting and giving back to the communities where they fly. Watch and share their story about using passion to make a positive impact on our world.

You can learn more about the Cloudbase Foundation and Keen’s “Follow Your Feet” campaign here.

Related Post: 

• PARAGLIDING AT POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITH UTAH PARAGLIDING

“I love being alive. I love this moment, right here, right now” – Mike

A talented snowboarder from Chester, VT, Mike Schwarz was well on his way to making a name for himself.  Life changed in March of 09′ when he suffered a traumatic brain injury while participating in a snowboard competition. Since then he has gone beyond expectations with his on going recovery.  Mike is resuming his artistic abilities and his goals and dreams are to regain an independent life by starting El SchwarEZ Designs.

Below are pictures from Mike’s journey:

March 24. 2012- Where my life would be changed drastically. My friends and I wanted to ski the backcountry in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, so we rode the tram up at JHMR, and then hiked further uphill to where the start of the places we wanted to ski were. One of my friends went first, and he waved to let me know it was safe to ski, and I went second. I took a few turns, and then my ski must have fallen off, because I slid down on snow for nearly 800 feet, stopping by crashing my head on a rock. The one friend that was below me hiked up, and the other two skied carefully down. I was unconscious, but still breathing. My friends waited for the ski patrol to arrive (since we were in the backcountry, it took around two hours), and they took me down to where the helicopter could pick me up. Then, I was transferred to another helicopter, which took me to the hospital in Idaho Falls where I would stay for the next three weeks.

Recovering from the injuries is hard in itself, but I have to realize that my life will never be the same as it used to be. This injury makes me realize how great my life used to be, and while the same things can’t make me happy anymore (like traveling the world to ski, for one), I need to find new things that make me happy.

While I never wish an injury like this to happen to anyone else, it’s made me take a step back and realize the small things. This injury was really severe, but it’s made me back up and look at things from a new perspective. And I wouldn’t have stepped back if this injury hadn’t happened to me.

Skiing has been all consuming in my life for as long as I can remember and my love for the sport matured alongside one of the closest friendships I have ever known: Mike, my partner in crime, my confidant and my brother. On Saturday, February 1^st, 2014, Mike and his roommate Harrison were on an ordinary tour in Hatcher’s Pass, Alaska. As is typical in the Talkeetnas in mid-March, it was a cold and clear morning; the type which freezes your toes in the quick transfer from your sneakers to your boots. The tour up to the Jupiter bowl is a classic. The trail follows an old hiking path that cuts through an abandoned mine and snakes along the edge of a lake. It was a favorite of ours because of the fantastic views of Denali and the fast open bowls that run back to the car.

On this day, the usually tranquil tour would become anything but when Mike collapsed suddenly on the backside of the bowl. He had suffered a massive heart attack, caused by an undiagnosed heart defect. After twenty fruitless minutes of CPR, Harrison rigged a sled from Mike’s skis and began to drag him the three miles back to the car. Four hours later, Mike was pronounced dead at the hospital at the age of 23.

In the moments following, I received a call from Harrison. The excitement of hearing from my old friend disintegrated as soon as I pressed the phone to my ear. It was difficult to distinguish any words through his tears. He stopped to compose himself, and with tremors in his voice, whispered, “Mike is dead”. Confused, all I could utter in response was, “what?” I had clearly heard him, but I couldn’t believe it was true. There was silence on the line and in that unspoken moment we could feel each other’s pain. There was nothing more to be said, so we ended the call with a melancholy promise to talk soon.

I looked down at my dog as he nuzzled deeper into the side of my leg and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. But it wasn’t a sadness I felt inside, rather emptiness, like part of my self had suddenly been ripped out leaving an unfillable void. However, it was not yet time to cry; so I turned off my phone and headed back to Alaska.

Usually, I don’t have any problem sleeping on planes, but my mind was restless. That weekend I was giving a eulogy for a man who words could not accurately describe. I found it more fitting to share one of our adventures instead; a moment in which Mike had unintentionally changed my life. One February night in North Conway, several years ago, Mike and I had made plans to tour Mt. Washington and ski the ice-fall first thing in the morning. We woke up early and made it to the base by 6am. A short time later we had made it to the bottom of “Chute” and were transitioning from skinning to boot-packing. It was a cold, wispy morning and my buff was coated in a hardened, wind-blown snow. I was tired, blistered and uncomfortable. About half way up the chute, Mike looked back at me to find my head down, taking one step at a time and hoping for the sun to come up and finally warm my bones. He yelled down at me, “Pick your head up; don’t let life pass you by”. I looked up in angst, as if he was patronizing me. But when I did the sun began to peak over the mountains to the east illuminating the snowflakes blowing through the cold mountain air. It was that morning sparkle that we always hope to catch, but rarely do; one of those moments that makes the struggle worth it.  His words would stick with me for the rest of my life as I watched him live happy and carefree.

After the funeral, I headed straight to Hatcher’s. I traded my suit and tie for boots and skis and took the lonely tour up to Jupiter bowl just before sunset. As I sat at the top, staring hopelessly at Denali to my West, I removed my precious cargo from my pack; two cold PBRs. I cracked them both, and as I took my first sip, I poured the other out into the snow which had claimed Mike’s life. It would be the last beer I would ever have with my best friend.

My remaining week in Alaska would bring some of my best ski days of the season. I was surrounded by good friends, cold beer and my touring setup. I was determined to live my life the way Mike would have wanted, happily. While he may be gone, he lives on in all of the hearts he’s touched, and every turn I take, he takes with me. When I think of him, I’ll always remember the quote above his desk, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up” – Jim Valvano. So, keep on shredding with a smile on your face and Mike in your heart. If life happens, pick your head up; don’t let the world pass you by, and get out there and spread some stoke.

EDITORS NOTE: This contest has officially ended. To see the results and read about the stories who won, please click here: “Overcoming Obstacles: Contest Winners!”

The desire to be outside, to be free, to laugh till our stomachs hurt, to cry with joy and to have fun is at the core of being stoked. But sometimes life, injuries, mental boundaries, and unforeseen obstacles leap in our way and bring the stoke-factor to a unexpected halt. Overcoming fear, injuries, self-doubt and other life-changing barriers is often a difficult road to go down. It takes both mental and physical perseverance, incredible courage, and often the support of friends and family who can help pick you up when pick-up duty is needed. It also takes doses of inspiration, and that’s why we are here. To get and keep you motivated to take that step forward, no matter how difficult.

That’s why we are throwing a Share Your Story Contest:  ”Overcoming Obstacles” is the theme this month: August 2014!*

We want YOU to share your story, photos, and/or videos of how you’ve overcome an obstacle. Whether you’ve had to push aside the daunting fear of failure, mental illness, chronic disease, physical pain, life-changing injuries, gnarly crashes, financial hardships, or simply decided to skip a “normal” career path to pursue your dream…sharing your story can offer a catalyst for friends, strangers, and other adventure seekers to do the same. Go ahead and pass the stoke forward.

CONTEST PRIZES:

We want to thank you for sharing your story and helping us encourage others to keep pushing themselves. So we are giving away 10 pairs of Skullcandy Navigator Headphones this month! To enter the contest, simply share your story with us between August 1st – August 31st by midnight (mountain time).

Here’s how it works…

In each category, 1 winner will be selected by “Most Liked” post and the 2nd winner will be an “Editors Pick”.  Share your post on spreadstoke.com with friends, family, and fellow athletes to have them like your post on our site. On Sept. 14th, our deadline hits and we will tally up which posts have the most “likes” & which posts will be considered for the “Editor’s Pick”. We will announce the winners via our social channels (@spreadstoke), on our email newsletter, and on our site. We will also contact the winners directly via email to get their information so we can ship them their brand spankin’ new Skullcandy Navigator Headphones. 

HOW TO ENTER:

We have 5 categories on our site: Bike, Climb, Snow, Air & Water, and Lifestyle. You’re content will need to fall into one of these subjects. Don’t forget that there are 2 ways to win in each category, so you can share different stories for different categories if you like.

STEP 1: Sign up for a Spread Stoke Account (or simply sign in if you already have one).

STEP 2: Create a new post! Give it a catchy title and tell us your story. Pictures & videos are worth a 1000 words and can often add to the depth of your tale.

STEP Hit submit & let our editors do the rest. You’ll receive an email once your post as been pushed live. You’re now entered!

SHARE: Once your post is live, you can share your story on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, & via email to your family and friends to get the word out. Readers can “Like” your story by clicking the “thumps up” icon on the post.

We can’t wait to read and share everyone’s amazing stories and adventures this month! If you know someone who would love to participate or would like to contact us directly, please share this with them. We are always looking to cover inspiring stories to share with our community! A massive shout-out to Skullcandy for helping us hook-up our contributors. You guys rock & your headphones kick-ass!!

Don’t forget to follow @spreadstoke on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay in the loop for future contests and daily inspiration. Use hashtag #spreadstoke to be pulled into our feeds. 

If you have specific questions about the contest, submitting content, or just want to say “Yo, What’s up!?”, please reach out using our CONTACT FORM HERE. Cheers!

*Official Contest Rules & Regulations (aka legal stuff) can be found here. 

On February 25, 2013, I had no idea what the next day really held for me. Just “another” powdery morning in the Wasatch range, Utah. My first run of the day, boom, broken back. Blood, hypothermia, and a slight urge of panic will set in over the next 2 hours. 4 days in trauma. To get back on the bandwagon? Or let this lifestyle I know and love slip away? The road to recovery was not only physical, but more so mental. But I worked hard. I didn’t let the fear of not knowing what’s next slow me down.