“It Can Be Done” | TB12 Peak Performer: Mike Chambers

In March, Mike Chambers traveled to Greenland’s Arctic Circle Trail with friend and fellow endurance athlete Jason Antin to traverse the trail and add new lines to unclimbed peaks north of Sisimiut. But late one afternoon, as the sun began setting, Mike’s skis slid out from under him sending him careening down the mountain. He finally stopped, just a few feet shy of a dangerous drop-off, dislocating his shoulder and fracturing his tibia in the process. After an arduous rescue effort that took nearly 24 hours, Mike was safely brought off the mountain and into the local doctor’s office. He was lucky to be alive, but his long-term prognosis was unclear.

“There is no way I am coming back from this,” he thought to himself.

But he was wrong.

Shortly after surgery on his heel, hesitant and terrified of reinjuring himself, Mike began sessions at the TB12 Sports Therapy Center. Just 10 weeks later, he made his way up the last pitch of  New Hampshire’s Black Dike, New England’s most famous ice climb.

Now, Mike faces his next challenge: the Tahoe 200 Endurance Run, a 100 hour, 205.5-mile event around the Tahoe Rim Trail.