Crystal Clear: The Inspiring Story of How an Olympic Athlete Lost His Legs Due to Crystal Meth and Found a Better Life

ISBN: 055380765X

Author: Le Marque, Eric

Condition: New

In this gripping first-person account, former Olympian Eric LeMarque recounts a harrowing tale of survival-of eight days in the frozen wilderness, of losing his legs to frostbite, and coming face-to-face with death. But Erics ordeal on the mountain was only part of his struggle for survival-as he reveals, with startling candor, an even more harrowing and inspiring tale of fame and addiction, healing and triumph.On February 6, 2004, Eric, a former professional hockey player and expert snowboarder, set off for the top of 12,000-foot Mammoth Mountain in Californias vast Sierra Nevada mountain range. Wearing only a long-sleeve shirt, a thin wool hat, ski pants, and a lightweight jacket-and with only four pieces of gum for food-he soon found himself chest-high in snow, veering off the snowboard trail, and plunging into the wilderness. By nightfall he knew he was in a fight for his lifeSurviving eight days in subfreezing temperatures, he would earn the name The Miracle Man by stunned National Guard Black Hawk Chopper rescuers.But Erics against-all-odds survival was no surprise to those who knew him. A gifted hockey player in his teens, he was later drafted by the Boston Bruins and a 1994 Olympian. But when his playing days were over, Eric felt adrift. Everything changed when he first tasted the rush of hard drugs-the highly addictive crystal meth-which filled a void left by hockey and fame. By the time Eric reached the peak of Mammoth Mountain in 2004, he was already dueling demons that had seized his soul.A riveting adventure, a brutal confessional, here Eric tells his remarkable story-his climb to success, his long and painful fall, and his ordeal in the wilderness. In the end, a man whose life had been based on athleticism would lose both his legs, relearn to walk-even snowboard-with prosthetics, and finally confront the ultimate test of survival: what it takes to find your way out of darkness, and-after so many lies-to tell truth and begin to live again.