Polar Expedition Internship With Eric Larsen

Summer of 2020. I have been waiting for the time to come for so long now. Why? Because I scored my biggest adventure to date; an expedition internship with professional explorer Eric Larsen.

Eric is known for breaking many records such as being the first and only person to ever go to the North Pole, South Pole, and Everest in one year. My aspirations are to reach the same level of success that he has in the expedition field, so if you asked me how much this internship means to me, I could not even begin to express it.

To be able to pick his brain and learn what he knows is a dream to me. Have I mentioned that living in a small, Colorado mountain town is pretty cool too?

Over a week and a half, I have already managed to explore nature’s wonders such as backpacking, mountain biking, canoeing, and hiking. It feels like an absolute dream come true for me- surrounded by breathtaking mountains, and dim forests with shimmering alpine lakes that stretch into the vast wilderness while working alongside Eric, who has been my role model on the internet for years.

Then I decide to go mountain biking.

Sadly, my partner Annie had to fly back home to Ohio after driving with me from our hometown. We said goodbye at the Denver airport, and I continued on alone toward Crested Butte for the internship that awaits me there.

Soon after I got back, at about 6:00, I decided to hit the mountains with my $200 hardtail bike that my parents bought for my brother when he was 13, and now he is 22. This bike has no business on serious trails, but I didn’t care.

I don’t have the money to buy a $4,000 bike right now so I figured I was going to push the bike (and myself) to the limits.

That was a stupid idea.

I was riding down Mount Crested Butte on some difficult trails. Everything was going fine until I got to the last technical jump of the trail. I was already going really fast because of the downhill and my brakes don’t work very well so I go full send into the last (and biggest) jump.

Next thing you know in mid-air I lose control and fly directly over my handlebars, landing on my right shoulder. I tumbled down the trail a bit and when I stood up I touched my right shoulder and I could feel my collar bone poking out into my skin. I knew something was broken that instant.

Immediately, I began to get light headed, so I called my roommate and told him where I was just in case I passed out. I ditched my bike and then my other roommate took me on a 35 minute ride to the hospital. My emotions were dull. I couldn’t think straight. Sure I was in pain but that wasn’t what I cared about..

I thought that I just ruined the entire opportunity that I had with Eric. I felt so stupid and extremely embarrassed. The worst part was that it was all my fault. I was on a trail that was way out of my game, on a bike that was bought at Walmart and living here for something much more important to me than that jump.

I sat in the hospital room, and the doctors kept on asking me how I wasn’t in a ton of pain, because I had a really bad break. Truth is, I was hurt but more so emotionally than physically. I refrained from texting Eric this night because I didn’t know what to say.

I was scared that he would think I was plain stupid and especially worried that he would be disappointed in me. The feeling of not being able to do all the things he had planned for the summer hurt… a tremendous amount more than a broken bone!

The next morning, I called my mom on the verge of tears asking her what I should say to Eric. I kept on telling myself inside my head that this already happened and it is just going to be an obstacle that I will have to overcome. I ended up texting Eric asking him to call me… Oh.. and I forgot to mention that surgery was needed but I could not have it done unless I had a caretaker for 24 hours.

So yea, I have been working for him for 4 days and already have to tell him that I broke my collar bone and ask if he can watch me for 24 hours after surgery. Is he going to be annoyed? Think I’m crazy? Who knows.

We will see how this conversation goes.

He calls me and I answer. I was straight to the point, telling him what happened and I was instantly relieved. 

“You can stay here no problem”

“Life happens, this kind of stuff happens all the time”

“We will work around it”

These are a few things he said. He also asked if I planned on going back home to Ohio.. and I asked him if he was joking. Lucky for me, he wasn’t angry or disappointed at all, and honestly, he was quite optimistic about it all. Justtttt what I needed.

So later that day, I was talking to my dad and he joked “At least it’s pretty cool that you will get to have a sleepover at Eric’s house”. Lol. Two years ago, I never would have thought that I’d get the opportunity to meet him let alone have a sleepover!

Now comes surgery, which he drove me 35 minutes to the hospital and we had some great conversations spark. We began thinking about ways we can work around this. I was telling him that no matter what, I am going to find a way to not let this stop me from doing the things he had planned for the summer.

I was really worried that he would think that I was useless and won’t be able to do anything anymore. However, I REALLY wanted him to know that I am still extremely dedicated to working around the obstacles and not letting this affect the summer. The good news is I think he was %1,000 on board with that.

He started spitting out these crazy ideas. He brought up these things that the Indigenous used back in the day. I’m thinking that he is crazy until I pulled it up on my phone. It’s called a travois. Once I saw the picture, then I thought he was a genius. This is where I got REALLY excited. I knew that I was going to figure a way around this problem, and I wasn’t alone.

I got to the place where I had surgery and that is pretty self explanatory. The only thing crazy that happened was the fact that I had to have a shot in my neck before I went under. I hope I never have to do that again. Surgery went great so let’s move on. 

Once surgery ended, we headed back to his house. We talked a lot more about this travois and how we can make it work and at this point, I am really starting to feel as if my stupidity didn’t completely ruin this incredible opportunity I had. I am really lucky that Eric didn’t just give up. After all, he is an explorer and he is forced to work around many obstacles on his expeditions – something that he told me himself. 

So the slumber party was great. As crazy as this situation is, it is really nice for me to get extra time to pick his brain apart. We spent the night looking at an expedition proposal that his partner had made to send out. SUPER cool and I was able to learn a lot.

Fast forward 2 days, on June 5th, Eric hit me with a text saying this; “I’m heading into town in a bit – will look for some travois materials”. Holy sh** I’m thinking. At this point, I am extremely happy that Eric is so into this. The feeling of being bummed out is quickly lessening. He even updates me later telling me he found some stuff and that we should build it tomorrow. So the story ends here.

I’m still a happy kid and don’t believe that this will ruin the opportunity that I had. I am lucky in a lot of ways. For example, my injury could have been way worse, Eric wasn’t disappointed in me at all, we are still going to find ways to do the same stuff he originally had planned, AND we get to build a badass travois.

I’ve broken my other collarbone before and Crested Butte seems like a more fun place to heal than Ohio. (: