Ben Jaycock talks to Ed Jackson, the former Wasps forward who took up mountaineering after hurting his back.
Having been forced into retirement from rugby at just 28 due to a swimming pool accident, Ed Jackson has since turned his attention to mountaineering and was recently part of the first ever all-disabled team to cross Western Europe's largest ice cap.
Jackson, 34, was left with a weakness/paralysis down one side of his body after dislocating his C6/C7 vertebrae due to jumping in the shallow end of a swimming pool in 2017 and is now a keynote speaker and broadcaster alongside his charity work with Millimetres 2 Mountains (M2M).
Since taking up mountaineering, Jackson has reached the summit of Snowdon, Wales' largest mountain, Mount Buet in the Alps and has now conquered Iceland's Vatnajökull.
Jackson was joined by Darren Edwards and Dr Niall McCann as they set off on an unsupported 136-kilometre traverse last month.
The trio were raising money for M2M, the UK-based charity created by Jackson and his wife Lois that's dedicated to creating positive change for people recovering from physical or psychological trauma and together have raised over £200,000.
In just 11 days, the three men completed their incredible journey that saw them come up against temperatures of -27 degrees C.
Jackson, below in his playing days for Wasps, said: “We were stepping into the unknown. We had no idea if it was going to be physically or more importantly medically possible given how our bodies would react in those environments. It was a bit of an experiment at the same time, so to finish it so successfully in good time was pretty amazing.”
All three men each had an accident which resulted in a spinal cord injury and a set of disabilities unique to them. Before a near-death climbing accident which resulted in paralysis from the waist down, 32-year-old Edwards was a mountaineer and Army reservist.
Biologist McCann, 41, has taken part in challenging expeditions all over the world and joined the Mountain Rescue team that rescued him after an accident speed flying left him with five broken vertebrae.
Jackson said: “One of the highlights were spending 11 days together as a three. We're similar people but different in a lot of ways. Niall is a biologist and a professional explorer, Darren was a special forces reservist and I was a rugby player. So, we'd all led quite physical macho lives and then had it all taken away from us with our spinal cord injuries.
“We had been on very similar psychological journeys to find out where we could be of use and to try and find adventure again. The conversations were a bit more in-depth than you'd have with most of your friends and we had plenty of time to do it especially as we had storm days with 100kph winds outside.
“The ice cap itself was savage and pretty scary at times but there were other moments where it was overwhelmingly beautiful. I honestly thought I was having an out of body experience and thought I'd wake up in my bed at certain points.” Former No.8 Jackson, who played for Bath, London Welsh, Wasps and the Dragons, took up mountaineering almost immediately after his retirement from rugby and has found numerous similarities between the two sports.
He said: “When we lost a tent on day three, Niall went outside to fix a snow and ice wall and when I poked my head out of the tent it was like world war three. That felt like I was in the middle of an intense 80-minute rugby match or three minutes to go two points behind on the five-metre line picking and going, to save the tent and get over the line.
“Outside of that, it was much more about endurance given it was an 11-day trip. The comparison I make is keeping your body well maintained throughout the season so you can make the play-offs in one piece.”
