Having finished his sports career as a hockey player, Eric took up snowboarding. He loved competing with the wind as he descended a steep mountain on his board. According to LeMarque, this sport was truly thrilling and involved considerable risk.
On February 6, 2004, the 40-year-old former hockey player decided to conquer the most dangerous slope on Mammoth Mountain in California, in the Sierra Nevada range. A jumpsuit, a snowboard, special boots, a beanie, goggles, a music player and a cell phone – with such gear Eric set out for the designated spot. This time LeMarque began his descent off the usual trail and immediately set about exploring a new route. He didn't even pay attention to the ski patrol's warnings about an approaching blizzard.
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As he slid down the slope, he suddenly found himself in the cold embrace of a thick fog. Eric kept moving, hoping to break through its veil and reach the cherished point. And he inadvertently made a turn that only took LeMarque several kilometers further from the lifesaving base.
The blizzard caught the snowboarder off guard; the icy wind seemed determined to drive its chill into every cell of his body. Without water, without food, in the pitch-white murk, Eric felt as if he had been cast into hell. When the storm died down, he discovered that he was in the middle of a snowy wilderness, at an altitude of several thousand meters. There was no cell service, only snow all around.
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Realizing that he was lost, Eric decided out of desperation to walk at random. He understood well that this path was like a game in a deadly lottery. But he had no choice but to keep moving forward. Otherwise he might freeze on the spot. Along the way, LeMarque fell into a mountain stream and the snowboarder had to take off all his clothes to dry them. At that moment, freezing from the brutal cold, Eric was comforted by only one thought – he certainly would not die of thirst.
Susan, Eric's mother, sensed in her heart that something had happened to her son. She raised the alarm, and mountain rescuers along with the police set out to search for LeMarque. Although none of the specialists were any longer sure that the snowboarder had managed to survive the blizzard.
And Eric kept climbing higher and higher. He did not lose his presence of mind and believed to the last that he would survive. At night he built a kind of shelter out of snow, and in the morning he again continued on his way.
On the sixth day of his snowy captivity, Eric's last strength was leaving him. Every step came with difficulty and unbearable pain. He discovered with horror that his legs were frostbitten almost to the knees and that he was constantly being lulled to sleep. Eric could no longer walk – but he kept moving. By crawling.
«I had to keep moving. It didn't matter whether on my legs or crawling. I didn't want to freeze and die», – the athlete admitted later.
LeMarque would be found on the eighth day, exhausted and barely alive. Unfortunately, at the hospital, due to the onset of gangrene, Eric would have his legs amputated. Nevertheless, he would be grateful to fate for giving him back his life. Amazingly, even on prostheses LeMarque continues to snowboard. He wrote a book about his survival story, coaches children and works as a motivational speaker. Eric is happily married and is raising two children.
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