Grant Korgan

After sustaining a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, adventurer Grant Korgan - who had never encountered a slope he couldn't ski or a jump he couldn't land on his snowmobile - refused to balk at his new condition because he still had a mission in store. Ten years prior, when his best friend and climbing partner passed away in an avalanche, his parents entrusted Korgan with their son's equipment, entreating him to continue climbing for him. Spurred by his commitment to his friend as well as the support of his wife Shawna, Korgan found the strength to rise from his wheelchair and reclaim his active lifestyle, becoming the first spinal cord-injured athlete to ski 80 miles in Antarctica's South Pole. Today, he is a prominent figure in spinal cord recovery and promotes a message of choosing positivity through adversity so that we may all climb a mountain for someone we love.

Korgan chronicles his injury and road to recovery in "Two Feet Back," the first in a series of three autobiographies. He co-presents "Caregiving: The Greatest Gift" with his wife Shawna, discussing the power and importance of caregiving.

His South Pole expedition was filmed as part of noted director Steven Ziig's documentary "The Push: A South Pole Adventure." Korgan's challenge was intended to help raise money for the California-based nonprofit High Fives Foundation, which helps injured winter athletes recover and return to their sport. The foundation, along with the Reeve Irvine Research Center, a research facility at the University of California-Irvine devoted to spinal cord injury studies, are among the organizations he supports actively.

Most recently, Korgan launched a childhood obesity awareness campaign, for which he plans on climbing Yosemite's Half Dome along with a group of children selected through a video contest. In 2021, he founded the Moment Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on providing life-enhancing, perspective-shifting experiences for first responders, military personnel, life-altering injury survivors, and animal rescue missions.

In compelling multimedia presentations, Korgan engrosses his audience with his skiing, snowmobiling, and kayaking expeditions by sharing multi-angled, HD footage of his various experiences—including his fateful snowmobile accident. His presentations, which focus on the themes of positivity, possibility, and resilience—termed as "Three Points of Possibility"—are tailored to audiences ranging from healthcare professionals to athletes to corporate teams, inspiring belief in the enduring power of the human spirit. "We are all survivors," Korgan says. "Although my body has been broken, my spirit never will be."