“Walk, Not Climb”//
　　Herr woke up after surgery/to find that he had lost both legs below the knee/from frostbite.// A nurse tried to offer encouragement/by telling him that he would be able to walk with artificial legs.// He was given crude plaster legs/and, eventually, acrylic ones.//
　　When Herr asked the doctors/if he would ever be able to climb again,/they answered,/“Walk, not climb.”// They told him that he would be able to drive a car,/using hand controls,/but not to ride a bike/or return to mountain climbing.//
　　Herr told his friends/that the artificial legs were far more rudimentary/than he had hoped they would be.// He said,/“This is it?// Are you kidding me?”//
Back to the Mountains//
　　The doctors were wrong.// Herr started climbing again/while he was still in the rehabilitation center.//
　　First,/he noticed that/because the amputations had left him 14 pounds lighter,/he was able to move faster than before.// He realized that there was no reason/that his new feet needed to mimic his old ones.// He started to make his own modifications/to his artificial legs.// He cut off the heel to reduce weight,/increased his legs’ stiffness where it was useful,/added spikes for ice climbing,/and made feet narrow enough/to stick in small cracks.//
　　Soon,/thanks to various types of prosthetic legs,/Herr’s climbing was better than ever.// He began ascending rock faces/that he actually could not have climbed before his accident.//
　　Herr was again a major competitor/in the climbing world.// Just one year after the accident on Mt. Washington,/he was featured on the cover of Outside Magazine .//