Watch the official trailer for The Mountain Within Me
Ed Jackson broke his spine and was told he would never walk again after a terrifying accident in 2017, but, less than a year later, he reached the top of Snowdon and started seeking out new challenges.
He has since achieved the impossible by climbing Himlung Himal in Nepal and the Aiguille Dibona in the French Alps, something he never thought he’d be capable of.
Along with his supportive wife Lois, Ed founded the mental health charity Millimetres 2 Mountains which helps those affected by trauma build their community and reach similarly impressive goals.
His story has now been told in the deeply moving documentary film The Mountain Within Me, directed by Polly Steele, which hits cinemas today (Friday, August 23).
“The natural recovery happens closest to the injury, then it slows down, slows down, slows down,” Ed explained, speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk. “So I was just pushing as hard as I could for the first two or three years, not knowing where I’d end up.”
Ed Jackson ‘never had mountains in my mind’ after near-fatal accident (Image: DOGWOOF RELEASING)
Ed’s recovery has been nothing short of a miracle, as the film demonstrates the incredible strain he puts on the body doctors informed him would never reach its full capabilities again.
“I definitely never anticipated… if you asked me two years after my accident what I’d be doing in year three I wouldn’t have believed you,” he shared.
“If you asked me four years after the accident what I’d be doing at year five I wouldn’t have believed you. And there’s some stuff I’ve done recently that I just never imagined I could do even if I hadn’t had a spinal cord injury. So, it’s a funny one.”
Ed remains upbeat about his life experiences, focusing on what’s happening in the present and what he could achieve next rather than the trauma in his past – even when he was forced to spend almost 50 hours in the freezing cold during his death-defying descent in Nepal.
Ed and his team spent days out on the freezing cold ice (Image: DOGWOOF RELEASING)
“He so quickly flicks that switch and comes back up, to the point of incredulity sometimes!” director Polly said. “That is what makes him different to the rest of us.
“He’s dealing with a lot of daily struggles with his body, he does think about that all the time, but if you let it overtake you, you do let it take you to a very dark place. It’s too easy to go there.”
Echoing her thoughts, Ed adds: “I deliberately don’t try and think too far ahead. I’ve made that mistake in the past of wishing or hoping or even expecting things to happen and then they don’t happen and you end up disappointed.
“Focusing on the present moment and what I can do now is the best way to end up in a more positive position further down the line. Often when I’m asked, ‘What’s next?’ I’m not actually sure. None of this has been overly planned because I’ve had to wait and see how my body recovers. It could have stopped at any point, improving, so, just taking it one step at a time.
Ed was told he’d never walk again but he reached the top of Snowdon mere months after his accident (Image: ED JACKSON)
“Mountains weren’t really in my mind until I was stood at the top of Snowdon and I thought, ‘Ooh, maybe I can go a little bit higher than this’. But the fact I ended up in the Himalayas I did not expect.”
Despite his inspiring story, Ed candidly admitted his father, a doctor who aided his son in the crucial first minutes after the accident, doesn’t like revisiting those traumatic moments and is unlikely to watch the new documentary.
“My dad still hasn’t read [my book, Lucky],” he shared. “And he doesn’t think he’s going to watch the film.
“He was there. He’s a stoic, retired doctor, a very stoic Yorkshireman who doesn’t show much emotion. But being there, being present and effectively saving my life has obviously taken its toll. He’d rather not think about it.
“Whereas for me, enough good has transpired since then for it not to be so traumatic.”
Ed miraculously reached the top of the Aiguille Dibona in the French Alps (Image: DOGWOOF RELEASING)
While there are definitely some hard-hitting interview moments with Ed, they are few and far between in this overwhelmingly positive and stirring story of survival and overcoming the odds.
Viewers who see The Mountain Within Me this weekend may be tempted to follow in the former rugby player’s footsteps and pick up climbing themselves, though it’s hard to pin down where exactly he’s headed next.
“Ed is on fast-forward in life,” Polly says. “Whenever you sat down with him to try and plan anything he’d already done it before you got a look in!”
The Mountain Within Me is in UK cinemas now.
