Gary Edinger was a dogsledder, logger, and family man just living his life. Then, on a cold Wisconsin day at 40 below zero, he went out to work and cut off his leg.
“I had to stop my life from leaking out of the bottom of my leg,” Edinger said. Today, Filson and Danner released the film “Will to Live: The Gary Edinger Story,” which tells Edinger’s tale before, during, and after the accident.
In the film, you see the cold and vastness that Edinger faced all alone in the woods. You also hear the 911 calls. “We are out in the middle of nowhere. No one’s gonna hear you scream out there,” said Mike Tyrell, an EMS provider who worked on Edinger.
And then you see him get back out there. Ten months later, Edinger goes back to work, back to that tree, and drags it home. “I wasn’t gonna let that tree beat me,” Edinger said. “Shit happens. That’s why I lost my leg.”
