About Enock Glidden
Born with Spina Bifida ,Enock Glidden is a disabled athlete,adventurer, motivational speaker,and an advocate for others with disabilities. Enock’s movie aptly named Enock documents his first ascent of El Capitan in the fall of 2016. The documentary highlights what can happen when a community comes together with a common goal. Despite not having the use of his legs, Enock has lived to overcome life’s challenges, breaking physical barriers and defying odds. Enock lives by his motto:
| “If you try, things happen”
Enock started this journey at birth in July of 1978 with a birth defect called Spina Bifida. There wasn’t a lot known about it back then and one of the first things his parents had to hear was ” Your son will probably only live for 3 months”. Of course, you can do the math and figure out he has handily beaten those odds.
As they say, he is still kickin’ but not really haha. At birth he was immediately rushed to Maine Medical Center after his parents got that news and Dr. Mehallic and a great team of people inserted what is called a shunt into his head in order to drain brain fluid. Spina Bifida comes along with something called Hydrocephalus about 15 to 25 percent of the time and lucky him he hit the jackpot haha. Hydrocephalus is when fluid builds up in the brain and has nowhere to go so the shunt relieves that pressure and allows it to drain into my abdominal cavity where it gets absorbed into my body. This was just the start of many surgeries, about 55 as far as I can remember, and a lot of life spent in hospitals.
THE EARLY YEARS
In the early years of life after beating those odds and going home, He got around by crawling. It wasn’t until 4 years old that he got his first wheelchair.WIth a desire to push his limits he would push himself around his home in the woods. His parents would often find out he had been stuck in the woods and had to figure out how to get himself out.
At the age of 7, he was introduced to using reciprocating braces that allowed him to walk with crutches. 
Unfortunately, they mostly worked well inside buildings on even floors but weren’t well suited for walking outside. He used them until the age of 13 and decided he was a lot more mobile in his wheelchair. People might wonder if he regretted that decision but he actually has never thought he needed to walk. Of course, certain situations would be much easier if with the ability but there hasn’t really been any moment that he wasn’t able to figure out a way to accomplish something without the use of his legs.
THE MAN THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
About the same time, he made the decision to forego using braces to walk, he met the man that would influence the rest of his life. His name is Bob Dyer. He was Enock’s Phys. ed. teacher in junior high school. Unfortunately, he passed away from cancer years ago but to this day he still has an influence on Enocks life. He was the person that said, ” Yes you can”. Bob coaxed him into trying things that he may not have tried otherwise.. They went skiing both downhill and cross country, He got Enock involved in a wheelchair basketball team, made it possible for him to ride a 3 wheeled bike with the other kids, and made him participate in all the activities he introduced in Phys. ed class.He even got Enock to participate in soccer using his hands to carry the ball while another student pushed him at breakneck speed. It was always the highlight of the class for the person who got picked to push haha. It was after meeting him that life became far more adventurous. Enock suddenly had a need to push his limits and challenge himself.
|”Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”
– John F. Kennedy
WHEELCHAIR RACING
Enock started wheelchair racing at the age of 15 as part of this need to push himself. Every day he would come home from school, as soon as the weather allowed, and push the 10 miles back to school. He would do this 20-mile round trip every day of the week if possible. There was a hill about 5 miles into the trip that was super long and steep. It would take about 16 minutes to get to the top where it started to flatten out again. On the way back, however, it took about a minute to get to the bottom. The speedometer on his racing chair told him how fast he would be going down that hill. The record was 56 miles per hour which was achieved in a 25 mph zone while passing seven cars. He also managed to do the Maine Marathon 3 times before going to college at 18. He never set any speed records but always improved his personal best. At that time there weren’t many wheelchair racers so he would mostly be racing against myself.
COLLEGE AND BEYOND
After entering college his sporting life fizzled out but he still had the desire to push himself. It wasn’t until about 13 years later that he finally got back to skiing and pushing his limits again. He has been skiing with Maine Adaptive ever since and a few years after getting back to it joined the race team. That is one of the best decisions he have ever made. Being on the team has enabled him to improve his skiing immensely and has allowed him to travel to other places to ski. Racing also gave him the opportunity to meet other people in similar situations in life and gain knowledge and friendships.
Another sport that he recently found is rock climbing. It is one of the most challenging and limit pushing things he has ever experienced. The passing of his friend, Nick Hall, inspired him to try this sport. Nick lost his life on Mt. Rainier as a rescue ranger, performing a rescue. After hearing the news Enock went to Nicks Facebook page and just looked through all the amazing photos he had of places he had climbed, including Rainier. Enock decided that day he was going to find a way up there to see what Nick had with his own eyes. He hasn’t quite made it yet but has made great progress in the journey.
After making the decision to see the top of Mt. Rainier he found Paradox Sports. Paradox Sports is an organization that makes it possible for people of all abilities to experience rock climbing and other human-powered sports. Enock signed up for their climbing event in “The Gunks” that fall and the rest is history. He found the ultimate challenge and was hooked! Since then he has climbed almost every year in “The Gunks”. He also recently completed an ascent of the Zodiac route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
THE BLOG
Enock started this blog after completing the ascent in this image. 
You can see in this image that is the fence he chose to go beyond in September of 2014. With the help of his friend Nate Mckenzie and others, he was able to be lowered a couple hundred feet down a rock wall and climb back out. Nate asked him why he wanted to do such a thing.Enock said it was for the challenge but also the scenery is always better when you are a part of it. He truly believes that going beyond the fence and being part of the scenery is the best way of experiencing nature. Feeling what it’s like to see the rock up close, feel the textures of nature, letting it surround you is the ultimate way to allow the natural wonders of this world to affect you in a positive meaningful way.
THE GOAL
His goal with this blog is to inspire people of all abilities to get out and try things. It doesn’t need to be a dream of climbing big walls in Yosemite National Park. It can be anything they truly want to experience in life. When you try, things will happen. It may not be what you intended to happen but eventually when you keep trying, you get to the goal you set for yourself. He wants people who read this to try for their goals just as he has. You never know what you might experience until you try.
To learn more about Enock and his adventures check out the Blog