SNOWMASS — A fourth tour in Afghanistan changed his life forever.

The unthinkable happened fast for 25-year-old Marine Corps Veteran Ryan Garza on Oct. 3, 2011. An IED blast rocked the 7-ton truck he was riding in, badly injuring his right leg.

He spent more than one year at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, receiving treatment for his shattered leg and traumatic brain injury.

As the years went by, Garza’s medical team worked to save the limb. But by 2015, Garza and his doctors knew he would be better off without it. Garza said he made the agonizing decision to amputate and even selected the date of surgery: Friday the 13th.

“What better day to have your leg cut off,” Garza joked. “I was very anxious before the surgery, but I realized that pain had been destroying my life and I was becoming a violent dude and a bad alcoholic.

“Once I picked the date, I started pushing forward.”

Only five months later, Garza was climbing a 14,000-foot mountain in Colorado with No Barriers USA, a non-profit organization based in Fort Collins that helps people overcome physical and mental roadblocks. In spite his resolve to bounce back, however, there was more pain to come.

“In 2016, I witnessed one of my Marine buddies take his life and I took it hard,” Garza said. “The biggest thing that was holding me down was the guilt.”

It was the Thanksgiving holiday in 2016 when Garza set something in motion that, he says, saved his life.

“I decided to give some food to the homeless and I felt a weight lift off me,” he said. “That year, I made more than 100 plates and passed them out. Seeing hope in their eyes, giving back … that was (also) my way to give back to myself.”

From that moment, Garza was determined to help other Veterans who may be experiencing trauma. Today, he is finishing up a book, Disturbed Earth, My Journey from Guilt to Forgiveness. He hopes for it to publish on Oct. 3, a date that he aptly calls his “stay alive” day.

“That’s the day that you should have died, but you are still here,” he said.

Garza, who receives his care at the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Clinic in Colorado Springs, continues to push his mental and athletic boundaries. Being at this year’s National Disabled Veteran’s Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen and Snowmass — was another step toward regaining his life and he is thrilled to be snowboarding.

“I never did winter sports and always wanted to snowboard,” he said. And his first day on the mountain did not disappoint as he quickly conquered the beginner slopes and moved on to the intermediate blue terrain.

“It was absolutely amazing,” Garza raved. “I’ve been nailing the blues without falling. I went from bunny hills in January to the blues today.”

The clinic, according to its website, www.wintersportsclinic.org, “provides nearly 400 profoundly disabled Veterans with training and rehabilitation every year. Veterans with TBIs, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, amputations and other severe disabilities” can take advantage. Skiing, snowboarding, scuba diving and rock wall climbing are among the activities available.

Garza isn’t ruling out black diamonds in his future because he doesn’t put limitations on himself and, as a motivational speaker, he asks the same of his audiences.

“What is your summit?” he asks, before challenging them to “do the one thing they think they can’t.”

SNOWMASS — A fourth tour in Afghanistan changed his life forever.

The unthinkable happened fast for 25-year-old Marine Corps Veteran Ryan Garza on Oct. 3, 2011. An IED blast rocked the 7-ton truck he was riding in, badly injuring his right leg.

He spent more than one year at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, receiving treatment for his shattered leg and traumatic brain injury.

As the years went by, Garza’s medical team worked to save the limb. But by 2015, Garza and his doctors knew he would be better off without it. Garza said he made the agonizing decision to amputate and even selected the date of surgery: Friday the 13th.

“What better day to have your leg cut off,” Garza joked. “I was very anxious before the surgery, but I realized that pain had been destroying my life and I was becoming a violent dude and a bad alcoholic.

“Once I picked the date, I started pushing forward.”

Only five months later, Garza was climbing a 14,000-foot mountain in Colorado with No Barriers USA, a non-profit organization based in Fort Collins that helps people overcome physical and mental roadblocks. In spite his resolve to bounce back, however, there was more pain to come.

“In 2016, I witnessed one of my Marine buddies take his life and I took it hard,” Garza said. “The biggest thing that was holding me down was the guilt.”

It was the Thanksgiving holiday in 2016 when Garza set something in motion that, he says, saved his life.

“I decided to give some food to the homeless and I felt a weight lift off me,” he said. “That year, I made more than 100 plates and passed them out. Seeing hope in their eyes, giving back … that was (also) my way to give back to myself.”

From that moment, Garza was determined to help other Veterans who may be experiencing trauma. Today, he is finishing up a book, Disturbed Earth, My Journey from Guilt to Forgiveness. He hopes for it to publish on Oct. 3, a date that he aptly calls his “stay alive” day.

“That’s the day that you should have died, but you are still here,” he said.

Garza, who receives his care at the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom VA Clinic in Colorado Springs, continues to push his mental and athletic boundaries. Being at this year’s National Disabled Veteran’s Winter Sports Clinic in Aspen and Snowmass — was another step toward regaining his life and he is thrilled to be snowboarding.

“I never did winter sports and always wanted to snowboard,” he said. And his first day on the mountain did not disappoint as he quickly conquered the beginner slopes and moved on to the intermediate blue terrain.

“It was absolutely amazing,” Garza raved. “I’ve been nailing the blues without falling. I went from bunny hills in January to the blues today.”

The clinic, according to its website, www.wintersportsclinic.org, “provides nearly 400 profoundly disabled Veterans with training and rehabilitation every year. Veterans with TBIs, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, amputations and other severe disabilities” can take advantage. Skiing, snowboarding, scuba diving and rock wall climbing are among the activities available.

Garza isn’t ruling out black diamonds in his future because he doesn’t put limitations on himself and, as a motivational speaker, he asks the same of his audiences.

“What is your summit?” he asks, before challenging them to “do the one thing they think they can’t.”