Some of the greatest achievements in professional rock climber Craig DeMartino’s life came after he nearly lost it. As a gold-medal-winning amputee climber, DeMartino has drawn the attention of the climbing community for years. And now, television producers are interested. The Exeter Township native and Kutztown University graduate will tell his story of perseverance and the stories of others like him in a television series starting this weekend.

DeMartino, 49, will host “Fight to Survive,” premiering Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on the Outdoor Channel.

The first episode, titled “After the Fall,” begins the series by telling De-Martino’s own harrowing story of survival.

In July 2002, DeMartino fell 100 feet in a devastating climbing accident that left his body in shambles.

The fall pulverized his second lumbar (L2) vertebra and broke his neck, multiple ribs, his right heel and his ankles. The tibia and fibula of his right leg burst through the skin, slicing his tibial artery, spraying blood on the rocks under him.

“Before the accident, I was a big planner, and I thought I could control everything, until that illusion of security was gone,” DeMartino said. “I didn’t understand that it really was an illusion until I was broken down. It was a big perspective shift.”

Undergoing numerous surgeries, months of recovery and therapy, DeMartino found himself climbing outdoors with a cast on his leg only nine months after the accident.

Facing an intensely painful nerve disorder in his right leg and accepting that it would never fully heal, DeMartino decided to have the leg amputated below the knee in December 2013.

But losing a limb did not stop him from his habit of ascending hard climbs. Rather, it drove him to climb harder.

“Relearning to climb actually was really fun,” DeMartino said. “Before the accident, I could just force my way up a climb. Now, I have to be very conscious of the movement and technique because of my limitations. I’m a better technical climber than I’ve ever been.”

DeMartino returned to the sport using a prosthetic leg and became a professional rock climber in 2008. Since then he has become one of the best paraclimbers (rock climbers with disabilities) in the world.

Climbing and sports magazines have told his story, and he became a motivational speaker six years ago.

The Outdoor Channel reached out to DeMartino earlier this year, asking to tell his story. Conversations continued back and forth between DeMatino and the show’s producers until they finally asked him if he would be interested in hosting the show.

“They took a chance with me,” DeMartino said. “The first couple episodes were definitely a learning experience.”

DeMartino said he was drawn to the opportunity of hosting the show because it gives viewers insights into the survivor mentality.

DeMartino met and interviewed the nine other survivors featured in the show’s first season from March to June.

“There are a lot of common threads,” DeMartino said. “I can connect with a guy that was floating in the ocean for days because we played the same mental games, just in different arenas.”

DeMartino is set to return as the host for the second season of “Fight to Survive.”

He said he hopes the series can promote the ideals he shares in his public speaking: the values of leadership, overcoming obstacles and living in the present.

“Whatever you are dealing with, it is only temporary,” DeMartino said. “For better or worse, your situation is going to change, and you have to be open to that. Once you do that, it is really freeing.”

About DeMartino: Reigning 2014 Paraclimbing national champion. Bronze medal in the 2014 Paraclimbing World Champion- ships held in Gijon, Spain. Bronze medal in the 2012 Paraclimbing World Champion- ships held in Palais de Bercy, France. Five gold medals in the Extremity Games, an extreme sports competition for athletes with disabilities. Along with climbers Jarem Frye and Pete Davis, DeMartino led the first all disabled ascent of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot granite monolith in Yosemite Valley in California's Yosemite National Park in 2012. First amputee to ascend The Nose, a 2,900-foot climb on the southwest face of El Capitan, in 2010. First amputee to ascend El Capitan in a day in 2008.

Age: 49 Hometown: Exeter Township Education: Exeter High School, class of 1983. Kutztown University, majored in communications, design and photography, class of 1987. Lives in: Loveland, Colo. Profession: Climber, motivational speaker, photographer and television host. Family: Wife, Cyndy, and children Mayah, 16, and Will, 14.