Reply With QuoteThen he was heard to say I am going to disneyland.
MOAB, Utah, May 2 — Pinned by a boulder for five days and having run out of water, a climber amputated his own arm with a pocket knife, rappelled down a cliff and walked until rescuers found him.
‘I’ve never seen anybody who has the will to live and is as much of a warrior as Aron is, and I’ve been doing this for 25 years.’
— STEVE SWANKE Park ranger ARON RALSTON, 27, of Aspen, Colo., was in serious condition Friday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., following the ordeal Thursday.
Ralston was climbing Saturday in Blue John Canyon, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in far southwestern Utah, when a 1,000-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm, authorities said.
Initial reports said the boulder might have weighed 200 pounds, but rescuers who later went to the site said it weighed closer to 1,000 pounds.
‘NO OTHER OPTION’
Sheriff’s Sgt. Mitch Vetere told NBC’s “Today” show that the team that went to the site concluded “he had no other option” but to cut off his arm because the air-based search team “wouldn’t have seen him from the air.”
Ralson was able to tell rescuers that he ran out of water on Tuesday, and on Thursday morning decided that his survival required drastic action.
Using his pocketknife, he amputated his arm below the elbow and applied a tourniquet and administered first aid.
He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 75 feet to the canyon floor.
He hiked downstream and was spotted about 3 p.m. by a Utah Public Safety Helicopter.
The search for Ralston had begun the same morning, after authorities were notified he was four days overdue reporting for work.
Vetere, who led the air search, spotted Ralston with two hikers near a trail head. Ralston was then loaded into a helicopter for the 12-minute flight to a hospital.
Ralston was “thoroughly exhausted,” Vetere said. “The only thing he wanted was water.”
‘HE IS A WARRIOR’
Ralson walked into the emergency room on his own.
“I’ve never seen anybody who has the will to live and is as much of a warrior as Aron is, and I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” said park ranger Steve Swanke, who was with Ralston in the emergency room. “He is a warrior period.”
RalstonÂ’s expeditions have been known to trigger awe, said Brion After, manager of the Ute Mountaineering store in Aspen where Ralston works. After said Ralston has climbed 49 of ColoradoÂ’s 14,000-foot-plus mountains.
“To be honest, sometimes we get pretty scared with some of the things he’s doing,” After said.
Then he was heard to say I am going to disneyland.
Blown 472:
Then he was heard to say I am going to disneyland. As handicapper he can bypass lines, along with 5 in a group. Good deal for handicapped. Includes diabetics too!
It's amazing what people can do with a strong will to survive! I read an artical on a man who had his leg trapped and performed an amputation on himself,then hiked about 5 miles with a crutch
bloody amazing!
hoolign:
It's amazing what people can do with a strong will to survive! I read an artical on a man who had his leg trapped and performed an amputation on himself,then hiked about 5 miles with a crutch
bloody amazing! Emphasis on bloody.
[ May 02, 2003, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: leibniz ]
If he had enough movement to use the knife...why couldn't he use his good arm to release his pinned arm?
Hard to move a 1000 pound rock even with two arms..... frown
How do you get a 1,000 pound rock on you
By the way, the picture above was the before picture. I could comment on 1 arm jokes, but RD may get mad
Mandelon:
Hard to move a 1000 pound rock even with two arms.....Good point...(duh)...but still how do you get your arm pinned like that? I want the nasty details.
Another thought I had was if it was pinned for days...I'm sure the blood circulation was cut off and his arm was probably 'dead' anyhow and it may even have been numb...what do you think?
Yah, true. Shock setting in, no food for 4 days...Probably nibbled on the extra flesh on his way down. Like Jerky?? eek!
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