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| Colorado climber amputates pinned arm, hikes to safety |
| 2003-05-02 |
| Kind of makes that old football injury of yours look pretty lame, doesn't it? A Colorado climber amputated his own arm Thursday, five days after becoming pinned by a boulder, and he was hiking to safety when he was spotted by searchers, authorities said. Aron Ralston, 27, of Aspen, was in serious condition late Thursday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo. Ralston was climbing Saturday in Blue John Canyon, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in far southwestern Utah, when a 200-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm, authorities said. He ran out of water on Tuesday and on Thursday morning, he 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. "Ouch" just doesn't seem enough, although after having a 200lb rock sitting on your arm for five days, there most likely was not a lot of feeling left in the arm. He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled to the canyon floor. After he had just cut off his own arm! 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. Ralston was described by authorities as an avid outdoorsman in exceptional physical condition. They said he was known to have climbed 49 of Colorado's major peaks. Somehow I don't think that a little thing like this is going to slow him down. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #9 A 1000lb boulder just sorta fell on him? |
| Posted by: john 2003-05-02 22:19:20 |
| #8 If you are going to go by yourself, you need additional backups, a couple of flares, smoke, signal mirror, etc. And an EPIRB is a cheap insurance policy. I carry one with me even on my plane in case its internal ELT lunches out or the plane goes in the drink. Our unhappy camper would still have all his limbs if he had an EPIRB. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-02 17:16:07 |
| #7 Its too bad the rock didn't fall on his left hand, then he would be all right now. |
| Posted by: John G in Chicago 2003-05-02 16:00:34 |
| #6 There goes the career as a paperhanger. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-02 15:44:46 |
| #5 Going climbing alone is way stupid, too many bad things can happen - one slip or fall and your well chewed bones get found by a hiker in the summer. Avid Outdoorsman? Maybe. But not a smart one. You dont go out in the Rockies in the springtime alone and without sufficent gear, including radio gear if you have it - and you let people know where you are going (including your route of travel), your expected return, and when to call the authorities if you dont check in at the right times. I teach that to the kids on weekends here in the Denver area. On a humorous note, he better hope he never hooks up with a "coyote ugly" - he'll have no arms left! |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-05-02 13:50:05 |
| #4 Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's a climber and therefor in pretty good shape. The rock ws 200-pounds and he didn't have to deadlift it or anything. He must have been in an awkward position or pretty badly injured if he couldn't move the rock enough to get his arm out. Depending upon the rock I probably would have been chipping away at the rock with my knife. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-05-02 12:55:12 |
| #3 Showoff. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-02 09:50:18 |
| #2 Hiking alone, one of his brighter ideas? |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-02 08:41:42 |
| #1 Give that man a hand... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-05-02 10:42:01 |