Colorado Rock Climber Amputates Own Arm

by Hmmm 24 Replies latest jw friends

  • Hmmm
    Hmmm

    I dont usually start new threads that have NOTHING to do with JW stuff--heck I dont post that much at all, anymore--but this story blew me away. From Yahoo news: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030502/ap_on_re_us/climber_amputation_3

    MOAB, Utah - 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.

    He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 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.

    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.

    This guy would kick Rambo's @$$!

    Hmmm

  • dubla
    dubla

    i saw this on the news this morning....simply amazing. a question for everyone: could you do it? i think id die pinned, unfortunately. i was wondering if they tried to get his arm back for him, possibly re-attach it? or was it too late for that already?

    aa

  • Valis
    Valis

    I guess he could of used a hand..

    I have read about stuff like this before..does anyone subscribe to Outside magazine? crazy stuff like that in there sometimes and a great adventure mag..

    Sincerely,

    District Overbeer

  • Simon
    Simon
    a question for everyone: could you do it?

    I think this is where some intelligence comes in ... don't get in that situation in the first place !!

    Doing dangerous things like that alone is dumb, dumb, dumb.

  • TresHappy
    TresHappy

    Could I do that? I don't even want to let my mind go there...

  • Scully
    Scully

    After 5 days of being pinned, I suspect what was left of the pinned part of his arm was already beyond repair/saving. He probably had no sensation left in the arm when he amputated it either.

    While it is sickening to think of amputating your own arm, it probably saved his life... gangrene and sepsis is a horrible way to go.

    Love, Scully

  • Joyzabel
    Joyzabel

    I grew up in farm country and I heard of a farmer who while repairing his combine out in the field, got his arm caught and have to amputate his arm with his pocetknife. Saved his life. I always wonder if I could do the same in a similar situation.

    Boy, those are survivors!

    j2bf

  • dubla
    dubla

    simon-

    good point......and especially without a full battery on your cell phone at the very least. i wouldnt go rock climing by myself either, but theres always the 0.000000000000000001 percent chance that an unexpected event could leave you trapped in a similar way.......a plane crash where youre the only survivor, trapped in between a piece of the fuselage and the side of a mountain, for example. of course, hypothetical "what would you do" questions are usually just food for thought, and not intended to actually prepare anyone for the remote possibility that it would ever happen to them.

    aa

  • SixofNine
    SixofNine

    Mine grew back, maybe his will too.

  • SixofNine

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