Aron Ralston

Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountain climber who became famous in May 2003 when he was forced to amputate his lower right arm with a dull knife in order to free himself after his arm became trapped by a boulder. Ralston documented his experience in a book titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" (ISBN 0-7434-9281-1), published by Atria Books on September 7, 2004.

The amputation

Ralston, a student of mechanical engineering and French at Carnegie Mellon University, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. At Carnegie Mellon, he served as a Resident Assistant, studied abroad, and was an active intramural sports participant. He left his job as a mechanical engineer with Intel in 2002 to climb all of Colorado's "fourteeners", or peaks over 14,000 feet high. While he was on a canyoneering trip in Blue John Canyon (near Moab, Utah), a boulder fell and pinned his right forearm, crushing it. After five days of trying to lift and break the boulder, a dehydrated and delirious Ralston bowed his arm against a chockstone and snapped the radius and ulna bones. Using the dull blade on his multiuse tool, he cut the soft tissue around the break. He then used the tool's pliers to tear at the tougher tendons. Although he didn't name which brand (other than to say it was not Leatherman), he did describe it as "what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool". [cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030509climbernat2.asp|title=CMU grad describes cutting off his arm to save his life|accessdate=2007-03-21] After Ralston was rescued, his arm was retrieved by park authorities and removed from under the boulder. It was cremated and given to Ralston. He returned to the boulder and left the ashes there.

The incident has given Ralston something of a folk-hero status and has even inspired spinoffs such as Stanford University's "Aaron Ralston MAN Game"."

Public appearances

He is now a public speaker, predominantly non-profit, and still climbs mountains prolifically, the most recent in Argentina. In 2005, Ralston became the first person to climb all of Colorado's mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation solo in winter, a project he started in 1997 and had to put on hold due to his accident in Blue John Canyon. [cite web|url=http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200604/aron-ralston-1.html|title=My Summit Problem|accessdate=2007-03-21]

On July 21, 2003, Ralston appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman".

On September 10, 2004, Ralston's story was featured on a two-hour edition of "Dateline NBC" called "Desperate Days in Blue John Canyon".

Ralston documented his experience in a book titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" (ISBN 0-7434-9281-1), published by Atria Books on September 7, 2004.

On September 13, 2005, he made an appearance on Howard Stern's nationally syndicated radio program to promote his book. During the interview, Ralston revealed several details about his ordeal, including the facts that his hand had already "died" from lack of circulation days before he amputated it, that he used the boulder that trapped his hand as a leverage device to break the bones in his arm, and he had to drink his own urine for several days after running out of his rationed water. After freeing himself, he was still eight miles from his truck (which incidentally was a stick shift), and he had no cellular phone. He had to rappel down a 65-foot sheer wall, then hike out of the canyon in the hot midday sun. After finally meeting with other hikers in the canyon (a family of three on vacation from the Netherlands), he was given food (two Oreo cookies, all they had) and water and ultimately rescued by a helicopter search team.

On October 6, 2005, Ralston appeared on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson".

Ralston appeared as a panelist in Miller Lite's "Man Laws" ad campaign.

On May 4, 2007, Ralston appeared at Swiss Economic Forum and gave a speech about "how he did not lose his hand, but gained his life back". [http://xtendx.simplex.tv/content/4/5/12/]

References

External links

* Photos of Ralston with prosthetic arm: [http://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/sf/a/images/Between.A.Rock.And.A.Hard.Place.Ralston.jpg] [http://www.aksam.com.tr/arsiv/aksam/2004/03/10/images/a6.jpg]