Followers

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Man

Every once in a while, you hear about someone who is best described as "the man"

Today's "man" is Aron Ralston

In April 2003, while he was on a hiking trip in Blue John Canyon (near Moab, Utah), a boulder became dislodged, crushing his right forearm and pinning it against the canyon wall. Ralston had not told anyone of his hiking plans and knew no one would be searching for him. Assuming that he would die, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water while trying to extricate his arm. His efforts were futile as he could not dislodge his arm. He eventually ran out of water, carved his name, date of birth and presumed date of death into the sandstone canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family.

After five days of trying to lift and break the boulder, the dehydrated and delirious Ralston prepared to amputate his trapped right arm below the elbow in order to escape. Although he never named the manufacturer of the tool 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".[5] After freeing himself, he was still seventeen miles from his vehicle, and he had no mobile phone. He had to rappel down a 65-foot (20 m) sheer wall, then hike out of the canyon in the hot midday sun. While hiking out, he encountered a couple on vacation from The Netherlands, Eric and Monique Meijer, and their son, Andy, who gave him water and then alerted the authorities. He was ultimately rescued by a helicopter search team six hours after amputating his arm.

From wikipedia

1 comment: