Montain Sport Story

Aaron Ralston, a 27-year-old mountain sports fanatic from Colorado in the United States, found himself in dire straits* alone in a canyon* in the desert when a 500kg rock came crashing down the canyon to smash his right hand and trap it against the canyon wall. .

At the last minute the plans for a trip with his climbing partners had fallen through, and on the spur of the moment he decided to head out on his own to cycle up a long mountain trail, leave his bike and then walk down the Blue John canyon. No one had the slightest idea where he was.

After three days of not seeing or hearing any sign of life Aaron realised he would die there if he didn't do something drastic.  The knife had two blades. When he tried with the larger blade he found that it was too blunt to cut the skin.

The following day he found the courage to try the shorter blade, and with that he managed to cut through the skin. Only when he had made a large hole in his arm did he realise that it was going to be impossible to use any of the little tools on his knife to cut through the bones.  With a final burst of energy he broke both bones in his arm and freed himself.

Despite his ingenuity* and all his efforts he would have bled to death if it hadn't been for a very happy coincidence: the moment he got out of the canyon into the open desert the rescue helicopter just happened to be flying overhead.

of the doctors at the hospital recalls being impressed to see Ralston walk into the hospital on his own, in spite of his injuries and the gruelling experience of being in the desert for six days with almost nothing to eat and only a couple of litres of water. He describes the amputation as remarkable. "It's a perfect example of someone improvising in a dire situation*," he said. "He took a small knife and was able to amputate his arm in such a way that he did not bleed to death."

Slim and pale with short reddish-brown hair, Ralston believes that his story was not simply about an isolated individual who rose to a formidable challenge. For him there was a spiritual* dimension to the experience. In his news conference he said, "I may never fully understand the spiritual aspects of what I experienced, but I will try. The source of the power I felt was the thoughts and prayers of many people, most of whom I will never know."

Aaron's Own Account of His Ordeal