Aron Ralston: The Canyoneer Who Cut Off His Own Arm

All his life nobody really took notice of Aron Ralston except his childhood buddies and family…until Ralston cut off his own arm and did rehab.

At Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, Aron majored in mechanical engineering and French.  He studied abroad, was book smart, and participated in intramural sports.

In 2002 Ralston left his job at Intel to climb, in the winter.  His intention was to climb all of the 14,000 foot peaks (the “fourteeners”) in Colorado.

During a canyoneering trip near Moab, Utah, a boulder fell and crushed his right arm and lodged it against the wall of the canyon.  Unfortunately, Ralston had not notified anyone about his plans to hike so he assumed he would die.

Over the course of 5 days Ralston slowly drank the last of the water he had with him and tried to free his arm.  After running out of water he drank his own urine.  Ralston carved his name, date of birth and the day he thought he would die in the side of the sandstone wall, then he videotaped amazing pictures and said his goodbyes.

For five days he tried to lift the boulder.  He was dehydrated and delirious.  He prepared to whack off his dead arm.  He levered it with a chockstone and broke the radius and ulna.  He had a knife with him so he then sawed the soft tissue near the broken bones.

Ralston, now armless and phoneless, had to travel 8 miles to his truck, a stick shift.  Before he got to his truck he had to rappel an almost 70 ft. wall, which he did successfully.  On the way out of the canyon, Ralston ran into a family from the Netherlands.  They gave him all of their food and water and alerted authorities.  A helicopter rescued Ralston.

Later, Ralston’s arm was found by authorities then cremated.  Ralston was given the ashes which he left next to the boulder at the accident site when he returned.

Ralston, in 2005, was the first to climb all fourteeners in the winter, solo.  In 2010 Ralston’s goal is to hike to the peak of Mt. Everest to raise public awareness for climate change.

Was it worth it for Ralston to lose his arm?  As a corporate speaker he now brings in $15,000 to $37,000 per appearance.  So yes, maybe it was worth it.  I guess you’ll have to ask him.