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MOAB, Utah, May 2 — Pinned by a boulder for five days and having run out of water, a climber amputated his own arm with a pocket knife, rappelled down a cliff and walked until rescuers found him.
RON RALSTON, 27, of Aspen, Colo., was in serious condition Friday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., following the ordeal Thursday. Ralston was climbing Saturday in Blue John Canyon, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in far southwestern Utah, when a 1,000-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm, authorities said. Initial reports said the boulder might have weighed 200 pounds, but rescuers who later went to the site said it weighed closer to 1,000 pounds.
‘NO OTHER OPTION’
Sheriff’s Sgt. Mitch Vetere told NBC’s “Today” show that the team that went to the site concluded “he had no other option” but to cut off his arm because the air-based search team “wouldn’t have seen him from the air.”
Ralson was able to tell rescuers that he ran out of water on Tuesday, and on Thursday morning 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 75 feet to the canyon floor. He hiked downstream and was spotted about 3 p.m. by a Utah Public Safety Helicopter.
ALL ‘HE WANTED WAS WATER’
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. Vetere, who led the air search, spotted Ralston with two hikers near a trail head. Ralston was then loaded into a helicopter for the 12-minute flight to a hospital. Ralston was “thoroughly exhausted,” Vetere said. “The only thing he wanted was water.”
Wow. I'm impressed.
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