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That's gotta sting...
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Reuters) - A mountaineer facing death after being pinned by an 800-pound boulder in the Utah desert said on Thursday he had to break his arm bone before he could cut the limb off with a dull knife.
Aron Ralston, 27, said in the beginning of his five-day ordeal he threw his body against the rock to free himself and then tried to chip away at it before realizing his only chance to live was to cut off his arm.
'At no point was I ever able to get the boulder to budge even microscopically,' Ralston told reporters at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, where he is recuperating.
Ralston was rescued last week Thursday after cutting off his right arm, then rappelling down a canyon and hiking about six miles before he came across two Dutch hikers. He was airlifted to hospital.
After three days of being stuck and after having eaten the last few crumbs in a candy bar wrapping, he decided to amputate his right arm.
But he made little progress. He started sawing back and forth with his pocketknife to no avail. The knife was so dull that he could not even cut the hair on his arm.
Two days later he realized he had to do something while he was still coherent. 'It was the last opportunity I would have and still have the physical strength to get out,' he said.
HAD TO BREAK THE BONES
'It occurred to me I could break my bones,' he said as his mother, who was near tears, sat by his side.
First the radius snapped just above his wrist. He kept twisting his arm and a few minutes later the ulna broke. The whole process, including setting out bandages and first aid supplies, took about an hour.
He said all he could do was endure the pain. 'I felt pain and I coped with it.'
He said his courage came from being 'pragmatic.'
Ralston, a former engineer at Intel Corp. who lives in Aspen, Colorado, had set off for a one-day trip on Saturday, April 26, hiking and rock climbing in Utah's Canyonlands National Park.
While admitting that he should not have been alone and that he should at least have left his itinerary with someone, Ralston said what befell him could not have been avoided.
'Once that boulder came to rest there was no way I would be released in time to save my hand and arm,' he told reporters.
He said his surgeon told him the arm suffered significant soft tissue damage and loss of circulation.
He said different emotions flooded his body at different times during his five day ordeal. At first it was all adrenaline flowing, but then he realized he had to calm down.
He said he looks forward to getting out of the hospital and getting back to the outdoors.
'I'm looking forward to a giant margarita,' he said.
When Ralston walked into a room for the news conference he held up a camera to take pictures of the assembled press. 'These are for me,' he said, smiling.
In the desert his moods ranged from focusing on solving his dilemma to depression and remorse.
He barely slept during the ordeal and had run out of water after three days.
Because of the way he was pinned by the boulder he stood for most of the time until he fashioned a seat from the ropes he had with him.
He said he kept thinking about his family and friends. 'There was a presence in that canyon. I felt the presence of my family and my friends,' he said.
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