Mountaineer who cut off arm recovers after surgery

A MOUNTAINEER who cut off part of his arm to save his life after being pinned by an 800-pound boulder in a remote desert area in Utah was in fair condition after undergoing surgery, his parents said.

The surgery shortened the bone in his arm by about one inch and pulled muscles and skin over the end to cover the wound and prepare the arm for a prosthetic device.

Donna and Larry Ralston said their son Aron Ralston, 27, was doing well and had a positive attitude. But his father said he admits he made a mistake in not letting anyone know about his hiking trip. "He realises his error was not to notify anyone, but hiking alone for him is not an excessive risk," his father, Larry Ralston, told reporters during a news conference at St Mary's hospital in Grand Junction.

Mr Ralston's parents said their son had set off for a one-day trip on Saturday, April 26, hiking and rock climbing in Canyonlands National Park. He was trying to get on top of a rock and jammed his feet and hands into crevices to get a better hold. Just then the rock shifted, pinning his arm.

Ralston was stuck for five days and ran out of water after three. On Thursday he used a pocketknife to cut off his right arm below the elbow, then rappelled down a rock wall and hiked exhausted and dehydrated until he ran into some hikers who flagged down a rescue helicopter 60 miles south of Green River, Utah.

He had applied a tourniquet to his arm before the amputation. The arm had been crushed by the boulder.