Trapped climber cuts off arm with pocketknife

AFTER being trapped under a boulder for five days in a remote area of southern Utah, USA, Aron Ralston resorted to a desperate measure. He cut off his arm with a pocketknife, according to the sheriff’s deputies. Officers found Ralston around 3pm on Thursday walking and covered in blood.

"Once he cut his limb off, he had to climb down to the base of the cliff so he could come out of the canyon," said Sgt Mitch Vetere of the Emery County Sheriff's Office. "He's got to be the toughest guy I've ever seen."

Ralston, 27, from Aspen, Colorado, had embarked on what was to be a one-day solo climb on Saturday in Bluejohn Canyon, adjacent to the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park.

During his climb in a three-foot- wide section of the canyon, a 200-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm, police say. Ralston ran out of water on Tuesday and by Thursday, deputies say, he had begun amputating his arm below the elbow.

That same morning, the Emery County Sheriff's Office and National Park Service began a search for Ralston after hearing he had not reported for work. Vetere had been surveying the area by helicopter when Ralston was spotted.

"It was amazing he was walking on his own, losing as much blood as fast as he was," Vetere said.

Ralston was taken to St Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, where he was listed in serious condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Kimberly Williams. Authorities told the Denver Post they had located but not recovered the limb.

In an odd coincidence, the Denver Post published a piece on Monday detailing Ralston's narrow escape from death in an avalanche in February on Resolution Peak in Colorado the same time that he lay pinned by the boulder in Utah.

Ralston's website at www.geocities.com/aronralston reads like an encyclopedia of adventure, showing pictures from his recent excursions in hiking, climbing, ballooning, skiing and more.

Vetere said rescues happen almost weekly in the remote region, but he had never seen a situation like Ralston's. "You get to the point where they're dead and it's just a recovery, or something like this where the guy's just as tough as nails and just had the will to live," Vetere said.