[Jeff Head]

This guy has a whole lot of grit.

Ralston was hiking Saturday when he became pinned by the boulder. He ran out of water on Tuesday and on Thursday morning, he decided that his survival required drastic action.

Using a pocketknife, Ralston cut off his right arm below the elbow and applied a tourniquet and administered first aid. He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 60 feet to the canyon floor ...

Ralston described ... what he had done and that he was "obviously tired." His only request was water.

The rescurers tried to keep Ralston awake for the 12-minute flight to the hospital in Moab, Utah, by talking to him. He walked into the emergency room on his own. He was flown later to the Grand Junction hospital.

[Grampa Dave]

Incredible!

[Squantos]

I saw that while I was fixin a bad paper cut........one tough ole boy clearly with a strong will to live .

Stay Safe !

[meadsjn]

The guy had to be hardy to have climbed 49 of Colorado's 14,000-footers. Obviously, he was willing to give up his right arm for a chance to climb the remaining four.

Two good survival lessons here that have been mentioned above:

1. Venturing alone into or through wilderness country is risky; and
2. If you are trapped in the wilderness alone, you might have to make some very difficult decisions in order to survive (such as in this story).

I look forward to seeing a more detailed version of his story.

[Dubya]

WOW! Thanks for the ping.

[redrock]

The area that he was hiking in is a tough one.

Lots of steep canyon walls....and real solitude.

This time of year you might be lucky to see 1 person a week if you're hiking in there.

But...you are 100% correct...he is one tough guy.

redrock