Aron Ralston - Climber Amputee Interview

[hso]

Just saw the interview. He used a Leatherman knockoff!! "It was like a Leatherman, but not as nice. A $15 thing that you'd get for buying a flashlight." He had tried to chip the rock away with it before giving that up and deciding that he had to resort to amputation. On his first attempt he couldn't even break the skin. "It was so dull that it wouldn't break the skin. (laughs) It wouldn't even cut the hair." He eventually tried again a couple of days later and broke the skin sawing back and forth, but couldn't cut the bone. He resorted to levering himself into position to BREAK the bones of his forearm one at a time so that he could cut through the broken forearm.

The doctors told him that after the first few hours the tissue damage and loss of circulation would have resulted in loss of the arm. Considering the remoteness of the location it would have taken too long for an immediately alerted rescue team to have helped him keep his arm.

When asked what he wanted to do when he got out of the hospital he said that he wanted to go for a walk with his parents and sister and have "a big tastey Margareta, if the doctors will let me".

 

[Bruz]

Hey Hso, saw the press conference also...quite a guy. Got me thinking, alot of people (including myself untill recently) only feel they need a plain blade with no serations. This story, as an example, would appear to point out the possible need for a part serrated?

 

[mete]

He should have sharpened the knife on the rock after all they used rocks long before they they had fancy sharpening tools.

 

[Ol' Badger]

He said it himself in the interview...The blade was dull, wouldn't even cut his arm hair!! People Sharpen your knives please. I did after hearing the story to knives that didnt even need to be sharpend. I mean damn! took day and a hafe to cut his own arm off
Like brownie says "Keep your steel sharp"

 

[brownie0486]

The rock that pinned him may have and probably was very course which would prevent one from getting much of an edge on a blade.

In the old days they used rocks from stream beds that were smoothed considerably from centuries of wearing down to stone from running water.

I have sharpened a k-bar that way [ on rocks ] while on an extended camping trip in a remote area. As usual I brought too much gear and forgot a few necessities [ like a sharpening stone or ceramic stick ]. BTW--using a rock from one of the steam beds wasn't the easiset thing I have ever had to do in the field. Never got a good edge but an edge that would at least cut something.

The tool he used should have had two blades, one serrated and one not so like most of them [even chaep ones]. If caught in that scenario I would have tried to keep the serrated edged blade from being used and would have been digging at the rock as reprted with the PE blade only.

Forethought goes a long way. If he had used a blade to chip at the rock to affect his release and it wasn't working out I would not be attempting to take the only sharp edge I had left, [ the serrated blade ] to further dig at the rock as it would be futile if the first blade wasn't making progress to begin with.

My SAK multi-tool is always on my belt as well as the defensive knives clipped to pockets and around the neck.

He may have been pinned on ledge under the rock or otherwise he would have not been chipping at the rock but digging the arm out from underneath. He appears to have not been able to do so and no mention of that type of attempt has been stated so one has to assume he could not dig from below the arm which would have been easier if he could have done so.

He made several mistakes but he survived and so in the final analysis he deserves much credit. Most others would surely have perished. Kudos to the will to survive.

BTW-- very good advice about keeping the knives sharp. If you want a dull knife buy an axe.

Brownie

 

[hso]

I'll provide a little more detail about the situation he was in.

The canyon was very narrow and of the rock not dirt type. The boulder had pinned his lower forearm between the rock wall of the canyon and the boulder crushing the forearm, but not breaking the bones.

As to sharpening - all but a very few here can sharpen a knife under the best of circumstances and fewer still could do it under other-than-ideal circumstances (brownie, Don, Rennaisance Man). Given that he was carrying a POS multiplier we could assume that he wasn't part of the knife culture. The fact that he had the thing at all indicates that he considered it important to carry a tool, but that he never considered it's use as a survival tool. Of course, even if he was carrying a Sebenza with a hair popping sharp edge he would have only had AN EASIER TIME OF CUTTING HIS OWN ARM OFF.

Considering that he broke the two bones of his forearm one at a time I don't doubt that he would have found some way to get the arm loose even if he had to use the broken ends of the bones to tear the thing off after the bones were broken.

 

[Penforhire]

His tone of voice was amazingly jovial, as if he was talking about something that happened years ago. If I could only bottle his attitude to use on a rainy day. Unbelievable.

 

[scottgun]

This guy is a moron. This episode will make a great prelude for his final Darwin Award story.

P.S. This same guy was caught in an avalanche this winter, he was crossing known avalanche area, not too bright.

Maybe next time he would at least bring a cell phone? You can dial it with one hand.

 

[Jim March]

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