.

The article is long, so here are the gists of it -

"Ralston, 27, of Aspen, Colo., was hiking Saturday in remote Blue John Canyon in southeastern Utah when he became pinned by a boulder. 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 was found on Thursday and was taken to a Moab, Utah, hospital and later was flown later to the Grand Junction, Colo. hospital."

I am completely grossed out by the thought of cutting your own arm off, but have an incredible amount of, erm, respect I guess for this guy. He has balls. I wouldn't have ever been in this stupid situation (hiking alone in a remote, difficult area) but I guess it all turned out for the best.

But, still.

EW!

My knees get weak just thinking about it.

Poor guy, what a decision to have to make. I couldn't, I would freak out and pass out, but it is amazing what hidden strength and courage we human beings do have when faced with a situation like that.

I think I would rather die than do this. yuck yuck yuck

Anyone ever read Gerald's Game by Stephen King? Same motherfucking shit.

A very brave soul, may god always bless him.

Paisley said:

Yes. Quite right!

very very brave guy. i guess in a situation like that, what would one wanna come out with: their life or one less of an arm?

I like tacos.

When I heard about this I thought if I could do this or not and my first reaction... hell no! However, not being in that situation who knows what I would or wouldnt do to save my own life. You do some crazy stuff when you are panicked.

True, this guy has balls. That is, until he traps them under a boulder.

mcmeekle said:

I don't have a lot of compassion for people who put themselves in extremely dangerous situations like this (sounds to me like he was rock climbing, hence the rapelling gear). no fucking way am I going to be climbing a rock face and flaunting with disaster.

his bravery is respectable but I can't say I feel too badly for him.

Nothinbutjoy said:

Rudy said:

word!!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

It's not even about that for me. I could give a fuck about my arm! I just don't want to cut the fucking thing off myself with a pocketknife, then walk 5 miles before finding help!

oh my, my knees feel weak

Natsume said:

true...that'd suck ass.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I wish we had a :suckingass: emoticon.

I do love the one though.

Rudy said:

absolutely agree. i take a certain morbid glee from stories where people are doing extremely ignorant and/or dangerous stuff ON PURPOSE and then are maimed or killed in the process. good for them. they deserve it.



as for cutting off the arm... i hope it wasn't his jacking-off arm. otherwise there's no reason to live!

AaronSuperior said:

Sure you could do it. To save your own life you could do
anything. I think in such a distress situation when you
know you'll die, you're gonna try and do whatever the hell
it takes to get out of a situation alive. Even if it will
cost you a limb.

But goddamn, what a grose story. I wonder if he took the
arm with him. Did they sow it back on?

Wouldn't it have been crude if he'd taken the arm with
him and nearly got out of that canyon, only to find that
he'd attracted a bear with that dead arm dangling in his
rugsack? Imagine, cutting of your own arm to save your
life, only to be beaten over the head with it by a grizzly
and ending up lunch.

i have an enormous amount of respect for this guy.

if it had been me i'd probably have waited another day or two in hopes someone would find me and move the boulder