Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralstonis an American outdoorsman, engineer and motivational speaker. He survived a canyoneering accident in southeastern Utah in 2003, during which he amputated his own right forearm with a dull pocketknife in order to extricate himself from a dislodged boulder, which had him trapped in Blue John Canyon for five days and seven hours. After he freed himself, he had to make his way through the remainder of the canyon, then rappel down a 65-footsheer cliff face in order...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Climber
Date of Birth27 October 1975
CountryUnited States of America
What I'm doing right here tonight is raise money and give those kids a second chance.
What you're looking at there is my arm, going into the rock... and there it is - stuck. It's been without circulation for 24 hours. It's pretty well gone.
Unless it was a fatal accident, which it doesn't sound like, psychologically it comes down to eating the elephant one bite at a time, (prioritizing) and taking care of the next thing you can do.
I limited myself to one shout a day. But I didn't like the sound of my voice. It sounded panicked, it sounded scared. And I knew from experience you can't hear more than 50 yards either way down a canyon.
And that's where I'm finally at today - my life is about being with my family. This is what's important.
If you want someone to show up and help you if something bad happens, you'd better tell someone where you're going. And of course I wanted someone to know - but I'd made a choice and it was a choice I was going to have to live with.
It's saved lives from depression. It's saved lives from boredom. People tell me they quit their jobs after hearing my story.