Blue John Canyon, Utah
An avid outdoorsman sawed off his own arm with a pocketknife last week after it was pinned under an 800-pound boulder in the Utah desert. Aron Ralston, 27, waited five days for help after the rock shifted as he climbed over it, catching his right forearm. Two days after his water ran out, Ralston realized he had to cut himself free or die. “To have the mental fortitude to do that is incredible,” said Mike Hill of Canyonlands National Park. Ralston wrapped his arm in a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, then rappelled 75 feet to the canyon floor. He then walked seven miles, and was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital. Ralston said he’d resume rock climbing after he was fitted for a prosthesis.
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