I’m still marvelling (and shuddering) at the story of the hiker who cut off his own arm to save himself this past week.
I’m wondering if there was anything else a person could do, short of cutting off the arm in a situation like this? There wasn’t a whole lot of the arm trapped under the 800 lb. boulder. Unless the surface of the boulder was shaped exactly like his arm, there might have been some wiggle room at some point. Could he have shoved stones under the boulder (to support it) and pulled with all his might? Wouldn’t his arm have gotten skinnier after a few days?
How can someone cut off their own arm without passing out? Did they ever retrieve the arm from under the boulder?
and then there’s this:
"For reasons he wouldn’t explain, Ralston withheld some details of his story. A publicist told reporters there would be no follow-up interviews soon and no interviews whatsoever with the doctors who treated him. "
I had exactly the same feeling when I read the story. So many “just so” things would have to happen for a man’s forearm to be pinned by a boulder to the degree that amputation was the only way out, that my first instinct was to be skeptical of his story and I stiill am. It may be a story of heroic courage, but I woudn’t be at all suprprised if he turned out to be a self amputation hound.
Actually, you are assuming that his arm was “pinned”. I think that the situation was more like his arm was not quite mashed to a pulp. I think that it is far more likely that the 800 pound rock on his arm had already done a lot of damage; your arm might get thinner, but not if it is already a bit flat already… Also, why do you assume that his arm was under the boulder? I cannot see a boulder just landing on someone’s arm; he was probably pinned against another rock by the boulder, complicating matters and limiting his choice of tools. He was also out of options, as his water supply was running out.
Astro, you have no idea how hard it is to cut a limb off with a dull knife. Until you can attest to the ease of self amputation, do not dismiss someone’s effort just because you are uncomfortable with the concept.
The real problem I’ve having with this story is that he appears to be a strong and fit outdoorsman. Unless it an impossibly awkward situation, I can’t see a man like this not having the strength to shift just enough of an 800 lb boulder off his arm to withdraw it. Like I said, he could well be a hero competley true tale, it’s just a very weird story that he was so trapped he had to cut his arm off.
This would have to be damn near the looniest publicity stunt conceived, if that’s what it is. There’re many ways to get one’s fifteen minutes of fame without cutting off part of your frickin arm - that’s not gonna grow back.
It’s perfectly conceivable for an amputation like that to occur, after five days of being squished the nerves would know what’s up, the body is programmed to respond in that kind of situation. Wolves chew their paws off to get free of traps regularly - we’re animals just the same.
What exactly is so hard to swallow about an 800 pound rock pinning someone’s arm down, what has to happen “just so” for this to be accomplished? Why the leery attitudes? This seems a pretty cut and dry story of Ralston having a big pair of brass ones - the only thing odd to me is people’s speculation about a human using their survival instinct, sacrificing part of his arm, and getting the customary fifteen minutes of fame.
So check this, Dopers, according to the AP, he broke his arm “I was able to first snap the radius and then within another few minutes snap the ulna at the wrist and from there, I had the knife out and applied the tourniquet and went to task. It was a process that took about an hour…”
So he snapped his arm, then cut it apart. One might assume it was pretty much pulverized prior to the snap and amputation, but WHOO!
So what’s nagging at me – quote the AP: For reasons he wouldn’t explain, Ralston withheld some details of his story. A publicist told reporters there would be no follow-up interviews soon and no interviews whatsoever with the doctors who treated him.
Lay odds he got high to get through the cutting and chose not to mention it?
Also, he seems pretty pissed at the cheap imitation of a Leatherman he had to use.
I can’t put my finger on it yet but something just doesn’t sound right with his whole story. I was actually surprised to find someone else had that same “feeling”.
If the story is legit as presented, then I agree with sivispacem in that the human survival instinct is awesome.
So you’re saying that he had a stash of drugs on him, but that he didn’t use them until days had passed? I’m not seeing it.
I am wondering at least three things, though:
First, how did he apply a tourniquette using only one functional arm? He’s got to have some amazing dexterity there, just to tie the knot, and he’d also need some sort of stick to twist it with (since he’s definitely not going to be able to pull the knot tight enough to begin with: That’s hard enough with three hands on the job, much less one).
Second, why the heck wasn’t he able to move an 800 lb rock? I mean, that’s not all that heavy, if all you need to do is shift it a little, using your entire body. Especially if you’re on an adrenaline high, which he surely was at first, at least. Plus, whatever stick he used for the tourniquette (see above) could also have been used as a lever.
Third, what kind of hiking plans was he making (or more likely, not making) if he was stuck out there for almost a week? Only an absolute idiot goes on a wilderness hike alone, and he apparently didn’t even have any communications (cell phone, sattellite phone, or 2-way radio). Did he even tell anyone where he was going, and when he planned to be back? He lives with his parents, the article says… Surely they’d tell the police to send out searchers? Because once that happened, even a mirror would have been an adequate communications device. I can accept that maybe, yes, this guy really was terminally stupid, but I just can’t admire him for his stupidity.
>>>So you’re saying that he had a stash of drugs on him, but that he didn’t use them until days had passed? I’m not seeing it.<<<
Never said that. He could have been high the whole time.
Based on your obvious lack of personal information about rocks and “hikey type-stuff” not to mention your tragic misappropriation of an Einstein quote as a signature, it’s obvious you have no reason to consider yourself worthy of debate.
It’s true the hikers that went back couldn’t move the rock, but pulling a separated item out from under a rock is quite different from being attached to something you’re trying to pull out from under a rock. I also don’t understand where he got the leverage to break his arm. You’ve got your elbow flopping around above the area you want to break, so that means you only have a short end of bone to grab onto and break, and no tools, how did he get enough of a grip on the forearm below the elbow to break? Also, how do you break one bone at a time as he described?
I wish the hiker could tell us exactly how this boulder was placed, and how this happened. I can’t picture this scenario, and it might help other hikers to avoid a similar situation from happening to them.
But remember, if the rock is pinning one arm down, it’s going to be very difficult to get in any position to move the rock. Picture yourself on your back, one arm pinned down, and bringing your other arm over and across your body. No matter how strong a person is, you’re not going to get that much strength into a push from this position. I think it’s clear that he couldn’t use his entire body.
Sorry Cabbage, but no hijack. Let’s meet somewheres else and discuss the misuse of your moebius sig, hyuck. Maybe Great Debates so’s I don’t get PHAGED.
I would. The guy’s described by all accounts to be an avid outdoorsman and climber. Climbers tend to prefer having all their appendages attached.
Btw, the rescuers found several pieces of gear he’d jury-rigged to try to make a hoist to move the rock. No success. I think it’s pretty well established that he tried his damnedest.
Chronos:
Tying knots one-handed is a climber skill. And looking at my own harness, I have a metal pro remover that would do perfectly to tighten a tourniquet. I don’t see the problem at all.
However, we can easily agree that he was out where he shouldn’t have been on his lonesome.
No one seems to have heard of or remembered the hiker who got his leg pinned under a fallen tree and had to amputate his own leg a few years back. No joke. At least the guy who cut off his arm had two sound legs to hike back on.
I remember that, but I thought he was a logger or forestry worker. Didn’t he drag himself back to his truck only to discover that he wouldn’t be able to work the clutch?