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Did Climber Have to Cut Off Arm to Save Life?

It was Thursday, May 1st, five days after Aron Ralston had first entered Utah's Bluejohn Canyon on what should have been an eight-hour, 13-mile (21-kilometer) day hike. But on his way, while scrambling through a narrow section of the sandstone slot, Ralston dislodged an 800-pound (363-kilogram) chockstone that rolled on its pinch points and pinned his hand and forearm. His supplies—two burritos and three liters of water—were now gone, and there was virtually no chance of rescue. Unless Ralston did something drastic, he would not make it out alive.

Ralston, a 27-year-old mountaineer from Aspen, Colorado, is an experienced outdoorsman and a former member of the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue Council. Bluejohn Canyon was well within his technical and physical ability, but a freak accident had him trapped. What's worse, Ralston had broken his own first rule: He had failed to leave word with anyone of where he was going that day.

By the morning of May 1st, after five days trapped beneath the massive boulder, Ralston resolved set himself free by amputating his own right hand using his only resource—a multitool. He broke his radius and ulna then cut through the remaining skin and tendons, freeing himself and saving his life.

The media descended on the story in droves. Ralston was deemed a hero, a warrior, even (in one college newspaper headline) a "badass." But some in the local climbing community felt that there was another side to the story...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0724_030724_AronRalsto
n.html

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