[OT] Now this is amazing... I'm honestly stunned.

[Broken Fang]

That just goes to show you...don't get into a fight with someone from Colorado.

 

[Larry Fitz]

Have any of you ever heard of Goran Krupp? Or my personal hero Anatoli Boukreev? They have both passed on (while doing things us mere mortals quiver while even contemplating) so Aron Ralston is my new hero. Goran bicycled from his home in Stockholm to Mount Everest, climbed it alone, came back down and bicycled home. He brought all the gear he would need with him. Anatoli was the man who saved what few people did get saved during the disastrous Everest climbing season of 1996. These are the guys who have 18's for stats. So when people tell me they should have an 18 in some stat (particularly Con or Wis), I think of guys like these and I laugh. Theses are people who not only were in the peak of human physical condition, but when they had pushed their mortal flesh as far as it would go, went on through willpower alone. Me? I sometimes find it hard to summon the willpower to find the TV remote....

 

[Ds Da Man]

Ummm.....don't want to sound like I could do what he did, but a 1,000 lb boulder sits on top off my arm, I imagine that it probably smashed the bone to bits. That probably caused some shock which allowed a reprieve from the pain. With no or very little blood coursing into the appendage, it probably felt asleep at most anyway. I cant believe he still could climb DOWN after the incident. That right there is just unbelieveable!

 

[med stud]

To cut of his own arm and make a climb when he hadnt been drinking anything for two days makes it even more amazing; these kind of people must be from a special breed...

 

[Mark]

That just goes to show you...don't get into a fight with someone from Colorado.

Do not mock him or he will march back there, recover that arm, find you and beat you over the head with it. Talk about tough!

 

[kengar]

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,
To serve their turn long after they are done,
And thus hold on, when there is nothing in you,
Except the will, which says to them, "Hold On!"

-from R. Kipling's If

 

[Tsyr]

Ummm.....don't want to sound like I could do what he did, but a 1,000 lb boulder sits on top off my arm, I imagine that it probably smashed the bone to bits. That probably caused some shock which allowed a reprieve from the pain. With no or very little blood coursing into the appendage, it probably felt asleep at most anyway. I cant believe he still could climb DOWN after the incident. That right there is just unbelieveable!

Even if pain wasn't a factor (Which I doubt), I just can't conceptualize the nerves it would take to be able to sit there and remove one of my own arms with a pocket knife, even with pretty much assured death balancing the scales on the other side.

 

[diaglo]

animals are known to do it all the time. what is amazing is the fact this guy will be able to tell us about the thought process necessary.

not me. but then again i wouldn't be there.

 

[Enceladus]

Saw a story once about a man who cut off his leg to get out from under a tree that fell on him.


with a pocket knife.

*note to self* Bring a large cutting device in case of getting trapped under something heavy while camping.

 

[Daredevill]

Amazing story. Climbers really are a breed apart.

I'd like clarify one point about the story though. The climber didn't actually "climb" down, he rappelled down on his rope. Just a small detail, but an important one, as he probably would not have been able climb down with one arm. For climbers, the rope is your lifeline, often the difference between life and death in the mountains. Thank God he had a rope (and knife).

If anyone wants to read an incredible account of the '96 Everest expedition that Larry Fitz brought up, check out "Into Thin Air" by John Krakaurer. An absolutely fantastic book. A must read for all, wether you climb or not.