There are situations in life that put us to the test, there is a key moment that we are going to take to the last day of our existence.
What happened to
Aron Ralston (47)
was really a before and after.
The American was a lover of nature and extreme expeditions.
On one of his hikes through the Utah mountains in 2003, he got stuck on a rock and
had to cut off his arm to survive
.
His story was told the year after the serious accident in an autobiography, and it also made it to the big screen with the movie 127 Hours, which was directed by Danny Boyle and starred James Franco.
How did he manage to survive?
Aron Ralston was a lover of nature and extreme expeditions.
Between engineering and mountaineering
Aron Lee Ralston was born on October 27, 1975 in Ohio,
United States
.
As a child he lived in the state of Colorado and at the age of 12 he discovered his passion for excursions in the canyons.
He completed his secondary education and began his higher studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he graduated.
In addition to being a sports lover, he always liked to learn new things: French and piano were some of his hobbies outside of extreme sports.
During his school and college days, Aron spent a lot of time doing sports.
His friends, in the book that narrates his life
From him Between rock and a hard
(2004), tell of Ralston's love for nature: "The mountains gave him eternal peace of mind."
Once he finished his university studies, he started working as an engineer, but he never quite liked it.
For this reason, in 2002, he decided to abandon his profession and dedicated himself fully to his dream: to be a professional mountaineer.
Aron produced an autobiography of his extreme experience.
The excursion that changed his life
In April 2003, Aron decided to go on the hike of a lifetime.
He packed his survival kit to spend the weekend in Tierra de Canones National Park in Utah.
What seemed like a beautiful challenge ended in a nightmare.
After starting his journey to Blue John Canyon, everything was going relatively well.
The man leaned on a giant stone, immersed in a cave, but it fell on top of him and
he got stuck on the canyon walls
.
The mountaineer was stuck with his right arm in a totally inappropriate place.
Aron spent 172 hours fighting to free himself, but was unsuccessful.
The desperate man grabbed his video camera and recorded himself saying goodbye to him, also hallucinating.
With no food and water supplies, it was time to decide.
The climber had a dream in which he saw himself with a baby-who was presumably his son-and he with one arm missing.
After this situation, driven by his strong emotions, he decided to apply pressure to his right arm with a tube and rope, to prevent blood flow in the affected part, and cut his arm with his small expedition
knife
.
It was more than 2 days of fighting, but he did it.
After amputating his limb, he had to travel 27 kilometers to the place where his vehicle was.
A Utah Medical Service helicopter was flying over the area, which located him and helped him end his ordeal.
Aron had to cut off his arm after 172 hours of suffering.
The doctors gave him emergency care because
he had lost about 25% of his blood
.
Authorities collected the arm from the rock, handing it over to Ralston, who then cremated it and scattered its ashes at the crash site.
Aron, after recovering from the accident of his life, went on an expedition again in 2005 with his friends.
His story became known worldwide
When Aron Ralston's story became public, he was immediately hailed as a hero.
In July 2003, he appeared on the central
Late Night Show
.
This time his story was heard nationally and with it his popularity increased.
The fateful accident gave Aron celebrity status and he started appearing in different public places.
He even provided the voice of him for an episode of the animated series "
The Simpsons"
.
In 2004, Ralston wrote his autobiography titled
Between rock and a hard
, which immediately became a national best-seller.
This story helped British director Danny Boyle get inspired and turn it into a movie.
The film was titled 127 hours, and the role of Aron Ralston was played by actor
James Franco
.
The film was nominated for six Oscars, three Golden Globes and eight BAFTAs, while its box office revenue reached $60 million.
James Franco starred in the movie "127 days", which was inspired by the event of Aron.
still climb mountains
In 2005, Ralston became the first person to climb all 53 Colorado mountains, a project he began in 1998 and resumed after his amputation.
In 2008, he climbed Nevado Ojos del Salado in
Chile
and Monte Pissis in
Argentina
.
That same year, he soloed Mount McKinley.
A year later, he led an expedition with his friends up the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, and up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Aron continues with new projects, he learned his lesson and when he goes on an excursion, he always tells where he is going.
In addition, he became a national speaker and tells the story of his survival in different public places in the United States.
look also
The crazy story of David Hahn, the young man who built a nuclear reactor in his room
Angus Barbieri, the Scotsman who did not eat for a year and lost 126 kilos