Aron Ralston

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) is an American mountaineer who gained international fame through a self- amputation of his hand.

Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston at the premiere of 127 Hours

Life

Aron Ralston had set himself the goal of climbing all 59 four-thousand-meter peaks in Colorado single-handedly. On April 26, 2003, an accident occurred while a canyon hike in Blue John Canyon, Utah , in which a boulder caught Ralston's right hand.

Ralston tried to break free for five days, but his strategies were unsuccessful:

  • The process of smashing or crushing the boulder with his pocket knife was too slow.
  • The self-made pulley system had too much power loss in the system due to the use of snap hooks instead of pulleys .
  • The amputation of his arm was prevented by the blunt penknife and the insight that he could never cut the bone with it.

The time he was trapped was recorded by Ralston on his camcorder . Faced with possible death, he said goodbye to his family. He keeps the footage under lock and key to this day and only showed it to his family and closest friends. For the film 127 Hours , which recreates the accident story, director Danny Boyle and actor James Franco , who plays the role of Aron Ralston, were the only outsiders allowed to see the material. The film was released in theaters in 2010.

After five sleepless days and nights, hypothermic and almost dehydrated, he finally solved the problem of severing the bone by breaking his ulna and radius . To do this, he bent the arm of his trapped hand in one direction until one of the bones broke. He cut the soft tissues and blood vessels with a penknife. He then had to walk 13 kilometers before being found and rescued by hikers.

His deed, which many people hardly understand, and his unshakable urge to survive, earned him not only numerous articles in magazines and newspapers but also a guest appearance on the David Letterman Show . The magazine " Gentlemen's Quarterly " named him Man of the Year 2003.

Today Ralston wears a prosthetic arm and says he will not miss his arm in view of the experience gained from the accident. A second life has begun for him, which he is now going through much more intensely than the previous one. His specially constructed arm prosthesis carries an ice ax , which enables him to continue climbing. In March 2004, about ten months after the amputation, Ralston climbed a four-thousand-meter peak alone for the first time. In the following winter, he achieved the goal he had set himself, to climb all 59 four-thousand-meter peaks in Colorado. His hand was cremated and the ashes scattered over the canyon. Today Aron lives in India with his wife and child .

Aron Ralston, 2009

Fonts

German:

  • In the canyon: five days and nights until the most difficult decision of my life. German by Susanne Schädlich . Ullstein, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-550-07620-7 .
    • Special edition: 127 Hours - In the Canyon: Five days and nights until the most difficult decision of my life. Ullstein, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-548-37408-6 .

English:

literature

  • My most brilliant idea. Article about Aron Ralston in Facts magazine , No. 19/2005.

Web links

Commons : Aron Ralston  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 127 Hours. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Schnipp-schnapp, arm from article with trailer in: Tages-Anzeiger from November 4, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Ralston, Aron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ralston, Aron Lee (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American climber
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis , Indiana