Aron Ralston Part 1 of 6 Desperate Days in Blue John Canyo — Transcript

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1. 0:00a young hiker trapped for 6 days 100 ft
2. 0:03below ground his arm crushed under this
3. 0:07800 lb Boulder I dropped down
4. 0:11here and the boulder came and it smashed
5. 0:16my left hand
6. 0:17here and it smashed my right hand up
7. 0:20here he was invisible alone his food and
8. 0:24water running out hundreds of miles away
9. 0:27his mother was determined to find her
10. 0:29son my son has been reported missing
11. 0:32since last Thursday night with death
12. 0:34closing in he made a heartbreaking tape
13. 0:37for his family whoever finds this please
14. 0:40make an attempt to get it to them and
15. 0:42then a bold decision to free himself by
16. 0:46cutting off his own arm I said to
17. 0:50myself here we go Aaron you're in it now
18. 0:52and I took my knife and tonight with Tom
19. 0:55broka this astonishing young man returns
20. 0:59to where it all happened this is
21. 1:01emotional for me I can't imagine what
22. 1:02it's like for
23. 1:04[Music]
24. 1:05you the place where he sank to the
25. 1:08depths of Despair and at first I just
26. 1:10carved the four letters of my
27. 1:13name a r o n I wrote
28. 1:18rip right
29. 1:21there but also the place where near
30. 1:24death became a rebirth was the happiest
31. 1:27moment of my life the exclusive story of
32. 1:31an extraordinary Escape desperate days
33. 1:34in blue John Canyon reported by Tom
34. 1:38broko good evening from Canyon Country
35. 1:41in Southeastern Utah this wild and
36. 1:44beautiful place is irresistible to
37. 1:46people with a sense of adventure last
38. 1:48year was the destination of a young man
39. 1:50named Aaron ralson on a beautiful spring
40. 1:54day he set out for a hike through the
41. 1:55canyon lands National Park not far from
42. 1:58here for some personal relaxation and
43. 2:01Solitude it became a journey that would
44. 2:03take ralson from Panic to despair
45. 2:07finally to Hope a journey in which he
46. 2:09would be forced to do something the rest
47. 2:11of us find almost impossible to imagine
48. 2:15because he had a video camera with him
49. 2:17tonight you'll relive some of that
50. 2:19Journey starting with a shockingly inent
51. 2:22moment when this young man was convinced
52. 2:25that he was going to
53. 2:27die my name is Aon r
54. 2:32my parents are Don and Larry Ralston of
55. 2:34Englewood
56. 2:36Colorado whoever finds this please make
57. 2:39an attempt to get it to
58. 2:43them be sure of it I would appreciate
59. 2:53it it was more than one year ago that
60. 2:5627-year-old Erin rolson sat out alone
61. 2:59for an an afternoon hike in this rugged
62. 3:02and remote Canyon in Utah Southeastern
63. 3:04desert you may not recognize his name or
64. 3:08his face but chances are you do remember
65. 3:10his incredible story Rolston became
66. 3:13trapped in this remote Slot Canyon his
67. 3:16right arm and his Spirit crushed beneath
68. 3:19the enormous weight of this
69. 3:21Boulder it was the most intense pain
70. 3:24I've ever felt in my life he was so
71. 3:28completely hidden from sight that
72. 3:29Searchers would never spot him and so
73. 3:32far from civilization that his cries for
74. 3:34help would never be heard I thought I
75. 3:37was going to die food water and hope
76. 3:41were in short supply it was a very dark
77. 3:44time for
78. 3:45me his only real chance for survival a
79. 3:49dull pocket knife and whatever courage
80. 3:52he could summon to use it it came down
81. 3:54to whether I could cut through my arm or
82. 3:56not and I couldn't do it six agonizing
83. 3:59days later Aaron Ron succumbed to
84. 4:01Despair and prepared to die all alone in
85. 4:04this Canyon what is so remarkable is
86. 4:07that he lived to tell about it it is the
87. 4:10ultimate survivors Tale one man's will
88. 4:13to live and his triumph over death as
89. 4:15chronicled in his new book you know how
90. 4:18the story ends but the only way to truly
91. 4:21understand it is to see it through his
92. 4:23eyes Tonight We join eron rolon for a
93. 4:27remarkable and emotional Journey as he
94. 4:29returns for the first time to the canyon
95. 4:32that was almost his
96. 4:34tomb he chose the date the 6mth
97. 4:37anniversary of the accident that cost
98. 4:39him his right arm recovered enough now
99. 4:42to face the memories that haunt him and
100. 4:44hopefully to find some peace it was a
101. 4:47day a lot like this it's totally clear
102. 4:49skies nice weather Spring was exploding
103. 4:52in Southeastern Utah that April weekend
104. 4:54last year the cactus were in bloom the
105. 4:56desert was coming back to life just seem
106. 4:59familar to you do you remember when you
107. 5:00were coming down through this passage I
108. 5:02do I was by myself again here pulled my
109. 5:05headphones back over my ears and was
110. 5:07listening to some some fish music and
111. 5:09was just walking along enjoying the
112. 5:12[Music]
113. 5:14sunshine rson lived for weekends such as
114. 5:18this wandering and exploring Discovery
115. 5:20and self-discovery testing Nature's
116. 5:23boundaries and pushing his own limits he
117. 5:26had set out from his home in Aspen
118. 5:27Colorado 2 days earlier third Thursday
119. 5:30April 24th
120. 5:312003 his plan was to Drive West guide
121. 5:35book in hand wherever the wind might
122. 5:37take him that turned out to be
123. 5:39Southeastern Utah Canyonlands National
124. 5:42Park Canyonlands is quite literally the
125. 5:45middle of nowhere more than 500 square
126. 5:48miles of wild and primitive desert
127. 5:51nothing as far as the eye can see and
128. 5:53then some by Friday night rolon was
129. 5:56camped near a remote Trail in the middle
130. 5:58of the desert some 300 mil from home
131. 6:01more than 30 mil from the nearest paved
132. 6:04Road Saturday morning he headed into the
133. 6:07park on his mountain bike he took only
134. 6:09enough supplies for the afternoon
135. 6:10intending to return to Camp later that
136. 6:13night at any point before you get where
137. 6:16the accident occurred did you have any
138. 6:19anxiety any sense of Doom any any sense
139. 6:23of peril it was quite the opposite I I
140. 6:25was actually just I think feeling
141. 6:27settled into the
142. 6:30the rhythm of of moving at my own pace
143. 6:33just feeling the sand moving beneath my
144. 6:35feet and the sun on my neck it's this
145. 6:38the reason I came out here he was also
146. 6:40looking forward to what was coming next
147. 6:43Blue John Canyon one of the Park's most
148. 6:45unique features blue John is what is
149. 6:48known as a Slot Canyon from the ground
150. 6:50it's almost invisible from above it
151. 6:53appears to be little more than a deep
152. 6:54crack cutting through the desert terrain
153. 6:56but inside an almost surreal environment
154. 7:00with twisting Serpentine walls that can
155. 7:02stretch hundreds of feet deep a place a
156. 7:05solitary hiker looking to lose himself
157. 7:08in another world could find himself lost
158. 7:11forever a lot of people say why go alone
159. 7:15why take that chance in a case like this
160. 7:18it's just the chance to be alone with
161. 7:20your thoughts to get to that point where
162. 7:22you're just experiencing what what there
163. 7:24is to to feel and and to be in the
164. 7:27moment here it I mean it's kind of been
165. 7:29a way selfish but it uh it heightens the
166. 7:32experience of what what there is just
167. 7:34that rawness part of the appeal is
168. 7:36testing yourself as well isn't it I I
169. 7:39think so there's no one else to rely on
170. 7:42uh when you're in a difficult spot
171. 7:43there's no other person to bounce your
172. 7:45decisions off of so the the
173. 7:47self-reliance becomes a bigger part of
174. 7:49the experience when you're by
175. 7:53yourself in the next few days Aaron
176. 7:56Ron's self-reliance would be tested in a
177. 7:58way he never bargain
178. 8:00[Music]
179. 8:05for Aaron Ron wasn't looking for
180. 8:08high-risk Adventure in the Utah desert
181. 8:10that Saturday morning all he wanted was
182. 8:13a few days of weekend
183. 8:15RNR by early afternoon he traveled
184. 8:17almost 20 mil from his Camp to the
185. 8:20entrance of blue John a Slot Canyon he'd
186. 8:22read about in his guide book he planned
187. 8:25to spend the next few Carefree hours
188. 8:28exploring but everything was about to
189. 8:32change we hike the same route in it is 6
190. 8:36months to the day to the hour even of
191. 8:38his accident so here we are it's Canyon
192. 8:43the walls of blue John narrow and close
193. 8:47and then suddenly we're on top of it a
194. 8:4915t drop into the mouth of the Slot
195. 8:52Canyon I might FL around look kind of
196. 8:55graceless but you know that's how it
197. 8:56works the last time he was here The
198. 8:58Descent was second nature to ralon this
199. 9:01time will be more
200. 9:03[Music]
201. 9:09difficult you don't have to do anything
202. 9:11here you don't want to now you know
203. 9:14yeah I can put a rope on you I might
204. 9:17take it yeah I think
205. 9:20we don't worry about it one second let
206. 9:24me think about this one more
207. 9:27time yeah I really don't want should
208. 9:29breaking away
209. 9:34[Music]
210. 9:37here they why you come up and spot
211. 9:40him we' brought along professional
212. 9:43guides for the safety of our crew to
213. 9:45spot us and rig safety ropes along the
214. 9:47way but Aaron is intent on making his
215. 9:50own way through blue John without
216. 9:52assistance he asked us to honor his
217. 9:55request watch out I'm going to drop
218. 9:57right there
219. 10:00ni like I said it wasn't going to be
220. 10:02graceful the first obstacle cleared we
221. 10:05head into the canyon after only a few
222. 10:08steps the landscape begins to change
223. 10:11dramatically so now you begin to
224. 10:13encounter some obstacles what rocks that
225. 10:16are falling down here like this one
226. 10:17right yeah chunks of the the upper
227. 10:19strata uh break off and fall into the
228. 10:21canyon and so this is a chock Stone
229. 10:23chock stones are Boulders wedged between
230. 10:26Canyon walls usually washed in by
231. 10:28torrential flash floods you might have
232. 10:30to crawl under them or you might have to
233. 10:32crawl over them or they might be wedged
234. 10:34in a spot where uh where you have to
235. 10:36climb down them on the other side but
236. 10:39the fact is that they all
237. 10:41seem pretty solid right yeah and these
238. 10:46These are so large that you wouldn't
239. 10:48expect to ever see one of these move you
240. 10:51remember coming under this I do I do
241. 10:52remember I kind of limbo I had to get
242. 10:54down on my my hands and knees and crawl
243. 10:58[Music]
244. 11:04[Music]
245. 11:13well thank God it didn't
246. 11:16move how you feeling coming back here I
247. 11:18have to admit I'm I'm a little bit
248. 11:20nervous just in anticipation of what I
249. 11:22might feel but it's uh I guess a little
250. 11:26anxious well you know and it's rawest
251. 11:30form it's a kind of a spiritual
252. 11:32place isn't it and then when you go
253. 11:35through what you went through yeah it
254. 11:37becomes a kind of Temple it's a holy
255. 11:39place for me for
256. 11:40sure okay let's go
257. 11:43down L John continues to meander
258. 11:46downward we are only a few hundred ft in
259. 11:49and already the walls stretch three
260. 11:51stories high we're completely hidden
261. 11:53from sight are we getting close we're
262. 11:56definitely getting close
263. 12:07just then he stopped short W 12 ft below
264. 12:12is the scene of the accident the first
265. 12:14time he's seen it since the day he
266. 12:16narrowly escaped with his
267. 12:19[Music]
268. 12:27life you said before you didn't know
269. 12:30what you would think when you got here
270. 12:33yeah it's uh standing here a few moments
271. 12:37ago I started to go a little Tey over
272. 12:42just seeing and seeing where it was and
273. 12:46how pathetic it was um just such a
274. 12:51pitiable
275. 12:52situation and I can see the stains on
276. 12:55the wall and and I know what those
277. 12:57stains are from and I left those there I
278. 13:00did that we'll go down there and go
279. 13:04through some of what you went through it
280. 13:06won't be the same no it's not
281. 13:09god let's not say anything till we get
282. 13:12down
283. 13:12there make sure these bers don't move
284. 13:15this time
285. 13:17okay as difficult as it was to see the
286. 13:20spot again for the first time to
287. 13:21actually climb back down into the hole
288. 13:24that almost became his grave is even
289. 13:27more traumatic
290. 13:29Aaron asked to go first
291. 13:32alone yeah this is emotional for me I
292. 13:34can't imagine what it's like for
293. 13:36you there it
294. 13:48[Music]
295. 13:52is almost instinctively he assumes the
296. 13:54position he was first trapped in
297. 13:59I got to tell you this is so much worse
298. 14:01than I thought it was going to be in
299. 14:03terms of
300. 14:04the Solitude of
301. 14:07it and the sense of utter isolation you
302. 14:11were in a hole in every sense of the
303. 14:12word yeah I mean with this the chalk
304. 14:15Stones up above behind me here it you
305. 14:19know
306. 14:21restricted the ceiling the openness of
307. 14:23the sky it
308. 14:24was 15 ft wide and only 30 ft long that
309. 14:30I could see that was my
310. 14:33window are you ready for me to come down
311. 14:35yeah I can help you