How Aron Ralston Defeated Death — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00In 2003, a man named Aaron Rston planned
2. 0:04to go skiing early in the morning
3. 0:05[music] with his friend. However, his
4. 0:08friend said, "Something came up and I
5. 0:11can't come." Rston, who had been waiting
6. 0:15for days for this trip, was disappointed
7. 0:18that his friend couldn't make it. Still,
8. 0:20he grabbed his backpack, got into his
9. 0:22car, and drove [music] south toward
10. 0:24Canyon Lands National Park. Canyonlands
11. 0:27is a vast canyon area. People usually go
12. 0:29hiking or biking. The park is so large
13. 0:32that once you're inside, it's rare to
14. 0:34see another person. Aaron brought his
15. 0:37bicycle with him, put on his backpack,
16. 0:39and entered the park [music] riding his
17. 0:41bike. Inside his backpack were mostly
18. 0:43climbing tools, two sandwiches, [music]
19. 0:45a multi-purpose knife, a video camera,
20. 0:48and a single bottle of water. He biked
21. 0:5124 km into [music] the park until he
22. 0:54reached a point where he could no longer
23. 0:56continue by bike.
24. 0:58He locked his bicycle to a tree and
25. 1:00continued on foot.
26. 1:03Rston was very adventurous [music] and
27. 1:05loved dangerous places, so he moved
28. 1:07through narrow rock passages where it
29. 1:10was possible but risky to pass. At one
30. 1:13point, he needed to climb up by grabbing
31. 1:15a rock and pulling himself up. But the
32. 1:18rock wasn't secure. It suddenly came
33. 1:21loose, and Ralston's arm became trapped
34. 1:23between two rocks. He immediately tried
35. 1:26to pull his arm free, but realized he
36. 1:28couldn't. It was stuck. The rock weight
37. 1:32cut off blood flow, causing his arm to
38. 1:34quickly go numb. Still, he didn't stop
39. 1:37trying and kept struggling to free
40. 1:39himself. He decided to take out his
41. 1:41knife and cut off his arm. But as soon
42. 1:44as he applied a little pressure, he
43. 1:46regretted it and put the knife back.
44. 1:50Night fell. Rston was stranded in the
45. 1:53desert, unable to sleep because of the
46. 1:55cold, constantly moving to keep [music]
47. 1:57himself warm. As time passed, his
48. 2:00condition worsened, and he began
49. 2:02hallucinating. After 2 days, he took out
50. 2:05his camera and began recording, saying
51. 2:07goodbye to his family.
52. 2:10In his visions, he saw a baby sitting on
53. 2:13his left arm, a child with no right arm.
54. 2:16He felt [music] this baby was his future
55. 2:18son, telling him to cut off his arm and
56. 2:21save himself. Suddenly, Rston made his
57. 2:24decision. Using his small serrated
58. 2:27knife, he painfully cut through the
59. 2:29flesh of his arm until he [music]
60. 2:31reached the bone. Knowing that if he
61. 2:34took too long, he would bleed to death,
62. 2:36he applied extreme pressure and
63. 2:38eventually broke the bone. His arm was
64. 2:41finally free. He tore his clothing and
65. 2:44tightly tied it around his injured arm
66. 2:46to stop the bleeding. Despite his
67. 2:48condition, Rston began running. He
68. 2:51covered 11 km until he finally saw a
69. 2:54couple hiking in the distance. He
70. 2:56reached them and they quickly took him
71. 2:58to a nearby station.
72. 3:01About an hour later, a rescue helicopter
73. 3:04arrived.
74. 3:06Inside the helicopter, his arm was
75. 3:08bandaged and he was given blood. Once he
76. 3:11reached the hospital, he was immediately
77. 3:13taken into surgery and doctors treated
78. 3:16his severely injured arm. After 6
79. 3:18months, Ralston returned to the activity
80. 3:21he loved.