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toejam
Sep 5, 2004, 10:42 PM
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In Outside Magazine, where you can get a free knife with with your subscription.
He's pushing his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place which made me groan, but the article's a good read.
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crimpergirl
Sep 5, 2004, 10:59 PM
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I just finished the book this morning. It is an interesting read and has several photos including one of his amputated arm still stuck behind the boulder. He documented the ordeal well! The only criticism I have is that I was not interested in a lot of the stories that were unrelated to the actual incident. Others may find those stories add value to the book however. It's worth a read. Enjoy
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catra
Sep 5, 2004, 11:07 PM
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This has nothing to do with the book...But I was at the Leadville 100 mile trail race pacing, a few weeks ago.....And to my suprise, there was Aron Ralston running the 100 mile race.... I was even amazed to find out that was his first Ultra race....
I was even lucky enough to watch him finish and got a couple good pics of him crossing the finish line with his Mom...
What an amazing person he is...
Catra Corbett
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nut_tool
Sep 6, 2004, 6:05 PM
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greg8941
Sep 14, 2004, 3:10 PM
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I saw a special on TV about him and that is quite a story. It is amazing what the human body can go through. Another story about surviving under unprecedented circumstances is Touchung the Void.
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tradmanclimbs
Sep 14, 2004, 3:25 PM
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Aron seems to have a much more positive outlook on life than either one of those dour Britts from touching the void.
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crimpandgo
Sep 14, 2004, 3:36 PM
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Quote:
Aron seems to have a much more positive outlook on life than either one of those dour Britts from touching the void.
Response:
Not sure i understand this statement. Near death situations affect everyone differently and the situations happened at completely different times. The folks from touching the void were not being hammered by the press for the rights to the story once they got off the mountain. $$$$ signs tend to give you a much more positive outlook to everything I Think. Plus the one guy had to deal with the grief of being responsible for his friend. The is a heavier burden in my opinion than dealing with/being responsible for you own situation. He spent years trying to come to terms with it. That puts a pretty grim outlook on ones happy days I would say...
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flamer
Sep 14, 2004, 3:49 PM
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With all respect deserved for cutting his arm off....
I've been hearing some stuff about the guy lately...from people who know and climb with him.
He sounds like a real idiot, from what I've heard it was only a matter of time before something bad happened too him. He has been know to ski avalanche prone slops in very bad condition's(knowingly), put his climbing partners at risk because he doesn't know when to quit and lie about all of it....
But he did cut his own arm off....
josh
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tradmanclimbs
Sep 14, 2004, 3:50 PM
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whatever the circumstances may be. Arron seems to be cheerfull and uplifting while Jo and simon come accross as Cyinical bitter old farts. Simon stated pretty bluntly that the only reason that he was involved in the movie was to make a buck and Joe just seemed generaly pissed off?
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crimpandgo
Sep 14, 2004, 3:56 PM
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being involved with a movie and being happy in their current lives are not the same thing. Being part of the movie brings back lots of memories. I got the impression they were moving on and enjoying their climbing again... That sounded pretty upbeat to me. Aaron just presents a better TV presence which is how we judge people nowadays :cry: not by what kind of people they truely are.
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mjroche
Sep 14, 2004, 4:12 PM
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I have to agree with both lines of this thread. The guy's will, and positive outlook since his ordeal, are both impressive and admirable. But, by all accounts, it sounds like he was in many respects an accident waiting to happen. A lot like that kid in Krakauer's book who managed to starve to death in the abandoned schoolbus outside Fairbanks. Enthusiasm for wild places and experiences is great, but it has to be tempered by judgment.
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sandbag
Sep 14, 2004, 4:26 PM
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In reply to: With all respect deserved for cutting his arm off.... I've been hearing some stuff about the guy lately...from people who know and climb with him. He sounds like a real idiot, from what I've heard it was only a matter of time before something bad happened too him. He has been know to ski avalanche prone slops in very bad condition's(knowingly), put his climbing partners at risk because he doesn't know when to quit and lie about all of it.... But he did cut his own arm off.... josh
AMEN! Im glad someone else has done the research too. It seems hes had AMAZING luck with not dying when not taking necessary precautions. Hes got huge props for cutting his arm off, but then again... Here in Denver, A guy was pinned face down about 12 years ago up around St. Marys Glacier, and he barely made the 10oclock news when he cut off his own leg(BTK) and drove himself to the hospital......Media and TV are really hard up for entertainment now i guess. :roll:
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dwaicj379
Sep 14, 2004, 4:30 PM
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i watched the two hour special on dateline and it was awesome. (very well done)...it is definately worth watching, so look for a re-run or try to find someone who taped it. i did.
also, touching the void was an incredible movie. i rented it hoping to see some wicked climbing, but instead found a very powerful and dramatic story of survival. everyone should have it in their library.
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kailas
Sep 18, 2004, 2:17 PM
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That guy who cut his leg off was an orthopedic surgeon, who was trapped by a large boulder. He cut his leg off and crawled back to civilization, his problem was he did not have a video camera to record his ordeal, and that doesn't lend itself to TV overexpsure like Aron's story.
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kap
Sep 18, 2004, 2:48 PM
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My beef with Aron R. is that he's so nakedly cashing in. Shortly after the accident I happened to see him on Letterman. He seemed like a nice guy who had gotten in a bad situation and made the best of it . . . and he seemed like he had a lot of integrity about the whole media swirl. I distinctly remember him talking about the video he made while his arm was pinned and saying that he would never let anyone outside of his family see it. And that really impressed me -- it was something very private and despite the obvious market for it, he was going to keep it private. I understand that video was featured prominently in the recent TV special he did promoting his book.
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dwaicj379
Sep 18, 2004, 3:56 PM
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I somewhat agree that he is cashing in. But in the TV special they showed very little of the video. Actually it was pretty much the same clip shown about 5 times. At some point he said he wouldnt show any more of the video because it was too painful and disturbing (his facial expression and physical condition). So I'm not sure how much he let the producers watch or what the story is there. But only a very small portion was released on TV. But yes, you are right, he is cashing in. I probably would too, would you?
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prufrock
Sep 18, 2004, 7:19 PM
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kap: he still isn't letting anyone see the video. He is only allowing NBC to play sections of the audio (well, there might have been a 5 second clip from the very beginning).
Ralston may be an accident waiting to happen -- I don't know him. But what happened to him in Blue John canyon was just horribly bad luck. Sure, he didn't tell anyone where he was going, but that is easy to forget. Especially when he thought he was just going hiking and car camping.
Of course he is cashing in. So what? He lost his arm. Why not make something positive out of it if he can?
As for those dour Brits in Touching the Void: hogwash! Firstly, the situation that Simon and Joe ended up in was orders of magnitude worse. Aside from that, it ruined one of the guys lives, as the whole climbing community decided he was a bastard for cutting the rope.
The only upbeat thing about Ralston is that it is obvious he is religious and he turned his accident into a religious experience. Joe and Simon were simply realists.
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coldclimb
Sep 18, 2004, 7:26 PM
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Heck, if I were him I'd milk this event for all the cash I possibly could. What amazes me is how much the public soaks it all in with oohs and ahs. Yeah the guy cut off his arm, but like he himself said, he just did what he had to do. Now he's a national hero because of the reaction he gets from the public. Way to go for him if he plays his cards for cash. I would too.
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Sep 18, 2004, 7:56 PM
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i read this crappy book and came away from it with the conclusion that aaron ralston has a lot of growing up to do.
the whole book is centered around him trying to convince you that "he really is badass" despite the fact that he totally screwed up and had to chop his arm off. I don't find his descriptions of these so-called "epic" hikes/bikes and whatever other contrived adventure he forced himself into to be at all interesting. I know people who knew him before he was famous, and they all agreed that he was always putting himself in bad situation and, in typical colorado tradition, coming back to spray about it. but it was like, dude, why did you go into avalanche terrain if you knew it was avalanche terrain, and then get in an avalance? is it just so you can come tell us about the avalanche you got in? yes, it is, and that makes you lame.
in ten years, when all the attention around him is gone, he's going to come to certain heartbreaking realizations about what it means to have lost an arm and to how he's sensationalized that for his own gain (not that I blame him--my point is simply the book is premature; he doesn't "get it" yet and that's obvious from the book)
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prufrock
Sep 18, 2004, 8:13 PM
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mandrew, I can see that.
Throughout the NBC documentary on Ralston, they kept trying to paint him as a crazy, extreme badass. Yet the only thing they could come up with was he was caught in an avalanche on an extreme avalanche day (wow), that he climbed 14ers in winter (Ok, alpinist, but that ain't that extreme; I've done it), and that he went hiking alone (whoa, slow down badass!).
It was obvious to me he was just an outdoor enthusiast and extreme guy wannabe with bad luck and some questionable decision making skills.
Which is not to say I didn't appreciate the gripping NBC account of his survival. Rather, it could have happened to anybody, it wasn't a unique property of Ralston.
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chads93gt
Sep 18, 2004, 8:27 PM
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I remember this guy. I think. Isnt that the guy who went climbing. . . .hiking. . .. whatever. Fell, got his arm pinned inbetween 2 rocks for a few days, and ended up sawing his arm off with a knife or soemthing dull.
supposed to be MR. Outdoors, but he forgot the most important thing when going out into the wilderness by yourself. . . . .LEAVE A NOTE TELLING SOMEONE WHERE YOU ARE AND WHEN YOU ARE EXPECTED TO RETURN.
If he had done that. He would still have 2 arms today.
This is provided this is the same guy I am thinking of.
If it is. he's nothing but a moron.
Thats the first thing I learned in any back country situation, besides the 10 essentials, always leave a note telling someone where you are going and when you are exptected to return.
What a tard.
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picaco
Sep 18, 2004, 9:36 PM
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In reply to: If he had done that. He would still have 2 arms today.
I'm not sure about that, did you hear how they had to remove the boulder, plus with blood loss to his hand and how badly his arm would have been mangled, I doubt they would have saved it. Probably would have chopped it off at the hospital.
Ben
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renobdarb
Sep 18, 2004, 9:57 PM
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It might be worth noting that all the people sitting around typing smack about Ralston probably are doing so with two arms...
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rockitjeff
Sep 18, 2004, 11:00 PM
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2 thoughts boys and girls..
the guy just ran the leadville 100?
thats on par with doing.. i dunno.. the Nose, maybe?
running a 100 aint easy. i never have ,tho i paced a few.
so props, aron
plus? we're the brutha/sistahood of topography here. give more credit to a kindred soul; slander the real ememy. there's lots of 'em out there
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edge
Sep 19, 2004, 12:08 AM
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In reply to: Way to go for him if he plays his cards for cash. I would too.
See, I wouldn't.
The guy did what he had to do to live. It was a life or death situation, and mad props to him for having the cajones to choose to live, regardless of the pain. However, the public fascination with this story has reached epidemic proportions. I remember loggers being faced with the same fate and doing the same thing to their arms, but the story faded after the initial telling. Why? Because they let it.
I agree with Mandrew about this one. Do I have both arms??? Yes, I do. However I am personally missing a finger, and despite legal council to seek blame, I never blamed anyone else for it or sought any attention from the incident.
The man could have run the Leadville before the incident. Missing an arm has nothing to do with the equation.
And anyone who thinks that leaving an itinerary would have saved his arm desperately needs to take some sort of first aid course. The arm was toast from the git-go.
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