Mountain Climbing: The Incredible Story of Aron Ralston

 Is it worth climbing alone risking your life as night approaches without anyone knowing where you’d be? Mountain climbing takes an immense amount of time and training. First, you must have stamina, grip, and learn how to use a rope properly and you must learn different techniques in case something goes wrong. At 11 o'clock on the night of friday , April 25, 27-year-old Aron Ralston parked his truck at the Horseshoe Canyon Trailhead, west of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, and slept in the covered bed. The next morning at 9:15, he bicycled 15 miles south along Maze-Robbers Roost Road (Jenkins) Even though mountain climbing is scary for some people due to the fact that there is a fear of heights, climbing alone can be very dangerous because you could die alone. What if you fall and there's no one there to help and what if you encounter an animal and you can't find help. There would be fear running laps around your brain.

Mountain climbing is not an easy task and many lose their lives while mountain climbing, it takes a serious amount of dedication to mountain climb without fear of heights or even death most would say that these people are adrenaline junkies but for others they see them as fearless people. Training is where it all begins and an ineffective training program could lead to a horrific accident or death . Six foot two, long, lean, and fit, Ralston is an accomplished outdoor athlete. He first became interested in climbing in 1996, after reading about the Everest disaster in which eight mountaineers lost their lives in a single storm. 'I wondered what I would do if I were in a situation like that,' he told a reporter earlier this year (Jenkins) Why Mountain climbing is maybe because of the thrill people get from it, He first became interested in climbing in 1996, after reading about the Everest disaster in which eight mountaineers lost their lives in a single storm. 'I wondered what I would do if I were in a situation like that,' he told a reporter earlier this year.(Jenkins) To have guts like Ralston is a blessing to many and a burden to some.

Ralston decided that it would be a good idea to go Mountain climbing without telling anyone of his whereabouts and on top of that he then biked further from where he was already situated . “By 2:45 p.m., Ralston had started his solo descent into the deep, narrow slot of Bluejohn Canyon. Passing over and then under boulders that clogged the three-foot-wide penumbral passage, Ralston was negotiating a ten-foot drop between two ledges”(Jenkins) while on is solo decent Ralston had already forgotten what the 3 golden rules of Mountain climbing wich were it’s always further than it looks, it’s always taller than it looks, and it’s always gonna be harder than it looks. It’s hard to say but judging from his situation it looks as if he’s only remembered one that the Mountain is taller than it seems therefore starting his Decent at 2:45 early from where he situated himself after biking up a hill but the sun in Utah sets rather quickly bringing night fall at a faster pace than most states.

Raslton began he climb over and then under boulders that clogged the three-foot-wide penumbral passage, Ralston was negotiating a ten-foot drop between two ledges when an 800-pound boulder shifted above him he quickly moved his left hand out of the way in time but his right hand was smashed between the rock and the sandstone wall (Jenkins) 'The adrenaline was pumping very, very hard through my body,' Ralston recounted at his May 8 press conference at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, one of only several broadcast appearances he's made since his accident. (At press time, he'd done no print interviews; he had, however, assisted Outside in verifying the account that follows.) 'It took some good, calm thinking to get myself to calm down and stop throwing myself against the boulder.' At the time Ralston was running laps around his head he was filled with fear and panic which was likely in these situations .

Why someone would become aware or concerned of your whereabouts after disappearing for an enormous amount of time we all know that time is to be kept sacred and not misused Ralston did a good job at keeping time his only failure was informing others on his whereabouts and he judged the Mountain way too quickly to assume he could finish climbing it. “After the boulder crushed his hand, Ralston explained at the press conference, 'I very quickly figured out some of my options. I began laying plans for what I was going to do.' He also inventoried his provisions: two burritos, one liter of water, and some candy bar crumbs. One possibility was that 'someone would happen along the trail' and rescue him. No one did, so he spent the first of five nights in the slot canyon working on Plan B: futilely chipping away at the rock with his multitool, a cheap knockoff of a Leatherman model”(Jenkins) This indicates that one must have the right mindset in order to overcome obstacles like this first they must make a plan on what there going to do if anything bad happened just like this in Ralston's case .

Many have what it takes to do something risky as Raslton did here we all know Raslston was a very fit man to even take the challenge of climbing a Mountain but at what point do you have to realize your own limits Ralston is a very skilled at this and is a very smart person He grew up in Colorado and graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997, with a double major in mechanical engineering and French, then worked at Intel for five years, hopscotching to posts in Phoenix, Tacoma, and then Albuquerque, where he volunteered on a local search-and-rescue team. In the spring of 2002, he moved to Aspen, Colorado, took a retail job at Ute Mountaineering, a local shop, and began training to become a guide(Jenkins) He knows which risk’s he should and shouldn’t take he has much knowledge on survival and from my point of view most people should take time out of their day to learn and understand Survival and a little bit of the human anatomy even medicine although they may not use these techniques in their everyday life surviving is the main objective in life doesn’t matter what situation we are in it goes from mental survival, nutritional survival all the way up to physical survival “Humans have survived ice ages and deadly pandemics to become the dominant species on Earth, even if our reign over the planet barely represents a blip in a geological record that has seen countless living organisms come and go.“We have adapted to live almost anywhere, and have harnessed the power of nature by splitting atoms and splicing DNA to reshape the world yet those same technologies could also doom humanity to extinction if misused”(Hsu).

Raslton was a man who had knowledge but who’s to say just because you know how to survive doesn't mean you're not scared he was most likely filled with fear and anxiety on how he would get out but that just goes to say that we're only human and we all have the same train of thought no matter your class no matter the age and most of all no matter your education. Raslton is no stranger to danger as he once went skiing with his friends who both almost died “This kind of serious adventure invariably involves risk. In March 2003, Ralston and two companions were backcountry skiing on Resolution Peak, in central Colorado, when they got caught in an avalanche. 'I just remember rolling down with it. Powder was swirling all around, and I was trying to breathe, but I would breathe a mixture of snow and air, and you'd swallow it like seawater,' Ralston told The Denver Post after the slide. 'It was horrible. It should have killed us.' It didn't. Buried up to his neck, Ralston was rescued by his friend, and together they dug out the third skier”(Jenkins) this just in itself shows how lucky Raslton is and how he is capable of handling tough situations when others mind would be filled with worry and panic.

Having a train of thought and ideas “After the boulder crushed his hand, Ralston explained at the press conference, 'I very quickly figured out some of my options. I began laying plans for what I was going to do.' He also inventoried his provisions: two burritos, one liter of water, and some candy bar crumbs. One possibility was that 'someone would happen along the trail' and rescue him. No one did, so he spent the first of five nights in the slot canyon working on Plan B: futilely chipping away at the rock with his multitool, a cheap knockoff of a Leatherman model(Jenkins) Ralston quickly thought of other options and that's what gave him an advantage in survival by just a bit he most likely knew that search and rescue was looking for him but he couldn’t sit there and wait for them to come for him as he slowly ran out of supplies.

Knowing what to do if rescue is likely “The next day, Sunday, using his climbing gear and his search-and-rescue skills, he moved to Plan C: rigging ropes in an attempt to hoist the boulder off his hand. This also failed. On Monday, he rerigged the ropes and again tried moving the rock. 'At no point was I ever able, with any of the rope mechanics, to get the boulder to budge even microscopically,' Ralston said (Jenkins) He thought of every way of escaping and fear was filling his mind after a day had passed he is only human after all “ He kept chipping away at the boulder, but over the next few days he would often simply pause. 'There were times when I thought that was the most efficient use of my time,' he explained. He thought a lot about dying and was afraid at first, but he 'came to peace with death over the time spent in the canyon.' On day four of his ordeal, Tuesday, April 29, Ralston ran out of water. Realizing he would die of dehydration within days, he prepared to reckon with his last resort: severing his hand with the blunt blade of his multitool (Jenkins) as he began to run out of options he realized was the only thing he must do as rescue took it’s time to come.

Why it’s important to learn about medicine and first aid 'Essentially I got my surgical table ready and applied the knife to my arm, and started sawing back and forth. But I didn't even break the skin. I couldn't even cut the hair off of my arm, the knife was so dull,' he said. On Wednesday, he managed to puncture the skin but realized he wouldn't be able to cut through the bone. By Thursday, May 1, growing weak and having passed through stages of depression, hope, and prayer, Ralston decided he would have to break his arm near the wrist to extricate himself. 'I was able to first snap the radius,' he calmly recalled, 'and then, within a few minutes, snap the ulna at the wrist, and from there I had the knife out and applied the tourniquet and went to task. It was a process that took about an hour.' He sawed through the soft tissue between the broken bones and amputated his hand. 'All the desires, joys, and euphorias of a future life came rushing into me,' Ralston stated at the press conference. 'Maybe this is how I handled the pain. I was so happy to be taking action.'Ralston rigged his rope, set his anchors, rappelled 60 feet to the floor of Bluejohn Canyon, and hiked five miles downstream into Horseshoe Canyon, supporting the bloody stump of his right arm in a makeshift sling fashioned from a CamelBak pack. He ran into three hikers from Holland who gave him Oreos and water and helped him carry his pack another mile. At 3 p.m he was finally rescued by a helicopter, which had begun searching for him when friends in Aspen, worried because he hadn't shown up for work, called the Utah authorities(Jenkins) ralston is a very strong person for what he did to overcome every challenge that came his way as he was stuck up on that mountain.

Mountain climbing accidents happen more than we expect but it’s our job to fully train and learn what we must do in these situations such as informing others on your whereabouts while fear and worry is flooding your mind you must still fight to survive, these kind of mountain climbing incidents happen more than any other mountain activities such as skiing and why one must properly educate themselves it can help their chances at survival.