• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Explorers travelled to scene where trapped mountaineer faced choice of cutting own arm off or death

Home> Community> Weird

Published 12:03 26 Jan 2025 GMT

Explorers travelled to scene where trapped mountaineer faced choice of cutting own arm off or death

Explorers journeyed to the scene where mountaineer Aron Ralston had to cut off his own arm

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

Explorers travelled to the spot where mountaineer Aron Ralston was faced with the grim choice to cut off his own arm after it became pinned under a rock or die.

You might have seen the film 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, which tells the story of how Ralston was himself exploring the canyons of Utah when a rock crushed his right arm and he could not free himself.

The man himself has said the film is 'so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama', so if you've seen it then you'll know that after spending the titular length of time pinned in a canyon he had to cut his own arm off.

Just as the film shows, Ralston had to break his own arm and then cut it off with a blunted pocket knife which must surely have been excruciatingly painful.

Advert

He is then able to make it out of the canyon and make contact with people who are able to get him rescued.

They wanted to find the spot where Aron Ralston had become trapped (YouTube/TSFTC)
They wanted to find the spot where Aron Ralston had become trapped (YouTube/TSFTC)

The real Ralston continued his mountaineering and became the first person to climb every mountain in Colorado that is higher than 14,000ft in winter.

Having not told anyone where he was going in Utah and having no way to call for help, amputating his own arm really was a life or death decision for Ralston along with a harsh lesson in why people going exploring should make sure someone knows where they went.

A group of explorers retraced Ralston's journey and found the canyon in which he'd been trapped, as well as the rock that would have killed him had he not cut off his arm.

Advert

YouTube explorers TSFTC are normally based out of Vermont but they travelled to Utah to find the rock, where they found that it had moved from the original position it was once in.

Having set out to stand where Aron Ralston stood they'd accomplished their goal while also demonstrating what a maze the canyons could be.

Part of the reason why the rock has moved is because a team went out to recover Ralston's arm that was left trapped by it.

It took significant effort from a team of people and power tools to move the rock, demonstrating that Ralston would not have been able to shift it by himself.

Advert

Once they were able to move the rock a bit they were able to free Ralston's arm, which was then cremated and the ashes sent to him.

Ralston himself returned to the scene to spread the ashes of his amputated arm, while the rock is still wedged in place between the two walls of the canyon.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/TSFTC

Topics: US News, YouTube

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

20 hours ago
2 days ago
4 days ago
  • TikTok/EBO JesusTikTok/EBO Jesus
    20 hours ago

    Man builds his own Noah’s Ark as he predicts when world is set to end

    Might be time to book some swimming lessons

    Community
  • NBC4 WashingtonNBC4 Washington
    2 days ago

    $340 million lottery winner was denied jackpot following brutal mistake

    John Cheeks ended up suing the lottery

    Community
  • YouTube/Marina Abramović InstituteYouTube/Marina Abramović Institute
    2 days ago

    What artist 'ready to die' after letting spectators do whatever they wanted to her is doing now

    Marina Abramović is one of the most extreme artistic performers of all time

    Community
  • Getty/Vicky. JauronGetty/Vicky. Jauron
    4 days ago

    Man explains how he miraculously managed to escape after being held captive in wild hippo's throat

    Paul Templer was swallowed three times by a hippo... and survived

    Community
  • Haunting image taken by trapped mountaineer before facing choice of cutting own arm off or death
  • Eerie photo found at scene where couple were shot to death showed their final moments alive
  • Trapped mountaineer who was forced to choose between cutting arm off or dying describes horrifying situation
  • Woman devastated as husband takes own life day after 'perfect' honeymoon and sends her flowers after death