Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Hiker's Survival Story

Aired May 06, 2003 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You've undoubtedly heard the amazing survival story of 27-year-old Aaron Ralston. In fact, we told you about it yesterday. He is the hiker who cut off his arm, part of his arm anyway, to save his life. He was pinned by a huge boulder, his hand was anyway. Aaron's parents, Donna and Larry Ralston, join us now from Grand Junction, Colorado.
Thanks so much for being here, guys. Have you seem, Aaron? How is he doing?

DONNA RALSTON, HIKER'S MOTHER: Aaron is doing just fine. We've not seen him this morning. He came out of surgery yesterday and was a little groggy with pain, but has been in great spirits throughout this whole time.

COLLINS: We know that after five days of his hand being pinned under this boulder in Utah, he finally had to come to this momentous decision to cut the hand off. Did he tell you about how he came to that decision?

LARRY RALSTON, HIKER'S FATHER: He clearly identified that -- while he told us in the first hour he identified he had four options, one, someone may come along the trail, a second that he would be able to chip away at the rock with another stone to release his hand, a third is that he might be able to do something mechanically with ropes and pulley system to rig up from his equipment to try to move the rock, and he saw that his fourth option in desperate situation would be he might have to sever his arm.

But he said that he saw those options from the beginning, and all of his actions for the next days were directly related to trying to pursue those options.

COLLINS: And speaking of that, Larry, what happened once he amputated his arm?

L. RALSTON: Well, at that point, he was able to apply the tourniquet, lower himself, via the ropes, and then proceeded to walk out, but he was -- as far as getting into details of the experience, we're not going to try to interpret that for Aaron. He'll be discussing that a little later. But there was still a lot he had to do, even after he freed himself.

COLLINS: Yes, he had to rappel down a 75-foot cliff to get to the floor of the canyon, it's an incredible story, and I also know that Aaron is quite an experienced hiker, canyoneer, however you want to call it. He was training to climb Mt. McKinley. Any word on if he still wants to go ahead and do that?

L. RALSTON: Well, he had previously climbed Denali, or Mt. McKinley in Alaska with a crew a year ago, and was planning to go back with another team this year. He won't be going back this summer with that team, although the team will go ahead and pursue that with his encouragement. But it is one that he'll probably want to go back and try that again in the future, yes.

COLLINS: And, mom, tell us, Donna, what is his future, as far as hiking and his life, and what sort of lessons do you think, if any, he was able to take from this?

D. RALSTON: Well, climbing and being in the outdoors is a true passion of Aaron's and I don't think this is going to deter him. I'm sure that his mindset now is to get this over with and get the prosthesis fit as soon as possible so he can get to it, because he really wants to be out there, and he has that very hard, strong willpower and drive, and he'll be there. We just have to maybe do it a little different than he did before.

COLLINS: I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever. All right, Donna and Larry Ralston, we appreciate you being with us this morning, from Grand Junction, Colorado. Thanks again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 6, 2003 - 09:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You've undoubtedly heard the amazing survival story of 27-year-old Aaron Ralston. In fact, we told you about it yesterday. He is the hiker who cut off his arm, part of his arm anyway, to save his life. He was pinned by a huge boulder, his hand was anyway. Aaron's parents, Donna and Larry Ralston, join us now from Grand Junction, Colorado.
Thanks so much for being here, guys. Have you seem, Aaron? How is he doing?

DONNA RALSTON, HIKER'S MOTHER: Aaron is doing just fine. We've not seen him this morning. He came out of surgery yesterday and was a little groggy with pain, but has been in great spirits throughout this whole time.

COLLINS: We know that after five days of his hand being pinned under this boulder in Utah, he finally had to come to this momentous decision to cut the hand off. Did he tell you about how he came to that decision?

LARRY RALSTON, HIKER'S FATHER: He clearly identified that -- while he told us in the first hour he identified he had four options, one, someone may come along the trail, a second that he would be able to chip away at the rock with another stone to release his hand, a third is that he might be able to do something mechanically with ropes and pulley system to rig up from his equipment to try to move the rock, and he saw that his fourth option in desperate situation would be he might have to sever his arm.

But he said that he saw those options from the beginning, and all of his actions for the next days were directly related to trying to pursue those options.

COLLINS: And speaking of that, Larry, what happened once he amputated his arm?

L. RALSTON: Well, at that point, he was able to apply the tourniquet, lower himself, via the ropes, and then proceeded to walk out, but he was -- as far as getting into details of the experience, we're not going to try to interpret that for Aaron. He'll be discussing that a little later. But there was still a lot he had to do, even after he freed himself.

COLLINS: Yes, he had to rappel down a 75-foot cliff to get to the floor of the canyon, it's an incredible story, and I also know that Aaron is quite an experienced hiker, canyoneer, however you want to call it. He was training to climb Mt. McKinley. Any word on if he still wants to go ahead and do that?

L. RALSTON: Well, he had previously climbed Denali, or Mt. McKinley in Alaska with a crew a year ago, and was planning to go back with another team this year. He won't be going back this summer with that team, although the team will go ahead and pursue that with his encouragement. But it is one that he'll probably want to go back and try that again in the future, yes.

COLLINS: And, mom, tell us, Donna, what is his future, as far as hiking and his life, and what sort of lessons do you think, if any, he was able to take from this?

D. RALSTON: Well, climbing and being in the outdoors is a true passion of Aaron's and I don't think this is going to deter him. I'm sure that his mindset now is to get this over with and get the prosthesis fit as soon as possible so he can get to it, because he really wants to be out there, and he has that very hard, strong willpower and drive, and he'll be there. We just have to maybe do it a little different than he did before.

COLLINS: I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever. All right, Donna and Larry Ralston, we appreciate you being with us this morning, from Grand Junction, Colorado. Thanks again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com