Amputation Climber Broke Own Arm...

Aron Ralston, the climber who cut off his own arm after becoming trapped by a 1000 lb boulder in a Utah canyon has been released from intensive care and into a media feeding frenzy.

As more details of his ordeal emerge, the full magnitude of what he did is becoming apparent. His parents have told ABC news that before amputating the arm, he deliberately smashed the bone with a rock because he realised that his knife wouldn't be capable of sawing through it.

"He actually forced his arm against the boulder and broke the bone so he would be able to cut through the tissue, because he knew from his experiences that the knife he had wasn't sharp enough to actually cut the bone," she is reported as saying on the ABC news site which also has graphic details of how the boulder pivoted in a narrow slot and trapped his hand.

The arm itself was recovered by rangers on Sunday but was apparently too badly damaged to be reattached. Ralston's parents credit his mountain rescue training with helping him to deal calmly and rationally with a desperate situation - he has apparently identified four potential course of actions within an hour of becoming trapped.