Ralston released from the hospital

GRAND JUNCTION – Accompanied by his parents, Larry and Donna, Aspen mountaineer Aron Ralston was released from St. Mary’s Hospital on Saturday.

Ralston, 27, spent more than a week at St. Mary’s after amputating his right arm at the forearm on May 1 to escape from an 800-pound boulder in a remote slot canyon of Canyonlands National Park, Utah. He had been trapped nearly six days.

Ralston – it should come as no surprise by now – was said to be in good spirits upon his release from the hospital. His parents “were just so excited and anxious to get him out of the hospital,” Paul Poister, a spokesman for the Ralston family, told The Associated Press.

Poister declined to say where Ralston went after leaving the hospital. Last week, however, the family indicated that Ralston would return to his parents’ home near Denver for a few weeks of recovery time.

Doctors operated on Ralston’s arm last week, closing the wound and suiting the arm for a prosthetic device.

Poister said Ralston now has decisions to make about his rehabilitation.