Aron Ralston

Biography

In 2003 Aron Ralston`s story made headlines worldwide. After being pinned by a half-ton boulder for nearly a week in a remote three-foot-wide slot canyon in southern Utah, Ralston narrowly escaped death by severing his right forearm with a dull pocketknife. After applying a tourniquet, he hiked and rappelled for five hours through Blue John Canyon before searchers in a helicopter miraculously rescued him.

Ralston documented the life-altering experience and his remarkable will to survive in his New York Times best-selling book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. His story has been adapted into a movie by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle, titled 127 Hours. In 2011, the film was nominated for an astounding six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and three Golden Globes.

A powerful inspirational speaker, Ralston touches the hearts of audiences nationwide through his tale of survival, tapping into the fundamental human experiences of facing and surmounting obstacles. Ralston recognizes that we may not all meet an 800 pound boulder, but we will all meet adversity in some form. And though his story is a compelling example of the will to live, Ralston reminds audiences that, ultimately, nothing is stronger than the will to love.

Aided by radical prosthetic devices that he helped design -- Ralston has expanded his adventures to the world`s great peaks, deserts, and rivers. He is the only person to have solo-climbed all 59 of Colorado`s 14,000-foot-high mountains in winter; the only person with a disability to have skied from the summit of Denali, North America`s tallest mountain; and in April 2009, he became the first amputee to row a raft through the Grand Canyon.

Ralston graduated as Carnegie Mellon University`s top student in mechanical engineering in 1997, with Phi Beta Kappa honors for a second degree in French. He left his job as a mechanical engineer with Intel in 2002 to follow his passion for outdoor adventures in Colorado.

Today, Ralston lives with his wife Jessica and their son in Boulder, Colorado. He also advocates for Utah and Colorado wilderness.

Publications

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
In a moving account of strength in the face of adversity, Ralston presents the full story behind the 2003 event that became worldwide news: his self-amputation of his right arm after it was caught between a boulder and a canyon wall during what began as a routine day hike in the Utah Canyons. An experienced climber, Ralston, 28, effectively shows he wasn`t a risk-taker, and alternates between describing how his jaunt turned into a nightmare when a huge stone suddenly came unstuck as he used it to climb down a ledge, and recalling early experiences that changed his novice attitudes toward hiking, which he admits "were not intrinsically safe."

Ralston candidly renders the details of six days of entrapment, using transcribed monologues from videotapes he made while trapped, including his increasingly exhausted thoughts as well as poignant farewells to his family. But his best writing details his self-amputation and his subsequent march to safety, in which he rappelled one-armed down a hill and then hiked six miles before someone found him.

Ralston`s prose is never gruesome, nor is it used to shock, even as he describes first breaking his forearm, and then slipping "into some sort of autopilot" as he cuts through muscle fibers to detach the arm. It`s truly thrilling when he finishes and is free: "A crystalline moment shatters and the world is a different place."

Titles

127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
"There is no force more powerful than the will to live," explains Aron Ralston, who faced an unimaginable challenge with his life-or-death decision. An ordinary man who was pushed to the extreme, he demonstrates the human capacity for the extraordinary, proving anyone can survive the most grueling circumstances. A talented storyteller, Ralston recounts his ordeal, shedding new light on the meaning of sacrifice, and on what is truly important.