Aron Ralston

Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and motivational speaker. He survived a canyoneering accident in 2003 by cutting off part of his own right arm. On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, Ralston dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days, he had to break his forearm and amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free. Ralston then made his way through the rest of the canyon, rappelled down a 65-foot (20 m) drop, and hiked 7 miles (11 km) before being rescued. The incident is documented in Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which was later adapted into the film 127 Hours, in which he is portrayed by James Franco. After the accident, he continued mountaineering and became the first person to ascend all of Colorado's fourteeners solo in winter.