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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

By Aron Ralston

(12)

| Paperback | 9780743492829

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Book Description

One of the most extraordinary survival stories ever told -- Aron Ralston's searing account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home.

It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afteContinue

It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him.

It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.

And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. As he eliminated his escape options one by one through the days, Aron faced the full horror of his predicament: By the time any possible search and rescue effort would begin, he'd most probably have died of dehydration, if a flash flood didn't drown him before that.

What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using the video camera from his pack, Aron began recording his grateful good-byes to his family and friends all over the country, thinking back over a life filled with adventure, and documenting a last will and testament with the hope that someone would find it. (For their part, his family and friends had instigated a major search for Aron, the amazing details of which are also documented here for the first time.) The knowledge of their love kept Aron Ralston alive, until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder. Aron then committed the most extreme act imaginable to save himself.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- a brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life -- will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories.

Critics

Bookreporter.com - BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE by Aron Ralston

There was a period of my life when I spent a lot of time in the mountains of Colorado, skiing in winters and hiking in summer. Adventure to me was finessing the black diamond ski trails or hiking to a mountaintop in summer following these same trails ... (read full critics)

bookreporter published on Wed, 1 Sep 2010

3 Reviews

I'm not an "adventurous type", still, I find the spirit of people like Ralston or McCandless very much alike mine. Loved it. It's inspiring, and it made me meditate about what is selfish and what is not.

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SamanthaJackson said on Sep 10, 2011 | Add your feedback

How could someone be so passionate towards and would never stop doing, or even thinking about, outdoor actions? Ralston saturated his live with mountaineering, skiing, rafting, canyoneering, everything that you can or can't think of for the outdoors. The dedication is so impressive.
Maybe these a ... (continue)

How could someone be so passionate towards and would never stop doing, or even thinking about, outdoor actions? Ralston saturated his live with mountaineering, skiing, rafting, canyoneering, everything that you can or can't think of for the outdoors. The dedication is so impressive.
Maybe these are the drives behind: "...... open to what that day was giving me and accept it", and "...... open to whatever was there for me to discover led to awareness and delight, even when conditions were rough". Challenges and situations are overcome one by one, yet another challenge comes up. Ralston's freeing himself and getting himself out of the canyon, improvising what equipment he had with him and what skills he had about the outdoors, demonstrates that he had been born for adventures.
What Erik Meijer, one hiker from Holland that Ralston met when hiking out of the Canyon who had helped him, said about Ralston, are probably the attributes of Ralston that had got him out of the entrapment and found rescue: "He exactly knew what he was doing, what he wanted and where his limits were even after going through all this", and it seems that these are much related to his passion for adventure.

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Wing Wong said on May 1, 2011 | Add your feedback

Ralston realised that by moving his body weight around against the boulder he could snap the ulna and radius one after the other. Then it was only a matter of stabbing through the skin and carefully cutting away the tendons and arteries. He applied a tourniquet to stall the blood loss. “Prodding and ... (continue)

Ralston realised that by moving his body weight around against the boulder he could snap the ulna and radius one after the other. Then it was only a matter of stabbing through the skin and carefully cutting away the tendons and arteries. He applied a tourniquet to stall the blood loss. “Prodding and pinching, I can distinguish between the hard tendon and ligaments, and the soft, rubbery feel of the more pliable arteries,” he writes. “I should avoid cutting the arteries until the end if I can help it at all. Why did I have to suffer all this extra time? God, I must be the dumbest guy to ever have his hand trapped by a boulder. It took me six days to figure out how I could cut off my arm.”

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Visible Procrastinations said on Apr 2, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback