Meet Aron
Aron Ralston was born on October 27, 1975 in Marion, Ohio. When he was twelve, his family moved to Colorado where his dream for mountain climbing became real. At first, he was not so excited to move to Colorado because of the mountainous terrain, but shortly after the move he decided that climbing was something he would want to do for the rest of his life. He received his college degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, finishing with degrees in mechanical engineering and French, with a minor in piano. At Carnegie Mellon, he served as a resident assistant, studied abroad, and was an active intramural sports participant. In 1997 after graduation, he got a job at Intel in Arizona. He also worked in Tacoma, WA and Albuquerque. He has always had a passion for mountain climbing. In fact, he left his job as a mechanical engineer with Intel in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved to Aspen, Colorado in 2002 in order to climb. He had the goal of climbing all 59 of Colorado's "fourteeners" ,whose peaks reach over 14,000 ft high, during the winter and by himself as this has never been done before. He subsequently achieved this goal in November, 2001. Through his mountain climbing accomplishments have also come dangerous encounters; in 2003, Ralston got caught in a Grade 5 avalanche on Resolution Peak, Colorado while hiking with Mark Beverly and Chadwick Spencer. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured.
This accident was like no other. In April 2003, while he was on a hiking trip in Blue John Canyon in Canyonlands National Park, an 800 pound boulder came loose, crushing his right forearm and pinning it against the canyon wall. Ralston had not told anyone of his hiking plans (which he normally did) and knew no one would be searching for him. Assuming that he would die, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water while trying to break his arm free. His efforts were futile as he could not dislodge his arm. He eventually ran out of food and water, carved his name, date of birth, assumed date of death into the canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family. After five days of trying to lift and break the boulder, Ralston became very dehydrated and week. He started to prepared to amputate his right arm below the elbow in order to escape. Before the procedure he found by poking his thumb that since his hand was getting no circulation, it was decomposing. He describe the knife he used as "what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool". After freeing himself, he was still seventeen miles from his vehicle, and he had no mobile phone. He had to rappel down a 65-foot sheer wall, then hike out of the canyon in the hot sun. While hiking out, he came across Eric and Monique Meijer with their son Andy who were on vacation from The Netherlands. The couple gave him water and then called authorities for help. He was then rescued by a helicopter search team six hours after amputating his arm. His arm was removed from under the boulder and retrieved by park authorities. Ralston cremated it and scattered the ashes about the area where he says "they belong" when he returned to the scene to film an episode of Dateline NBC.
In August 2009, Ralston married Jessica Trusty. The couple had their first child, Leo, in February 2010. He is still well known throughout the country and has been featured in several national television programs and interviews such as Minute To Win It, Ellen, Good Morning America, and David Letterman. Even today he continues to hike on many trails every year with his prosthetic arm.
This accident was like no other. In April 2003, while he was on a hiking trip in Blue John Canyon in Canyonlands National Park, an 800 pound boulder came loose, crushing his right forearm and pinning it against the canyon wall. Ralston had not told anyone of his hiking plans (which he normally did) and knew no one would be searching for him. Assuming that he would die, he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water while trying to break his arm free. His efforts were futile as he could not dislodge his arm. He eventually ran out of food and water, carved his name, date of birth, assumed date of death into the canyon wall, and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family. After five days of trying to lift and break the boulder, Ralston became very dehydrated and week. He started to prepared to amputate his right arm below the elbow in order to escape. Before the procedure he found by poking his thumb that since his hand was getting no circulation, it was decomposing. He describe the knife he used as "what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool". After freeing himself, he was still seventeen miles from his vehicle, and he had no mobile phone. He had to rappel down a 65-foot sheer wall, then hike out of the canyon in the hot sun. While hiking out, he came across Eric and Monique Meijer with their son Andy who were on vacation from The Netherlands. The couple gave him water and then called authorities for help. He was then rescued by a helicopter search team six hours after amputating his arm. His arm was removed from under the boulder and retrieved by park authorities. Ralston cremated it and scattered the ashes about the area where he says "they belong" when he returned to the scene to film an episode of Dateline NBC.
In August 2009, Ralston married Jessica Trusty. The couple had their first child, Leo, in February 2010. He is still well known throughout the country and has been featured in several national television programs and interviews such as Minute To Win It, Ellen, Good Morning America, and David Letterman. Even today he continues to hike on many trails every year with his prosthetic arm.