Aron Lee Ralston is an American outsider, mechanical engineer and inspiring speaker known for surviving a canyoneering accident by amputating his arm. On April 26, 2003, while descending Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, he removed a stone and placed his right wrist on the side of a gorge. Five days later he was able to cross his arm with a blunt fist, traversed the gorge, remembered a 20-foot drop, and walked 11 miles [11 km] to safety. The incident is set in Ralston's history between Rock and Hard Place and is the subject of much controversy in the 2010 film 127 Hours starring James Franco. After the accident he continued to climb the mountains and became the first person to climb alone in Colorado for fourteen winters. Ralston worked as an Intel engineer at Ocotillo, Tacoma and Albuquerque for five years, but found himself fresh by working for a large company. By the time he worked as an engineer he had developed his skills in the mountains, and in 2002 he resigned to move ...
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