Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is a climber, mechanical engineer, and motivational speaker from the United States. He is well known for surviving a canyoneering mishap by chopping off part of his right arm.
On April 26, 2003, he dislodged a rock while solo-descending Bluejohn Canyon in southwestern Utah, trapping his right wrist to the canyon wall. He had to shatter his forearm, amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free, make his way down the rest of the canyon, rappel down a 65-foot (20 m) plunge, and travel 7 miles (11 km) to safety after five days.
The episode is detailed in Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and it is also the basis of the 2010 film 127 Hours, in which he is played by James Franco.
After the injury, he resumed climbing and became the first person to solo climb all fourteeners in Colorado in winter.
