Aron Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American who became famous in May 2003, for cutting off his own arm with a dull knife in order to free himself after becoming trapped by a boulder.

Ralston was a student in mechanical engineering and French at Carnegie Mellon University, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He left his job (as a mechanical engineer) with Intel in 2002 to return to Colorado to do more hiking and climbing. While on a canyoneering trip in Blue John Canyon (near Moab, Utah), a boulder fell and pinned his right forearm down, crushing it. He waited for rescue for several days, but none was forthcoming. On the third day, he ran out of water. Rather than die of exposure, he used a dull multitool he had with him to sever his arm. Although he refused to name which brand (other than to say it was not Leatherman), he did describe it as "the kind you get with a $15 flashlight and it's free, which is probably how I got it."

"He's obviously one tough guy," said Sgt. Mitch Vetere, one of the Emery County Sheriff's Office searchers who first located Ralston in a remote area 60 miles south of Green River, Utah. [1]

On July 21, 2003, Ralston appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.

On September 10, 2004, Ralston's story was featured on a two-hour edition of Dateline NBC called Desperate Days in Blue John Canyon .

Ralston has also been praised by the infamous Maddox on his site The Best Page In The Universe on a tribute created for 'Real Men': http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=real_men

Ralston documented his experience in a book titled Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

External links

Aron's personal web site: http://www.geocities.com/aronralston/