Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In his 2004 autobiography, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, adventurer Aron Ralston details the story of his 2003 canyoneering trip to Blue John Canyon, during which time he amputated his right arm after being trapped by a 200-pound chockstone boulder for five days without food and water. This memoir recounts his 28 years of outdoors and life experiences that led him to his now-famous decision to cut off his own arm to save his life.

Ralston compiled his life story into a collection of mini-stories that he presents through a series of flash-blacks while he is pinned in the canyon. An extreme mountain-biker, mountaineer, canyoneer, rock and ice climber, Ralston quit his job as a mechanical engineer for Intel in 2002 so he could channel all of his time and energy into a new, remarkable feat: attempting to be the first person to solo-climb all fifty-nine of Colorado’s fourteeners. From reading this book, one quickly realizes that a recurring theme exists within all of Ralston’s voyages. He has spent the majority of his life seeking out the most outrageous adventures, and in doing so he has had several close brushes with death—this canyoneering trip being the closest brush yet.

Accustomed to embarking on adventurous, and relatively dangerous, trips alone, this trip was no exception for Ralston. He had a few days off from his sales job at the Ute Mountaineer in Aspen, Colorado, so he hastily packed up his car with all of his go-to gear: mountain bike, skis, climbing equipment, etc. On a whim, Ralston decided to travel to Moab, Utah for some canyoneering. For such an experienced climber, this trip should have proven relatively simple. Therefore, Ralston did not bother with leaving an itinerary with anyone—which made his impending search all the more difficult.

His excursion was going perfectly. The canyoneering was technical, but reasonably easy and enjoyable. During a descent, Ralston used a wedged boulder as support to lower himself. However, his weight shifted the boulder and it came crashing down, pinning him against the canyon wall.

During the third morning of his entrapment, Ralston seemed to come to terms with his fateful death as he powered on his video camera to record goodbyes to friends and family. As he tearfully reminisced over his most memorable moments spent with friends and family, Ralston had an ironic self-realization.

“Laughing a laugh of utter exhaustion, I recall the irony of the memories that involved a close brush with death. I’ve listed several times when I almost died as some of my favorite memories, times when I had fun via the intensity of the experience. Regardless of the psychological implications, I find a certain comedic relief for my current situation, wondering if I’ll ever feel the same way if I survive my entrapment in Blue John.”

This passage is important because it raises one of the ethical questions intertwined in adventure journalism: Where does one draw the line? Adventure journalism can be dangerous, even deadly. Still, many extremists risk their lives to attain an experience that is “worth” retelling to others. Ralston seemed to push the envelope even farther by embarking on these trips alone. At times it seemed as if he chose to partake in solo instead of group trips so that he would be the only one with the bragging rights.

Ralston’s career choice put a huge burden on his friends and family, as they were the ones who were called upon to save him when things took a deadly turn. One can only imagine how physically and mentally draining his rescue efforts must have been, and this makes adventure journalism seem somewhat selfish. In the hospital shortly after his rescue, his mother said, “Sue and I were joking that if it wasn’t a broken leg that had kept you from coming home, you were going to have two broken ones by the time we got done with you.”

Ralston’s story immediately generated much media attention. CNN boasted a headline that read, “Colorado climber who amputated own arm in critical care.” Print and broadcast journalists swarmed the hospital grounds in the hopes of catching a glimpse of this extreme climber. Ralston’s mother expected this massive media response, as she had this request for Ranger Steve Swanke, “You’ll probably have to file a report or talk to the media about Aron. Please don’t be judgmental.” Even Aron’s mother was award of the ethical questions and concerns that would be raised concerning his situation.