The character arc of Aron Ralston
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 27 October 1975 in Marion, Ohio, in Denver from the age of twelve. Between then and now sit a double major in mechanical engineering and French with a piano minor, five years at Intel, a job given up to climb Denali, a move to Aspen, an avalanche that made him rethink risk, a boulder in Bluejohn Canyon on 26 April 2003 that pinned his right wrist, five days and twelve ounces of water, an hour of work with a blunt knife, a 65 foot rappel, a six mile walk, and every one of Colorado fourteeners climbed solo in winter. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Aron Ralston?
Five days, no way out. Then he saw the torque.
He was born in Ohio and moved to Denver at twelve, where he learned to ski and backpack. He read mechanical engineering and French at Carnegie Mellon with a minor in piano, was a resident assistant, studied abroad, played intramural sport and guided rafting in the summers. Then five years as an engineer at Intel across three cities, until he felt burnt out by a large corporation and quit in 2002 to climb Denali. He moved to Aspen to live his life climbing mountains.
The goal he set himself was all fifty nine of Colorado peaks over fourteen thousand feet, alone, in winter, which nobody had recorded doing. Early in 2003 he was caught in a Grade 5 avalanche with two skiing partners. Nobody was badly hurt, but his friends stopped speaking to him afterwards, and that made him reconsider how he was handling risk.
On the afternoon of 26 April 2003 he was alone in Bluejohn Canyon in Utah. A suspended boulder dislodged, smashed his left hand and then crushed his right, pinning it to the canyon wall. He had told nobody his plans and had no way to call anybody. He had roughly twelve fluid ounces of water and two burritos.
He spent five days rationing them and trying to lift and chip away at eight hundred pounds of chockstone. On the fourth day he worked out that to free the arm he would have to cut through bone, and that his tools could not do it. On the fifth he ran out of water, carved his name and his birth date and the date he expected to die into the sandstone, recorded a goodbye to his family, and did not expect to see the morning. That night, hallucinating, he saw himself playing with a child he did not yet have, with part of his right arm missing, and he credits that vision with making him believe he would live.
On the sixth day he had the idea that saved him: he could break the two bones in his forearm using the arm itself as a lever. He did, and then used a blunt two-inch knife and a pair of pliers, an hour in all, with tubing from a water carrier as a tourniquet and the major arteries left until last. Then he climbed out of the slot canyon, rappelled a sixty five foot sheer wall, and walked. Six miles later he met a Dutch family on holiday, the Meijers, who gave him food and water and ran for help. A helicopter reached him about four hours after he had freed himself. He had lost forty pounds and a quarter of his blood. He wrote Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which reached number three on the New York Times list, and Danny Boyle made 127 Hours from it, which was nominated for six Oscars. In 2005 he became the first person to climb all of Colorado fourteeners solo in winter, a project he had started in 1997.
The moments
Aron Ralston's timeline.
The 1970s
Born in Ohio
Everyday. Ohio, then Denver and the mountains.
The 1990s
Engineering, French and piano
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two majors, a minor and a river job.
The 2000s
He quits Intel
Milestone, and it changed everything. He gave up the salary for the mountains.
An avalanche, and a silence
Setback, and it changed his direction. Nobody was hurt, and nobody called him either.
The boulder
Setback, and it changed everything. Nobody knew where he was.
The tools will not do it
Setback, and it changed everything. He worked out what was needed and that he could not do it.
He carves the date
Setback, and it changed everything. He wrote the date he thought he would die.
A child he had not met
Milestone, and it changed everything. He saw a child who did not exist yet, and decided to live.
The sixth morning
Milestone, and it changed everything. The idea arrived on the sixth morning.
He walks out
Milestone, and it changed everything. A sixty five foot rappel and six miles, after all that.
Wait, or free himself
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: break the bones and go, taken, or hold on and hope. He said afterwards that earlier would have killed him and never would have killed him, and the sixth morning was the only window there was.
He goes back
Milestone, and it changed his direction. On his birthday, he took his arm back to the canyon.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Milestone, and it changed everything. He wrote it down, and it sold everywhere.
Every fourteener, alone, in winter
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifty nine peaks, alone, in winter, and he finished it after the canyon.
The 2010s
127 Hours
Milestone, and it changed his direction. His own verdict on the film was that it got it right.
He went back to the canyon six months later on his birthday and scattered the ashes of his own arm there, where he said they belong. What he set moving is the plainest possible demonstration that the answer often arrives on the sixth day, and that the job until then is to still be there when it does.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His turned on an idea he had on the sixth morning, after five days of the wrong ideas. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Aron Ralston: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Aron Ralston's character arc?
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How did Aron Ralston free himself?
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Did Aron Ralston keep climbing?
What is the Aron Ralston film and book?
Where does this timeline of Aron Ralston's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Aron Ralston, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place, his 2004 autobiography.
- The Dateline NBC special Desperate Days in Blue John Canyon, 2004.
- His own comments on the accuracy of 127 Hours, as quoted there.