Between a Rock and a Hard Place

the long version

Hiking into the remote Utah canyonlands, Aron Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beautiful natural world. Then, at 2:41 p.m., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron's right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Through six days of hell, with scant water, food, or warm clothing, and the terrible knowledge that no one knew where he was, Aron eliminated his escape options one by one. Then a moment of stark clarity helped him to solve the riddle of the boulder, and commit one of the most extreme and desperate acts imaginable.