Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him.

It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.

And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. As he eliminated his escape options one by one through the days, Aron faced the full horror of his predicament: By the time any possible search and rescue effort would begin, he'd most probably have died of dehydration, if a flash flood didn't drown him before that.

What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using the video camera from his pack, Aron began recording his grateful good-byes to his family and friends all over the country, thinking back over a life filled with adventure, and documenting a last will and testament with the hope that someone would find it. (For their part, his family and friends had instigated a major search for Aron, the amazing details of which are also documented here for the first time.) The knowledge of their love kept Aron Ralston alive, until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder. Aron then committed the most extreme act imaginable to save himself.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- a brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life -- will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories.

What Customers Say About Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

I would recommend this book to anybody who is looking for an adventure and likes reading exciting books that sometimes gives them cold chills down their spines. This book was probably one of the best books I have read about survival and how close you can get with somebody when they are the only friend that you have in a bad situation out there. When they finally get going on their trip, the boys have to use all that their dads had told them, but it always doesn't work.

The problem is that they really don't get along with their dads very well. In the start of the book, a boy named Randy who has the most problems with his family life is really messed up and he also has diabetes. Between a Rock and a Hard Place is about 2 boys who go to a resort up in the mountains with their dads.

The other boy named Mark is Randy's cousin and he also has some family problems, but not as heavy as Randy. One day the boys decide that they are going to go on their own little trip and let their dads go fishing by themselves.

What they did not know was that they were going to have to work for their survival and do everything that their dads had taught them.

Is that to be admired. I guess this guy has some kahones but at times I felt like I was reading about a foolish person doing foolish things. Not in my book, can I get my money back. think this guy is the sharpest tack in the box. I don't take financial advice from poor people or take marital advice from divorced peolpe.

I literally couldn't put it down and felt a great sense of loss when I'd finished it.I highly recommend this autobiography to friends and family. I found it spellbinding, almost surreal in it's content, and Ralston's writing ability to put me in his shoes from the first page to the last. It is high adventure with the added realization of what the human body and mind can endure.Superb.Irene I received this book from Amazon in a very timely fashion and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Ralston's book was recommended by a member of my book club.

I think he is a natural narrator and gifted writer. His battle of wits with a black bear was one of my favorite parts. I love the honest, well written description of this miraculous self-rescue. I recommend Aron's book to anyone who feels like they need more adventure in their life, or anyone who has a love of steep terrains and deep canyons.

I honor his not being ashamed of the moments when he lost composure in the canyon. I look up to him in his ambition and his strength. He knew the risks.

I am a mountaineerer myself, and I loved getting into this book. NO. This is a great book.

It is the life he chose, and loved. This is a great book that is hard to put down. I loved the style that it was written giving insight into his stories of how he got to where he was, and all the experiences that led up to his entrapment.

Was he smart to go into such climbs without a partner.