Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Ralston considers the year after leaving his job at Intel one of the happiest of his life. During this period, he joined Team Stray Dogs, an elite adventure racing team. He also joined or led various friends on climbing, skiing, and other outdoor trips. In November 2002, he began working as a salesperson at a store called Ute Mountaineer.

That winter, he climbed nine more of Colorado’s fourteeners solo, frequently under avalanche conditions. While climbing Mount of the Holy Cross, a significant fuel leak limited his ability to melt snow to drink; in addition, he narrowly avoided falling with a breaking cornice of snow. However, he returned home safely. While climbing Longs Peak, Ralston nearly lost his pack when, as part of a planned maneuver, he threw it upward, only for it to slide, settling near the edge of a large drop-off; in retrieving the pack, he managed to stop himself from going over the edge only by grinding his pickaxe into the granite rock. While climbing Capitol Peak, arguably the most difficult, Ralston relished the thrills but sustained serious frostbite injuries to his hands, leading him to take more than a month off before his next solo mountaineering excursion.

During that month, Ralston went on a skiing trip with several friends from the Albuquerque search-and-rescue team, including Mark Beverly and Chadwick Spencer. At Ralston’s invitation, Mark and Chadwick joined him for a brief outing near their cabin. As Ralston described some of his recent, risky adventures, Mark reminded him to make sure he was doing those things for his own satisfaction, not to gain praise. Upon their return, at Ralston’s invitation, they skied through a bowl-shaped area one at a time but in doing so triggered an avalanche; Chadwick emerged first and helped dig Ralston out of the snow. They then used their electronic beacons to locate Mark, who was struggling to breathe. Working together, Ralston and Chadwick dug him out, giving him breath to revive him as needed, before the arrival of their friends, who were taking care not to set off another avalanche. Although they all survived, Ralston felt guilty for pressuring Mark and Chadwick, and they distanced themselves from him afterward.

Despite warming weather, which is associated with increased avalanche risks, Ralston climbed two more fourteeners, known at the Maroon Bells, during a single trip in March; he lost a glove while completing a particularly difficult maneuver to complete his ascent past a frozen waterfall, but he was elated to reach the summits, which reminded him why he moved to Aspen in the first place.

Sitting in his anchored harness, Ralston swats a few mosquitoes and unexpectedly considers eating them. Although the project is hopeless, he continues to chip at the boulder with his blade. Ralston attempts to maintain a positive, mind-over-matter mentality but knows that he’ll eventually run out of water; he plans to slow down his intake. Using his camera bag, webbing, and rope, he fashions coverings for his arms and legs to help conserve body heat at night; he also covers his head with his rope bag from time to time.

Ralston recalls an earlier incident when, while taking an unconventional route on the Crestone Needle, he was dangling from an overhang, which broke, leading a boulder to fall toward Ralston as he fell backward; he deflected the boulder, then abandoned the risky route. Spooked, he soon gave up on the ascent altogether and returned to his car, where he listened to Pink Floyd’s song “Fearless” on repeat. The next day, he returned and crested the summit.

For the first time since getting stuck, Ralston attempts to pray. When nothing happens, he wonders if his predicament is meant to teach him some kind of lesson. He recalls his friend Rob’s insistence that “It’s not what you do, Aron, it’s who you are” (155), which always confused Ralston, who defined himself by his actions. Stuck in the canyon, he realizes that Rob was telling him that there was no need to earn his approval through impressive accomplishments.

The night passes in brief cycles of relative relaxation and discomfort as Ralston shifts positions to relax different parts of his body. Each time he begins to shiver, he fidgets to generate body heat, then relaxes again.

As the sun rises on Monday morning, Ralston rigs up a new rope system that he planned during the night, hoping to give himself a 6:1 mechanical advantage toward moving the boulder. Despite his best efforts, however, the boulder doesn’t budge. In despair, he begins to fantasize about various beverages.

Returning to his attention to the present, Ralston revisits the idea of amputation. This time, he fashions a tourniquet from the rubber insulation of his CamelBak, which is far superior to his earlier tourniquet. However, after drawing his short blade across his arm without breaking the skin, he again abandons the idea.

Just like the morning before, a raven passes at 8:15 am, and Ralston basks in a brief sliver of sunlight as much as possible. He also urinates. He recalls his meeting six months earlier with Warren MacDonald, an Australian adventurer who lost his legs after he was trapped under a boulder, and feels newfound empathy for him.

At three o’clock that afternoon, Ralston records another message on his camcorder, which evolves from a message to his sister into a confessional statement of his regrets and mistakes, such as prioritizing experiences over people and not providing a detailed itinerary of his trip to anyone else. Afterward, Ralston again urinates, this time into his CamelBak to conserve the liquid. He also takes a few more photos.

In March 2003, Ralston and his friend Gareth Roberts competed in the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, a backcountry ski race. Due to adverse weather conditions, almost half of the participants dropped out of the race, and Ralston and Gareth finished third from last, but they were glad to finish at all.

During the week before his trip to Utah, Ralston climbed and skied to and from several peaks and also ran the length of a marathon one morning as part of his training for a planned trip to Denali, in Alaska. At the last minute, due to a storm, Ralston and two friends cancelled a trip up Mount of the Holy Cross. Since he’d already requested the time off from work, Ralston instead spent a day climbing Mount Sopris with his friend Brad Yule, whose girlfriend Leah rescued them after their car got stuck in snow on the way back. Ralston then set out for Utah with a vague plan to climb through some canyons before meeting Brad and Leah for a party in Goblin Valley, Utah, on Saturday night.

Ralston spent Friday, April 25 mountain biking on the Slick Rock Trail near Moab, Utah, refining his skills as he went, though not without some setbacks. That night, he planned a 30-mile combined biking and climbing loop for the next day. Late that night, after a long drive down a winding dirt road, he arrived at the Horseshoe Canyon trailhead, where he slept.