About Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and motivational speaker, known for surviving a canyoneering accident in 2003 by cutting off part of his own right arm. On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah, he dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days, he had to break his forearm and amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free. He then made his way through the rest of the canyon, rappelled down a 65-foot (20 m) drop, and hiked 7 miles (11 km) before being rescued. The incident is documented in Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which was later adapted into the film 127 Hours, in which he is portrayed by James Franco. After the accident, he continued mountaineering and became the first person to ascend all of Colorado's fourteeners solo in winter. In 2005, Ralston became the first person to climb all of the 59 ranked and/or named Colorado's 'fourteeners' solo in winter, a project he initially started in 1997. When he woke on the sixth day, he discovered his arm had begun to decompose due to lack of circulation, and he desperately felt the need to tear it off.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.