Growing up in Ohio and Indiana before moving to Colorado with his family in 1987, Aron Ralston had little exposure to the wild outdoors. But by the time he hiked into a remote area of Utah’s canyon country in April of 2003, he was an experienced outdoorsman out for a walk in the park. Seven miles into the...
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Growing up in Ohio and Indiana before moving to Colorado with his family in 1987, Aron Ralston had little exposure to the wild outdoors. But by the time he hiked into a remote area of Utah’s canyon country in April of 2003, he was an experienced outdoorsman out for a walk in the park. Seven miles into the canyon that day, Aron accidentally dislodged a boulder that crushed and pinned his right hand. After six days of entrapment alone, he freed himself with a cheap multi-tool knife and hiked to a miraculous rescue. Since his amputation, Aron has written an internationally bestselling book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, spoken to hundreds of audiences around the world, and interviewed with Tom Brokaw, David Letterman, and Jay Leno. With new prosthetic arms that he designed, Aron returned to his outdoor passions: he finished climbing Colorado’s 59 “Fourteeners,” in winter, solo; he’s skied from the summit of Denali, North America’s highest mountain; and, he’s led a rafting expedition through the Grand Canyon. Today, Aron lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he advocates for wilderness protection, and where, in February 2010, he embarked on his biggest adventure yet: raising his toddler son, Leo. 127 Hours, the major-motion-picture adaptation of his book, directed by Danny Boyle and starring James Franco, was nominated for 6 Oscars. Aron’s only disappointment was that the soundtrack didn’t have enough songs by his favorite band, Phish.
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Aron Ralston's extraordinary story of survival after an 800-pound boulder trapped him in a remote Utah canyon captured global headlines. In his New York Times best seller, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, the Oscar-nominated film, 127 Hours, and on stage, Ralston takes audiences vicariously through those six days without water, means of communication, or hope of escape, to the ecstatic moments when he freed himself by severing his own arm.
Speaker Programs
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Turning Adversity to Advantage
"You know me as the guy who cut his arm off. But this is the story of the guy who was smiling when he cut his arm off," explains Aron Ralston, who faced 6 days ...more
"You know me as the guy who cut his arm off. But this is the story of the guy who was smiling when he cut his arm off," explains Aron Ralston, who faced 6 days of unimaginable adversity with surprising gratitude. An extraordinary example of the human spirit pushed to the extreme, Aron's legendary tale of survival and post-traumatic growth personifies resilience, perseverance, and the power of our minds.
Using evocative detail and bright humor, Ralston captivates and transports audiences into the intense darkness of his entrapment, through to the euphoric release of his amputation. In his adept storytelling, the boulder that crushed his arm becomes a metaphor for the adversity we all experience in our personal and professional lives. Aron urges us to reframe those challenges as the crucibles which clarify what's important to us and what's possible for us. Ralston's thesis is that, while we can't always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond, and he openly shares how that philosophy guided him through his recovery in 2003, as well as his later experiences with depression and divorce, and, more recently, the death of his father.
Aron teaches simple steps for embracing a crisis, rather than resisting it. He reminds us to breathe deeply and connect with our most profound motivations -- not just the will to live, but the will to love -- in order to find our courage. Ralston emphasizes how compassionate accountability for our mistakes enables us to choose a future of growth, resilience and thereby discover gratitude for the hardship we encounter, as it can both strengthen and soften us. At a time when life's boulders are more intense than ever, Aron Ralston helps us each find the possibility in our problems, the transformation in our traumas, and the blessings in our boulders. ...less
Books
Reviews
Start to finish, Aron was the most impactful speaker we’ve had.
- Roge Yaffe, Chief Executive Officer, USLAW Network USLAW Network
Aron’s presentation was great — the standing ovation said it all.
- Larry Howell, Chairman, CRIF Corporation
Aron has an amazing story and he tells it well….I don’t believe I have ever heard such silence from the audience as when he was speaking, - Roge Yaffe, Chief Executive Officer, USLAW Network USLAW Network I’ve been doing these types of meetings for 25 years, and Aron’s presentation was hands-down the best I’ve ever…
- Judy Marshall, Manager of Conference Services, ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
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