Max Runia CSB

127 Hours by Aron Ralston

Summary;

This story was written By Aron Ralston and is sort of an autobiography. He starts by explaining how his family moved from to Colorado when he was 12, and how subsequently his childhood led to him falling in love with the mountains and the culture that goes along with living in a town filled with outdoors enthusiasts. He wasn’t always an outdoors enthusiast though; here he describes his original horror when reading an article in an encyclopedia about Colorado before his family moved, “I flipped the page again, and this last picture shook me to my core. It was a photo of people cross-country skiing the streets of after a winter storm. There were no vehicles on the roads, just lanes of people on their skis. I slammed the book shut in horror.” Following the move he was enrolled in various outings as a young boy and found that he truly loved the outdoors. As a young adult he graduated from college, got a job as an engineer, and eventually quit his job to seek his longing for the west and the mountains of Colorado. There are many stories of close encounters he tells of, some of these stories are so crazy even the park rangers think he’s off his rocker. Here he recalls his conversation with park rangers after being stalked by a bear for several days, “The rangers told me they had heard of this kind of stalking behavior from other national parks, but mine was the first report from the Tetons. They also told me that if you were to shout at a bear, wave your arms, stomp aggressively toward it, and then hit it with rocks, nine times out of ten you could count on being mauled. Score one for my guardian angel, I figured.” He also writes of jumping into the great Colorado River and almost being swept away by the current, he recalls almost losing both of his hands to frostbite, how he got himself and two friends stuck in an avalanche, and the main story; getting his hand stuck between a choke stone and the walls of a narrow slot canyon. To the outdoor adventurist like myself, this all sounds like one crazy adventure, but in reality these were life and death situations. Situations that he could very well have lost his life to. Time and time again he shows his will to survive the un-survivable. It was a pure act of self-preservation that compelled him to cut part of his arm off to escape that slot canyon.

Characters;

Mom and Dad Sister- Sonja Girlfriend Kristi and Megan (girls he met just hours before being trapped by the choke stone.) Mark and Chadwick (friends he got caught in the avalanche with) Andy and Dan (Guys that saved him from drowning in the Colorado)

Max Runia CSB

General Themes;

1. It is better to be you and follow your dreams, than to act like someone else who you’re not- (Specifically for the sole purpose of making more money.) In the book Aron finds that although he has a high paying job as an engineer he would rather move to Colorado and work as a river guide so that he can fulfill his longing for climbing mountains. 2. Risk verses reward- (It’s not always worth the risk.) For example; going solo winter climbing and risking frostbitten hands or death by bear mauling, skiing down an avalanche prone mountain and getting himself and two friends trapped in an avalanche, jumping into the Colorado River for a picture and almost drowning from the current, and finally going solo slot canyon climbing and getting his hand trapped in the canyon by a boulder.

Evaluation;

The book was very well written I think, it appealed to me because he does all the things I love to do too. As far as an emotional appeal I’m not sure, but certainly in a logical way it did when he had to make the choice to cut his arm off.

Recommendation;

I would certainly recommend the book to anyone who loves the outdoors and wants to read a real book about real life or death situations. I would tell someone before they read this book too pay close attention to the underlying themes that are shown throughout the book. After I read it I started thinking of where I want to go for vacations and if I would ever be interested in climbing mountains.