He’s Up in Arm

Starting Point
In spring 2003, climber Aron Ralston, then 27, was pinned for four days against a rock wall in Utah's isolated Blue John Canyon when an 800-pound boulder crushed his right hand. To escape, he cut off his lower arm with pliers and a pocket blade, then rappelled down a 60-foot cliff and hiked six miles to safety.

Fever Pitch
The story blankets the national press, winding up as a two-hour documentary on NBC. GQ and Vanity Fair named Ralston "Man of the Year," and Miller Lite cast him in its "Man Laws" ad campaign.

Present Day
Ralston, now an Aspen-based celebrity mountaineer, climbs or skis 80 days a year, dividing the rest of his time between charity work and the lecture circuit, with clients such as Goldman Sachs and Hewlett-Packard. (Speaking fee: at least $25,000, according to the Nationwide Speakers Bureau.) A movie of his life is in the works. "If I was transported back in time," Ralston told NEWSWEEK, "I wouldn't change a thing. I wouldn't bring a different knife. I wouldn't bring a jacket. I'd want it to happen exactly as it did."