Terrifying true story of rock climber which inspired 127 Hours

The movie 127 Hours is known for its claustrophobic and horrifying true story, documenting canyoneer Aron Ralston's ordeal which saw him trapped in a canyon for 127 hours.

James Franco stars in the movie, with portions of it given over to him speaking directly to camera in a video diary, leaving messages for his loved ones and reflecting on his own hubris.

While Ralston does eventually manage to break himself free from the rock *spoiler alert*, the escape comes as a high price as he had to infamously amputate part of his own arm in order to free himself.

As a film, 127 Hours captures the drama and humanity that comes out in the ordeal, but what makes it even more awful is that it was based on a true story, which happened to the real Aron Ralston.

Not only that, but Ralston actually worked on the film alongside the production team to make sure that it was as accurate as it possibly could be.

And it seems that Ralston himself, who actually had to endure that ordeal, felt that aside from one small detail the film was as true to the reality as it could be as a drama.

And as for that one detail?

Searchlight Pictures

It wasn't anything major, but it was the part when Ralston meets two hikers out and about in the film and shows them a hidden pool. In reality, he just showed them a few basic climbing moves.

The big mistake that he had made was that he had not told anyone where he was going when he went out by himself.

The reality of the injury was also a lot worse - Ralston's arm had become trapped by a boulder, meaning that the circulation had been cut off.

After days in that position, he saw that the part of his arm which was trapped had actually started to decompose due to the lack of circulation.

He also experienced hallucinations of himself playing with a child in the future. The combination of this and the decomposition resulted in him carrying out the amputation.

And how exactly did he do this?

YouTube / Unpredictable

First, he broke the bones in his arm and then proceeded to use a multitool knife to cut through the skin, using the pliers to cut through tougher tendons. Can't even bare thinking about, right?

The whole gristly process lasted around an hour and horrifyingly, that's not all.

After cutting off his own arm and staunching the wound, he was able to move through the canyon and then rappel down a 20 metre drop, before hiking seven miles.

He was eventually found by rescuers around four hours after cutting off his arm, and was immediately taken to hospital. His arm was later recovered, with the boulder requiring around thirteen people to move.

Ralston later revisited the site and scattered the ashes of his severed arm at the site. He now has a son, and continues to go climbing.

However, he always tells his family where he has gone.

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