These activities and teaching ideas are based on a news story from 2003 that has now been made into a dramatic movie, 127 Hours. Climber Aron Ralston went missing for days while exploring desert canyons. When he emerged alive his extraordinary tale of survival made headlines worldwide.
Use this lesson plan to explore some of the human and emotional aspects of his story. Help students think through some key issues about preparedness and survival.
Alert
Some students may find parts of the material unsettling. Limb amputation is mentioned, and a still photograph of a severed hand, with blood, is shown briefly at the end of the first video.
One near-fatal mistake
Aron Ralston became trapped under a boulder while climbing the canyons in Utah's desert national park. He was trapped for days. He nearly died. He admits that he made one near-fatal mistake. He didn't do one of the basic things that all guides advise you to do.
- Try to guess now what that mistake was.
You find out at the beginning of this video extract. The narrator has been explaining Aron Ralston's love of adventure, and his ambitious and risky solo climbs in some of the most demanding and dangerous peaks in the USA. But as she points out, the adventure that nearly killed him was, on the face of it, much less risky.
Read the transcript or watch the video below. You can also log in to your free Vimeo account to download this video.
Discuss the mistake that Aron Ralston makes. Give your immediate reaction and listen to other people's.
- Who thinks Aron was just unlucky?
- Who thinks it is unrealistic to expect everybody who goes on a trip to leave a schedule with someone?
- How do you decide what is reasonable in different circumstances?
- If someone said they felt self-conscious and a bit silly leaving a planned itinerary for a simple outdoor trip, how would you reply?
Search & rescue
Recap on Aron Ralston's near-fatal mistake. He describes it: "I didn't tell anyone where I was going." This had three immediate effects once he became trapped:
- Any search and rescue operation would be delayed, because no one knew that he was in any danger. His employer and friends might simply think that he changed his plans without telling anyone. The alert would not be raised.
- Once the search and rescue began, it would be much much slower and waste a lot of resources because so many fruitless possibilities had to be checked, involving large numbers of people.
- His family and friends would experience enormous anxiety as they waited for news. Many people with missing family say the uncertainty, the not knowing, makes it impossible to get on with their own lives.
Discuss these. Now imagine that you had a friend who doesn't turn up one day when you expected them. You have a powerful feeling that something has happened to them. What might you do? Who would you tell, and what enquiries would you make? What help would you try to get from whom – both to find your friend and to cope with being upset and worried yourself?
Video feelings
Filmmaker Danny Boyle, who made Slumdog Millionaire and other high-profile movies, became intrigued by the story and Aron's own use of film. Watch this short section of an interview with the director of the new film 127 Hours, then work through some of the questions below.
Read the transcript or watch the video below. You can also log in to your free Vimeo account to download this video.
- If you were in Aron's position do you think you would have videoed final messages to people you loved? How would you decide what to say? If Aron had died, would the videos make his family feel better or worse? Think about how important mental images are of people who have died.
- Danny Boyle says watching the videos is weird. Talk about what he might mean. Why has Aron Ralston shown the videos to very few people? Think of three reasons.
- In September 2003, five months after his ordeal, Aron and his mom watched the video he'd made in the canyon. He wrote: "We cried together – it was hard for my mom to see my suffering on the tape, but it made us both thankful to still have each other in our lives." Choose three words that you think could describe Aron's mom's feelings when viewing the video.
- Aron paused before he left the canyon to take a couple of pictures of his severed hand left behind the boulder. It was later retrieved, and cremated and given to Aron. Do you think this would help him come to terms with his loss? Amputees sometimes ask hospitals if they can keep their removed limbs. Do you understand why they ask, and why they are refused?
- Wordblast how Aron might be feeling as he recovered from his ordeal after being discharged from hospital. Include the range of feelings that you think he might have. Compare your lists with other people's. Bear in mind what Aron wrote: “Convalescence was hard on me. Not just the drip-bag routine but the whole thing. I hurt all the time from both phantom and real pain, even with the drugs. While I was continuously medicated, I never rested well... My frustrations and the drugs turned me into such a bossy and grouchy snot that even I was sick of hearing myself.”
Feeling faint
Media across the world reported that three people fainted after watching the arm amputation scene in 127 Hours, Danny Boyle's film of Aron Ralston's experience. Try one or more of these tasks, available as a powerpoint presentation:
- Find out why people faint at the sight or even the thought of blood. Remember that this is not a decision thing – people don't choose to faint. This is a reflex – a physical response by the body that's not under your control, a closing down of your system so you lose consciousness. Why does the body do this? Some people are more likely to faint than others – but all of us would do it at some point depending on circumstances.
- Find out what to do when someone faints. How do you look after them, and check that they are ok? How do you position them so they have the best chance of coming round quickly? What should you do if you feel faint yourself? Draw up a list of the recommended advice from a source you trust.
- Find some common other reasons why people might faint. Some are medical conditions. Others are responses to changes in the environment. Make a list and note what the differences are and what they have in common.
In each case, work in small groups or pairs and come back prepared to tell everyone else what you found out. If you have time, present it in a fun, lively and memorable way.
Credits
Video 1 courtesy of New York Times, video 2 courtesy of Empire Online.
This lesson plan was written by PJ White of Alt62 and produced in September 2010.