Durango Telegraph - Slideshow benefits Friends of Wolf Creek
Slideshow benefits Friends of Wolf Creek

Well-known mountaineer Aron Ralston speaks in Durango tonight, May 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the Smiley Building auditorium. Ralston will present a slideshow that highlights his latest adventure – a wintertime ascent of all 59 peaks in Colorado that rise above 14,000 feet. Ralston is the only known person to summit all peaks during the winter. He started the project in 1997 and finished in 2005. Ralston also will sign copies of his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which tells his story of being trapped by an 800-foot boulder in Utah’s Blue John Canyon. After being trapped for six days and five nights, Ralston used a multi-tool to amputate his own right arm in order to extricate himself from the slot canyon.

Ralston is speaking to Durango audiences in an effort to raise money for Friends of Wolf Creek, the nonprofit challenging the proposed development at the Wolf Creek Ski Area. In recent years, Ralston says he has become more active in supporting organizations working to preserve public lands and wildlife in Colorado.

Ralston says that his slideshow will help the audience understand some of the numerous public-access issues throughout Colorado – all of which he grappled with while completing his Fourteeners project.

– Amy Maestas

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