Adventurer Aron Ralston will be the featured speaker at The Conservation Alliance Breakfast at the August 2012 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.


Ralston inadvertently gained fame when he hiked into a remote a rea of Utah’s canyon country, and accidentally dislodged a boulder that crushed and pinned his right hand. After six days of entrapment alone, he amputated his arm with a cheap multi-tool knife and hiked to a miraculous rescue. The breakfast, which is open to the public, is Friday, August 3, 7:00-8:50 AM at The Marriott in Salt Lake City.
 
Ralston’s book about his experience, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, was adapted into 127 Hours, a motion picture starring James Franco. Ralston has used his celebrity to advocate for the protection of Wilderness areas in Utah and Colorado. His talk, Beyond 127 Hours, will focus on his accident, and his subsequent efforts to support conservation efforts.
 
“Aron is to be admired not for the situation he got himself into, but for how he survived it,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “More impressive is that Aron has become a strong voice for the protection of wild places, like the one that almost took his life. We’re thrilled that he’ll be speaking at our breakfast.”
 
In addition to making time for conservation work, Ralston has continued his adventure lifestyle. With new prosthetic arms that he designed, Ralston finished solo winter ascents of Colorado’s 59 Fourteeners, skied from the summit of Denali, and led a raft trip through the Grand Canyon.
 
In addition to Ralston’s talk, The Conservation Alliance Breakfast will feature a review of the grants the organization makes during its Winter 2012 funding cycle, and successes that grantees have achieved with the funding. The Conservation Alliance Breakfast is open to the public. For complete information, see:

http://www.conservationalliance.com/UserFiles/File/Summer%20OR%202012/S11breakfastSTD.pdf
 
 
 
 
 
About the Conservation Alliance:
 
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas.
 
Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.



Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed nearly $10 million to grassroots conservation groups. Alliance funding has helped save more than 29 million acres of wildlands; protect 2,700 miles of rivers; stop or remove 25 dams; designate five marine reserves; and purchase nine climbing areas.