News Release

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place” tells the story of Ralston’s desert hike in April 2003 in Southeastern Utah that suddenly turned tragic. Ralston, an experienced outdoorsman, was hiking through a deep and narrow slot canyon when an 800-pound rock dislodged and pinned his hand against the canyon wall. Pinned by the boulder, eight miles from his truck, and with rescue unlikely, Ralston had few options. Realizing his chances of survival were slim, Ralston used his video camera to record personal messages to his parents that he hoped would be found after his death.

For five days, Ralston suffered through desperately cold nights, intense pain, lack of sleep and lack of food and water. On the sixth day, knowing he was close to death, Ralston used the boulder’s vice-like grip to break his two arm bones, and then amputated his right hand and forearm with a blunted knife. Once free, Ralston rappelled a 65-foot cliff and hiked seven miles before being rescued in a search operation spearheaded by his mother.

Elberger has been involved with Ralston’s story of survival since its beginning. As the media became focused on the story it didn’t take long before all of the networks wanted to obtain a license to do a documentary. Ralston hired Elberger to represent him in all literary, theatrical, motion picture, licensing and related matters. Elberger worked with “Dateline NBC” and Tom Brokaw on the production of an unprecedented two-hour documentary, and arranged for other appearances, including memorable interviews on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Jane Pauley Show,” “Today,” “The Early Show,” CNN’s “American Morning,” CNN’s “Anderson Cooper,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and others. Elberger also coordinated the timing of articles to appear in Rock & Ice, National Geographic Adventure, GQ, and other journals, as well as a front-page cover story in USA Today on the date of release of “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” in September 2004.

A resident of the north side of Indianapolis, Elberger received a bachelor of arts degree from George Washington University, a law degree from American University, and a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania. He practices in the areas of litigation, constitutional/civil rights law, entertainment law, appellate law, and professional responsibility/disciplinary law. A former chair of the firm’s Litigation Group, Elberger currently serves as chair of the firm’s Entertainment Group.