Woman has 'real-life 127 Hours' experience after getting wedged stuck in canyon unable to move

A woman has told how she is 'glad to be alive' after getting wedged stuck in a remote canyon in scenes reminiscent of the claustrophobia-inducing blockbuster 127 Hours.

The thrill seeker, from the US, essentially lived through the same ordeal which inspired Danny Boyle's 2010 film while she explored the Wildcat Tank Canyon near the city of Page in Arizona - just minus the self-amputation of an arm.

Sharing the details of her terrifying ordeal in a TikTok post, the woman - who goes by @elfy647 on social media -explained that she had headed out to the beauty spot with a friend under the illusion it would be quite simple to complete.

Elfy, an amateur canyoneer with years of experience, explained that she had researched the Wildcat Tank Canyon extensively beforehand and that online resources rated it as 'really easy' on the difficulty scale.

She explained: "This canyon was a mile long, it wasn't long at all. You hike up half a mile, rappel down in 50ft and then the rest of the canyon you're stemming.

"Stemming is when your back is against the canyon and your feet are on the wall of the canyon," Elfy said.

"You stem the whole thing. "I thought, I've done harder, I can do that. I've been through a lot of way longer, way more technical type of canyons."

However, Elfy admitted that she presumed there would 'be a lot more breaks' for her to take a breather along the way, while she also drastically underestimated the effect that the sweltering heat would have on her.

After reaching the top of the mountain at around 1pm - where it was 'very, very hot' - the adventurer and her pal then rappelled down into the canyon where they hoped it would be cooler, but it wasn't.

Elfy explained she swapped her hiking boots for sandals in the hopes they would have a better grip while she was stemming, before things then went drastically wrong.

She continued: "I think we underestimated it, the heat really took a lot of my strength out of me. I became shaky and I started sliding. Then I started panicking and and I slid, I started going deeper into the canyon and just slid to the bottom.

"[My friend] also did - but then she kept going as she had more stamina than me. I was just freaking out because I couldn't get out and at that point I was stuck from my hips and I could only twist from side to side, I couldn't lay down," she added.

Noting that the canyon 'looks a lot wider than it is', she explained that she had no way to escape from it and was concerned she would sustain a 'crush injury', adding: "That's where I'm not able to move and I basically suffocate."

"So I kind of just stayed put because that was the best I could do.The canyon walls were so vertical that I just didn't have the strength. I overestimated my ability to do something like that.

"Accidents happen and it was a horrible mistake."

She and her pal attempted to get out for around three hours before realising their efforts were futile, but the pair were running out of hope as they had no phone signal and nobody knew where they were.

But luckily for the pair of them, 'a miracle happened' while they were trapped 400ft inside the canyon - her friend's phone suddenly started ringing.

"My friends phone started buzzing," Elfy recalled. "She sent a video to people saying we are stuck and what canyon we were in and then sent her roommate our coordinates.

"Her roommate responded back almost immediately and said she was going to call for help.

"I tried dialling 911 several times. I did not get anyone on the line, I had no service. She tried them, same thing.

"She had service for like a minute or two, that was it. I don't know whether it was a satellite flying by or what - but that saved us."

The young women then faced a gruelling wait for the search and rescue team, who took four hours to reach them.

By this point, Elfy's legs were 'turning purple' and she and her pal had long run out of water - and in total, she was wedged stuck in the canyon for a whopping 13 hours.

Elfy added: "I went maybe 9 hours without water. When they pulled me out they said my kidney function probably wasn't good. I told them I wanted to walk out because I don't have health insurance, they said if I walked out I would probably die or be on dialysis for the rest of my life."

She also had 'really bad circulation in her legs', although she was allowed to leave hospital the next day - but unfortunately, Elfy's kidneys 'still aren't doing very good'.

Finishing off her story about her 127 Hours-like experience, she added: "The whole thing was embarrassing I did not anticipate getting stuck. I never wanted to be one of those people or waste peoples resources or time or energy."