127 Hours: Was there any alternative?

I watched 127 Hours before leaving NYC and couldn’t help but wonder if there could have been some alternative to amputation. It was a horrible horrible situation and part of my fantasizing there must have been an alternative comes from my disconnect from the reality of such a situation. The fact that the whole situation could have been avoided is irrelevant, I just wonder if there were other solutions to the problem as presented. With all the various camping equipment he had with him was it really not possible to MacGuyver something up? The first thing that came to my mind is perhaps the batteries could be exploded to chip away enough of the rock that he could move it or get free? I don’t know enough about chemistry or batteries to know if this is feasible, but I think I definitely would have tried. Blowing a chunk of my arm or burning it would be an acceptable risk when contrasted with having to amputate it.

What about the various ropes and pulleys he had? Was there no way to leverage enough force to move the rock even slightly? What about starting a fire to make smoke signals as a secondary measure? Surely the rope or the plastic from the flashlight are of the material that would burn in a way that would put off a lot of smoke? As isolated as he was that probably wouldn’t help, but again it was something he could try. I know that he tried everything he thought have but I’m just wondering, were there possible solutions he didn’t consider where the amputation could have been avoided? Just idle ramblings from someone who truly hopes never to be in such a situation.