caldwell and fellow climbers beth rodden, john dickey and jason smith were held hostage for six days by rebels in kyrgyzstan in august 2000. caldwell pushed a lone captor, ravshan sharipov, off a cliff, and subsequently escaped to government soldiers. they later learned that sharipov survived the fall. a book about their ordeal, "over the edge: the true story of four american climbers' kidnap and escape in the mountains of central asia" was written by greg child. a follow-up article, "back from the edge", was published in "outside" magazine the following year. caldwell gave a filmed lecture "how becoming a hostage and losing a finger made him a better climber".