Survival Shows

There are 54 million acres of park land with large glaciers and huge mountain peaks in Alaska - more than enough room to get lost and require survival training.

James / Jim Sweeny and Dave nyman were climbing the elevator shaft in Alaska.  The elevator shaft is a large granite rock covered wtih ice so climbing it is slow going and extremely dangerous.  Part of the way up Jim Sweey falls and goes unconscious forcing Dave to lower him back down to the bottom.  After 5 hours of hard work they both reach the base of the rock face.  Once they are off the rock completely Dave realizes the full magnitutude of their situation and that it is up to him to  make it possible for both of them to survive.

Jim and Dave get hit by an avalanche the first night yet they survive! After moving their Dave thinks they are now in a safe place for the night yet AGAIN they are hit by an avalanche and survive! The odds of surviving one avalanche are insane but surviving two in two nights is amazing!

I’m not going to giveaway the whole episode of I shouldn’t be alive so I will use bullets to briefly touch on more topics from this show.

• Plane attempting a rescue crashes.
• Plane crash causes multiple bulging disks in the back of the passenger.
• First avalanche destroys Dave and Jim’s tent.
• Dave pulls Jim 17 hours through the snow.
• Both men fall into a deep cravass.
• Both men climb 70* snowy and icely ledge so that they are on the surface again.
• The men use a technique which involves punching your first into the snow to gain grip and continue to climb.
• Both men slide down the mountain to speed up their survival.
• Weather is to bad for a rescue attempt, the men have to survive another night in sub-zero temp.
• When they get to the bottom of the mountain Dave is ner delirious with exhaustion from pulling Jim down the mountain.
• Jim spends 10 days in the hospital but survives.
• Dave was awarded the carnagy medal.

Recently I took my Polaris Sportsman 800 (QUAD/ATV) to a new off-road trail system for the day.  The trails all were loops and had markers letting you know where each ended up so with that we didn’t think to much about packing a map of the trails or checking our GPS point where we started, we defintly were not thinking about survival or ending up in a survival situation. (more…)

On Feb. 21st 2007 the latest episode of Jericho aired - The Day Before.

In this episode you learn about  Jake and Hawkin’s past and where/how they ended up currently.

The Day Before shows you what happened the 36 hours prior to the bombs going off.

If you can’t find it on TV you can catch-up on the episodes of jerico you missed by visiting HERE 

In this episode of Survivorman Les was in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  The desert spans from Mexico to Colorado and is the largest desert in the American southwest.  The desert is dry, dirty and someplace you would not want to be without a good supply of water.  The Sonoran Desert is the hottest North American desert!

Les is pretending to be a stranded biker in this episode.  He is left in the middle of the desert with nothing but his motorbike, some water and his trusty multi-tool.

Les sits through the first night next to his bike, I wondered why? He had enough time to gather some brush and small trees to use as a blanket for the COLD nights. (Yes it get’s into the freezing temps. even in the desert where it can be in the 90s (F) during the day!)  My guess would be he was simulating a confused person who had just come to realize they had to spend the night out there!  In the morning Les complains of no sleep and waking up all coveredin frost!! Brrrrrr!

Now this show was different than the others in that they gave Les 1 gallon of water! On other episodes he could have spaced this out for the entire 7 days and been fine however out here in the Sonoran Desert that water will last time 1-2 days max!

This episode was packed with TONS of information, even moreso than his other episodes.  I will now briefly detail some of the great information learned from this episode of Survivorman with Les Stroud.

• Wild pigs are a danger, they attack in numbers.
• Grass makes a good blanket, weave it and it becomes portable.
• Hand drills can cause serious blisters and are NOT easy tools to start a fire with.
• Building a fire and tender bundle are not easy tasks and take serious time and preperation.
• To eat a scorpion cut the stinger off and chew the rest up and swallow, yes really!
• You can clean yourself with certain types of plans/brush by burning it in a fire and standing in the smoke.
• The above mentioned brush also works great for TP.
• Harden wood under a fire to make a strong weapon.
• Strawberry Pin Cushions are very tastey and taste like a Strawberry Kiwi mix.
• The Sonoran Desert only received 7″ of rain PER YEAR! Yikes.
• Les belives even in the desert you should have a fire as it not only keeps you warm in the night but raises your spirits and will to survive.
• You can use the Agava PLant to make needle and thread. You simply bight around the top/needle then pull it up with your teeht pulling the needle(top) off and the thread coming from the inside of the leaf.
• You can pound the leaves of the agave plant with a rock to break it apart and get at the strong fibers inside.
• Wild boars can not look up, so if you stand on a rock ledge above them you can kill them easier or hide.
• Grasshoppers make good food but can contain tape worms so cook them!
• Pulling off the head of a grasshopper will pull out their insides/stomach and make a nice hole to put them on a small twig to cook.
• Watch out for black widows as they are more dangerous than a rattlesnack and harder to see.
• Chew grass blades to get the juices. DO NOT SWALLOW. (Good source of chlorophyl)
• Prickly Pear ’s can be eaten but require work and know-how.
  You must cut off the outer area, skin it, and then eat the green slimy pieces between the white veins.
  You can eat it raw or boil them to remove the slime.

Speaking of boiling I was surprised Les did NOT boil his water before he drank it.  It’s already terrible being stranded in the desert but having Giardia on top would be terrible.  You would die a lot sooner from dehydration if you had severe diarrhea or vomiting!

Overall I was very impressed with this episode of Survivorman as he did a lot “right” in my eyes and the viewers learned a LOT too.

Great job Les!

I recently stumbled upon a UK site that offers the first 10 seasons of Jericho available for download.

Jericho Episodes 1-10 Download

Hurry go watch Jericho and catch-up so when it starts up again you will be up to date

What we know:

• Stuck/Lost November 25th, 2006 in the snow in Oregon USA.
• 40-50* F highs during the day and 20-30* low temps at night.
  
• 4 Person family lost/stuck in OR in the snow.
• 35yr old father (Jim).
• 30yr old mother (Kati).
• 4yr old child and 7 month old infant.
• 2005 9-2X AWD Saab wagon stuck in the snow
• Used all gas in vehicle to run heater and stay warm to try to survive/wait for rescue.
• After gas ran out burned tire(s) for signal and to stay warm. [Note: tires smoke a LOT]
• Baby food in snacks were only food available in vehicle.
• James ate berries for a period of time.
• After food ran out mother nursed children.
• December 2nd 2006 - James Kim heads out to find help for his family. (last time he was seen alive)

• James was wearing only mild weather clothes. Tennis shoes, jeans, and a jacket.
• Kati Kim waived an umbrella to signal a passing helicopter which spotted and rescued her and her two children.
  (Umbrella had reflective tape.)
• James Kim body found December 6th, 2006 with clothes scattered all over.
• Severe hypothermia causes the body to feel HOT and many people discard clothing and die minutes later.

  What can we learn here?
  

• If James had stayed in place he would have been rescued with his family and still alive.
• A PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) similiar to a black box on an air plane. This device can be “armed” when in life threatening danger and search and rescue will be deployed to your location.  This device alone would have saved the entire family, and due to the decrease in cost they are much more affordable. One would have thought that a gadget guy (James Kim[cnet reviewer]) would have been all over it (lets not blame though).
• Extra food and blankets should always be in your car especially for winter travel.  A couple gallons of water and some power bars can go a really long way.
• When traveling through severe weather you should always pack some cold weather clothes such as boots and jackets incase your vehicle needs any work while you are on the road.
• When traveling in the snow another great item to bring would be a shovel or two.
  
  

The Kim’s did a great job surviving how long they did in the freezing temperatures and with barely any food and water. It is sad that James Kim did not make it through this, at least he died doing what he wanted to, attemping to save his families life.