[Cannon Fodder]

Anyone seen this show on Discovery? I watched it last night for the first time, and it was one of the most depressing, sad, heart-wrenching shows I've ever seen. It was packed with good survival tips, but the fact that the parallel stories were true, and one of the men died, made it a major "downer".

 

[desert wanderer]

Yes, I thought it was excellent. It illustrates the danger, AND the exhilaration of being in the far away places. It showed that things can and DO go wrong out there.

And for me, THAT is part of the spice, part of the adventure, of going out into the truly wild places. It surely is different than sitting watching TV in the safety of our homes, or taking a walk through the town park.

But the best part of this show to me, is that we can all learn from stories such as these, and from that learning, we can prepare just a little bit better.
The young fellow should have had a stout walking staff, and should not have proceeded when the weather was deteriorating as it was.
The older fellow could have tested the rocks more thoroughly. (though to be fair it could have happened to any one of us).
This is a show that makes the reality of being out there, hit home, and hit home hard.
To me, life and subsequent death aren't depressing, and neither was the show.
This show will be a good learning experience for all of us. Even the most experienced of us, will benefit.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

Yes, I thought it was excellent. It illustrates the danger, AND the exhilaration of being in the far away places. It showed that things can and DO go wrong out there.

And for me, THAT is part of the spice, part of the adventure, of going out into the truly wild places. It surely is different than sitting watching TV in the safety of our homes, or taking a walk through the town park.

But the best part of this show to me, is that we can all learn from stories such as these, and from that learning, we can prepare just a little bit better.
The young fellow should have had a stout walking staff, and should not have proceeded when the weather was deteriorating as it was.
The older fellow could have tested the rocks more thoroughly. (though to be fair it could have happened to any one of us).
This is a show that makes the reality of being out there, hit home, and hit home hard.
To me, life and subsequent death aren't depressing, and neither was the show.
This show will be a good learning experience for all of us. Even the most experienced of us, will benefit.

I agree with what you're saying here. I just found it depressing that they covered the pinned man's incredible,horrible 10 days on that rock, just 30 feet from water as he died of thirst. What an awful way to go out.

 

[desert wanderer]

I agree with what you're saying here. I just found it depressing that they covered the pinned man's incredible,horrible 10 days on that rock, just 30 feet from water as he died of thirst. What an awful way to go out.

You're right on that! That really was ironically tragic. Other than the fact that he got stuck, he did everything else correctly. I have the utmost respect for that man!
Once when I was on an extended hiking trip in the Sawtooth Primitive area in central Idaho, I was walking on a similar rocky slope like that older guy did. I made a misstep and almost snapped my lower right leg in half. My hiking staff prevented me from falling farther forward, or else I'm certain I would have met the same fate. I was several days walk from ANY human.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

You're right on that! That really was ironically tragic. Other than the fact that he got stuck, he did everything else correctly. I have the utmost respect for that man!
Once when I was on an extended hiking trip in the Sawtooth Primitive area in central Idaho, I was walking on a similar rocky slope like that older guy did. I made a misstep and almost snapped my lower right leg in half. My hiking staff prevented me from falling farther forward, or else I'm certain I would have met the same fate. I was several days walk from ANY human.

That's scary stuff. The worst of it is, the size of rock pinning him was not moveable. After getting pinned that way, there was no equipment that could have saved him that fate. Not even a big 'ol prybar.

 

[Woodlife]

I saw a show that was kind of like that only 1 of the 3 died. It was a few weeks ago. I don't remember the name of it though. What's the name of this show you're talking about? I tried searching for it on DirectTV and nothing came up.

 

[SoonerCowboy]

Thank God. I caught most of it but didn't ever catch the name and I was too lazy to check the Cox cable guide the see what it was. I liked the show of course because it was about survival and I thought that it has a different twist for a show. It keeps the viewer wondering who will live and who will not.

But the name of the show is "Who Survives?". It's on tonight at Midnight CST.

Whoops. It was on last night at 10pm and then again at Midnight. I did a search for it for next week and it's a no go. I guess Shark Week pretty much eliminates the new survival shows. Sharks can bite me.

 

[wvgasman]

The guy dragging himself off of the mountain needing water and not wanting to eat snow, I kept wondering why he couldn’t have stuffed snow into that water bottle he had and stick it inside his jacket while he was dragging himself. His body heat while exerting himself could have melted the snow giving him some water to drink, right? Stuff, drag, drink, repeat. It would be difficult to do if there was no cap. I know that is easy for me to think of while sitting in the comfort of my living room, but can anyone tell me why that wouldn’t work?

 

[TMcArthur]

Both these guys violated the most important rule there is when going into the wild. Let reliable people know your route, your timetable and don't detour from it.

In both situations an emergency locator of some sort would likely have saved the day. Not sure how long ago they took place so I can't say whether such a thing was available at the time.

I don't feel nearly as much sympathy for the mountain guy as I did for the guy with the dog. Getting pinned by rocks like that is a freak accident. Very low probability event although it does happen every once in a very great while. (I have seen two other accidents of this sort on other survival shows.)

OTOH falling and breaking your leg while climbing down a mountain in a white out isn't terribly surprising. Doing so after being warned of bad conditions ahead and to turn back and not doing so (esp. when being as unprepared as he was) makes it downright embarrassing.

 

[AZSrvr]

yea i saw most of it, it does kind of suck that u know one of the guys is going to die but i do like how it shows that people do get killed getting lost even if they have gear. All the other survival shows make it out like everyone always survives if they have a couple tips and tricks. It definitely shows the reality of how dangerous those situations are more than most shows. The fast that they give actual good information throughout the show is awesome and the fact that they reenact it is kind of nice since the story is true but they can show it in an exciting way for the people that want more excitement in the reality shows (im not one of them lol). So overall i think good show so far.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

The guy dragging himself off of the mountain needing water and not wanting to eat snow, I kept wondering why he couldn’t have stuffed snow into that water bottle he had and stick it inside his jacket while he was dragging himself. His body heat while exerting himself could have melted the snow giving him some water to drink, right? Stuff, drag, drink, repeat. It would be difficult to do if there was no cap. I know that is easy for me to think of while sitting in the comfort of my living room, but can anyone tell me why that wouldn’t work?

I was thinking the same thing. He had a bottle, he had snow. Melt that dang snow and hydrate!