I was going to post this; http://dirttime.com/
and tell eveyone to check out the "in our pockets" article because these guys may be able to pull it off.
Then I realized you are probably Alan himself.
If so thanks for the great alcohol stove article a while back in WW.
Bill

I think this will be the main factor in how long these guys last as the weather forecast from 0C to 7C in the rain is perfect hypothermia weather. It will depend on the clothing that they intend on taking with them. If they go dressed in jeans and fleecy tops I would give them just 2-4 days in the cold and rain. Chances are they wouldn't be able to get a fire going and they seem to lack experience in building shelters. Simple open lean-to shelters or A frames probably wouldn't be suitable for the conditions they would expect to encounter. Some thing a little more substaintial would be required such the construction in the first few days of a log cabin or Teepee. A knife is not going to suffice in the constructing of one of these. A proper woodsman axe would make all the difference rather than a knife for medium to long term survival requirements.

Also the low temperatures and moist atmosphere will make fire lighting using friction methods a low probability of success. If they got the fire going they would have to ensure that it didn't go out. This effort will rob them of the time they think they will require to go hunting and fishing. The lack of cordage will make successful hunting and fishing again a low probability (they will probably end up attempting to use Bear Grylls method of throwing a big stick at their game).

Their inability to boil water efficiently by not taking a metal cup or pan will either make them ill or lead to dehydration although they could always improvise rain water collection method if a poncho was part of their everyday clothing.

So if they have the ability to build a substantial shelter in the first few days (depending on the weather breaks) and can get a fire going then they may last 10-14 days before they get to weak from hunger before abandoning their adventure.

If they took a good axe, a firesteel, paracord, a fishing kit and a large metal cup whilst clothed in good insulating and waterproof clothing then I don't see why 30 days would be out of the question. But they would still be suffering in their hole in the dark with an owl.

Bill, yes that be me. glad you liked the stove article. stay tuned for more grat stuff.

Alan Halcon

I am considering acquiring the 8 DVD Plant Walk Series with Mors Kochanski. Do you think it's a good start for learning this stuff? Ovbiously it's not sufficient, one needs real world practice. Did you take a bushcraft class at Karamat?

The plants identified:

Silverweed
Marsh Hedge Nettle
Plantain
Brown Eyed Susan
Yellow Ladies Slipper
Meadow Buttercup
Alpine Bistort
Pink Pussytoes
Cream-Colored Peavine
Purple Vetch or Common Vetch
Canada Thistle
Arrowleaf and Palmated Coltsfoot
Sundew
Round Leaf Orchid
Caraway
Ox-Eye Daisy
Wire Rush
Macoun's Buttercup
Heart-Leaved Alexanders
Blue- Eyed Grass
Common Red Paint Brush
Alpine Milk-Vetch
Bear Root
Western Wood Lily
Wild Lily of the Valley
Smooth Fleabane
Purple Avens
Drummond's Thistle
Mealy Primrose
Balsam Groundsel
Northern Green Bog Orchid
Elephant's- Head
Pink Pyrola
Bunchberry and Fireweed
Death Camus
Wood Betony
Alpine Rock Jasmine
Cusick's Paint-brush
Yellow Columbine
Lance Leaved Stonecrop
Alpine Goldenrod
Monkshood (Mountain)
Moss Campion
Wooly Lousewort
Marsh Valarian
Tall Larkspur
Shooting Star
Field Chickweed
Alpine Pussytoes
Sheep Sorrel
Sweet Grass
Showy Locoweed
Yellow Rattle
Short Beaked Agoseris
Elk Thistle
Yellow Mountain Avens
Common Bladder Campion
Northern Gentian
Richardson's Geranium
Tall Jacob's Ladder
Smooth Blue Beardtongue
Pasture Sagewort
Toad Flax
Tansy
Timothy
Quack Grass
White/Red/Alsike Clover
Stiff Club Moss/Ground Pine and Yarrow
Water Smartweed
Nodding Beggarticks
Rough Hair Grass
Water Arum
Small Fruited Bulrush
Marsh Marigold
Marsh Cinquefoil
Canada Anemone
Calla Lily
Buckbean
Marsh Skullcap
Tule Reed (Great Bulrush)
Giant Burreed
Floating Bog
Common Cattail
Bulbiferous Hemlock
Water Parsnip
Water Hemlock
Rat Root (Sweet Flag)
Cow Parsnip
Western Dock
Blue Columbine
Veiny Meadow Rue
Western Canada Violet
Strawberry
Dewberry,Stinging Nettle
MacKenzie's Hedysarum
Wild Sarsaparilla
Blue Bells
Nodding Onion
Common Greater Burdock
Fringed Aster
Pasture Sage
Rabbitbrush
Goat's Beard
Baby's-Breath
Old Man Sage
Prickly Pear
Curly Cup Gumweed
Tufted White Prairie Aster
Giant Wild Rye Grass
Three Tip Sagebrush
Common Mullein
Crested Wheat Grass
Common Wormwood
Milkweed
Spreading Dogbane
Gromwell or Yellow Puccoon
Wolf Lichen
Pearly Everlasting
Hooded Ladies Tresses
Pink Pyrola
Spotted Knapweed
Bull Thistle
Greater Northern Aster
Skunk Cabbage
Self Heal
False Box
False Hellebore
False Solomon's Seal
Sweet Scented Bedstraw
Eyebright
Wild Catnip and Fairy Bells
Buckbrush
Snowberry
Bracted Honeysuckle
Twining Honeysuckle
High Bush Cranberry
Red Raspberry
Buckbrush
Red Osier Dogwood
Bebb's Willow
Alder
Labrador Tea
Bog Rosemary
Northern Gooseberry
Northern Black Currant
Pin Cherry
Choke Cherry
Saskatoon
Bog Birch
Yellow Witches Broom
White Spruce
Black Spruce
Spruce Resin
Balsam Fir
Balsam Fir Cones
Tamarack
Limber Pine
Western Hemlock
Western Red Cedar
Douglas Maple
Hazelnut
Western Mountain Ash
Engelmann Spruce
Sub Alpine Fir
Dwarf Birch
Shrubby Cinquefoil
Yellow Mountain Heather (Heath)
Hoary Willow
Buffalo Berry
Pink Spirea
White Admiral (butterfly)
Thimble Berry
Red Elderberry
Spiny Wood Fern
Goat's Beard
Bracken Fern
Red Osier Dogwood
White Spruce
Pear-Shaped Puffball
Ponderosa Pine
Black Hawthorn
Oregon Grape
Snowberry
Prickly Rose
White Virgin's Bower
Great Burdock and an identification talk on cones of the Limber Pine
Lodgepole Pine
Jack Pine
Tamarack
Ponderosa Pine
Fir
Balsam Fir
White Spruce
Black Spruce and Engelmann
Aspen
Choke Cherry
Dogbane
Common Juniper
Devil's Club
Baneberry
Paper Birch
Spider
White Poplar/Black Poplar
Aspen Conk
Aspen Stocking Moss
Aspen Burl
Fire Killed Lodgepole Pine
Ants in Lodgepole Pine
Woodland Agaric
Belted Conk
Fairy Stool
Aspen Rough Stem
Field Mushroom
Fluted White Elfin Saddle
Brown Cup
Grasshopper
Smoky Polypore
Aspen Rough Stem
Sketch Pad Fungus
Orange Jelly
Delicious Lactarius
Low Bush Cranberry
Crowberry
Prickly Wild Rose
Mountain Cranberry/Small Bog Cranberry
Hemp Nettle
Red Elderberry/Stinging Elderberry
Wolf Willow

If you have been counting, that's 240 species...

Frankie

Once again, we seem to have a bunch of computer-geek wannabes sitting at their terminals in their air-conditioned offices criticizing two guys who are actually getting off their butts and trying to prove themselves. :-p

I read their bios, and while they aren't experts in survival (or claim not to be), they aren't raw tenderfoots from the big city, either. Both of them seem to have spent a lot of time out of doors and so I imagine they are aware of the type of conditions they will encounter. (Okay, okay - I too have heard too many stories of "experienced outdoorsmen" who went into the woods wearing blue jeans, denim jackets, and sneakers. If that turns out to be the case, I'll rethink their experience quotient.)

What they're doing is somewhat dangerous, but so is climbing Mount Aconcagua, even under optimum conditions, so that in itself is not proof of stupidity and/or insanity.

On the plus side, they have a cameraman who is, presumably, going to be fairly well-equipped, so if hypothermia sets in, there will be food and shelter available. The cameraman may or may not bring a radio and/or cell-phone. I hope he does, and that that's part of their back-up plan.

As for those who keep speculating on "what is their hidden motive?", maybe there really isn't one. They're Canadians, after all. We occasionally still do something foolish just for the sake of seeing if we can do it, without stopping to wonder whether we can sell the screen rights afterward.

Personally, I'm kind of jealous. I hope they do manage to stick it out for the full 30 days, even if they don't end up with a 10-room log cabin and a personal manservant named Friday at the end of it. ;-)

But is being a computer geek and an outdoor adventurer/bushcrafter a mutually exclusive proposition?

Computer geek and sex god, now thats an entirely different proposition.

Well, I guess I take the view that if you want to do it, you do your homework and you go out and do it. I have a lot of respect for that approach, provided you take reasonable precautions and don't put others in harm's way.

On the other hand, if you're doing a shoestring budget, Indie-type promotion, and want to create some buzz, you set up a website with a sexy tag line, take a pro cameraman along with you, sell memberships for ongoing access to your footage, track hits, and see if it takes you somewhere.

Standard practise these days is: if you want to get noticed in documentary or series TV production, don't show up with a good pitch, show up with compelling footage. Then the chequebooks come out, and you get the funding to finish what you have started. Pretty sure that's the end game; or at least, that's the plan to pay the bills for a month off work.

That doesn't mean what we see will be fake; win or lose, it will probably be genuine. And I hope these guys succeed. They have certainly set themselves a tall challenge in an incredibly short time frame (i.e., how to boil water with nothing is the big one for me). If they solve that, they're in the running.

With all honesty, though, the information on their website does not inspire confidence. Perhaps that's what is driving the skeptical comments here.

Anyway, time will tell.

(Broadcasting from somewhere near Edmonton ...)

If you have the chance of taking a course from Mors --- run, not walk to Edmonton this next summer. You won't regret it. Mors and his heir apparents are very capable outdoors people. Actually the back up instructor built a house out of saplings and spruce boughs using just his knife and spent the last year living in it (-40*c et al). He patterned the hut from Mor's supershelter and dragged a cast iron stove inside for heat. All his furniture is made on site from available materials. He is having a hard time convincing his girl friend to spend much time in his wilderness hut though. :-)

I spent only 2 of the 7 days on the course (left due to health problems) but just listening to his wealth of knowledge and experience about the boreal forest was a treat! He's getting up their in age and is only going to be teaching for the next year or two at most. I am hoping that next year I can make it out.

Included is at least one overnight (probably 2) at a nearby lake where you put into practise what you learn (learn your knots well!) You will have minimal food, you can forage if you like. They promised that the students would be working in teams and on their own. Learn your knife and how to sharpen. Learn about primitive fire making.

We went on a short 3-hr walk-a-bout session where Mors talked a mile-a-minute about the native plants and their uses and history. Btw, did you know that if mix blueberry leaves with buffalo berry leaves and brew as a tea you can get a real spacey high??? Or so they tell me... :-)

PM me if you want more details.

It sounds really interesting. I'll think about it. I was thinking maybe the winter course as at least there's no nasty mosquitos and black flies to deal with and it's in the end of February so cold waves are rarer. I could never imagine myself sleeping under a tree at -40º, I don't know if I would be willing to try that. In his video he says if your cold just add sleeping bags...

I have also the video on knots but I think it's not so obvious to follow. I would have prefered that the camera was behind his shoulders or else maybe I could rotate 180º the dvd image if it's possible but I may also get the booklets. Still the videos are useful to get some bits of knowledge that is hard to put in words.

From what they told me, the winter course content is very similar in content to the summer course except for shelter building and clothing differences.

Mors also does his little trick by creating frozen boots that keep his feet warm. Apparently, with 3 pairs of wool socks on his feet, he dips them into an hole in the lake and freezes the outer layer. It takes a few minutes but after that the feet stabilize in temperature and the icy outer "boot" becomes the insulator.