Has anyone else seen the TV show "Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment"?

They aired several episodes yesterday and I have to say it is a very good series if you ignore the technicalities of having camera operators hovering around a group of near starving people.

I watched it with my wife and daughter, and then afterwards had a good discussion about the gear that they had and used - and what did they not use.

Again, try to ignore the Hollywood sillyness and the technical issues of having camera operators and others hovering nearby. I'm focusing on the real learning aspects of the show.

So, here is some of the gear we saw as most important:

>>SPOT - all issues aside - each person carried a SPOT. That is how they "gave up" - by pushing the button and a helicopter would come a pick them up.
>>Topo map - they were given routes but had to follow them and a time table.
>>Baseplate compass
>>Whistle - Fox 40 micro whistle - hanging with the compass around their neck at all times
>>1 liter Nalgene wide-mouth bottle - wrapped with what looked like burlap - probably to keep it from freezing. They tended to carry them everywhere.
>>What looked like 30-50 gallon Sealline Baja dry bags
>>High Rubber cold-weather boots
>>Gortex (or similar) jackets - and maybe pants - I could see several different brand labels. I couldn't tell what they wore for insulation - probably some kind of fleece.
>>Sleeping bag
>>Thermarest RidgeRest closed cell pads
>>Large plastic tarps - the blue kind
>>Lots of hanks of green parachute cord - maybe 15-20' long - they used it for tarps, to lash shelter, to hold game,...
>>Pots - very important for boiling up game. At first they carried a dutch oven, but left it behind in favor of aluminum pots
>>In one scene they were using metal tongs to help cook.
>>Folding pocket knife - combo-edge - couldn't tell the brand - seemed to be a clip-point - used a LOT - for fire making and cutting up game - in one scene someone was using a knife to baton through a thumb-sized branch.
>>Estwing sports axe - the leather handled version - in one episode they showed someone sharpening it with a water-smoothed rock.
>>Large axe head - just the head - they used it as a wedge
>>In earlier episodes they had a bow saw, but it seemed to have disappeared in later episodes since they were chopping big logs - my daughter says she saw the bow saw in a later episode, but I don't recall that.
>>What looked like a Doan's magnesium ferro combo - it actually worked well after scrapping magnesium into paper.
>>410/.22 combo shotgun/rifle - the shotgun appears most important as they mostly lived off of ground squirrels and an occasional bird. Later they 'acquired' - it is TV - a .45 caliber rifle - they hadn't used it yet. My TV guide says that they try to bag a bear in an upcoming episode(??).

In the first few episodes there was a woman who quite because she was a control freak and couldn't work in the group. Then their most experienced outdoorsman also quit because he could not seem to handle being in a group of lesser experienced people - I hope he never tried to work with Boy Scouts. Then they had a 50 year old couch potato that found the hiking just too rough - though he really tried - and he quit.

One mistake they seem to be making is to split what food they have evenly - at least it seemed that way. That is resulting in the women getting enough food, but the larger men are struggling - not getting enough calories. By the end of the episodes they showed yesterday the women were doing pretty good, but the men were weak and one fainted. One of the stronger ones - the cop - finally made the decision to quit.

Sorry for the long post, but I find the show enlightening - especially for my daughter who watched.

Ken