We no longer have the same problems JohnE.

Today there are very few places more than 1 or 2 days travel from a city. You might not be able to drive but you can usually fly in and out instead.
It is a surprise how large of planes land on some of the remote airstrips.

We are not mounting massive migrations of self employed individuals into remote areas either.
So the result is that such a regulation is not required because of logistics and it is not worth doing because there would not be enough people going into a truly remote area to worry about it.

Today companies doing exploration or construction work work have quite a few minimum requirements that they have to meet.
These requirements are almost all concerned with providing adequate medical resources and transportation to a medical center to deal with accidents.

The idea of taking a years supply of food in for a construction camp or mining camp would be a bit weird anyhow.
They are all resupplied on either a 1 or 2 week schedule.
A 1 week resupply schedule for food is the most common now.

By the way JohnE, mines feed their people really well and very seldom work them on more than 18 or 21 day shifts.
Many sites use a 14 days in and 4 days out schedule or a 3 week in and 1 week out rotation.
The days of signing a 6 month contract and not leaving the camp until the contract ended were finished about 20 years ago.

I'm not referring to mining in the Yukon. I was hoping to expand on the ideas that have been discussed in this thread as well as in others about people being unprepared before they go into the wild.

Given the number of stories posted about here, at least some people have some very real problems, ie, lost in Death Valley, lost at a ski resort, etc.

Should those folks have been required to show proof of adequate supplies/equipment before being allowed to head off on their great adventure? Should anyone? Would it have helped?

We should start a new thread about just that topic then JohnE.
We have been walking all over Nic's thread so hard I feel a bit embarrassed about it.

Please post as a new thread.


It is actually a good topic in its own right.

You're right, apologies to Nic.

No worries. A topic goes where it goes.

"Those should be sobering points and hopefully the producers will point them out to the people who might not realize how extreme it is."

I wish you were right, but right now at least 10 unprepared guys are getting ready to head north inspired by another failure.

Why does a love of camping in the UK mean an ability to live off the land in a harsh cold environment where the natives where required to move extensively to live and their population was controlled by the limited food supply?

Did he do any real survival training in the Yukon?
Did anyone try to finds out how many calories he could hunt in the area each day? and then see how far it was below his BMR?
(PS I have a nice chart that actually tells you the calories of native foods and with it you can cross reference your 'catch' to see how many calories you are actually consuming.)
Did anyone look back at all the other failed attempts and see if he could be sent out better prepared?

I cannot believe that so little preparation was actually done by these so called 'professional' filmmakers.

Bruce,

Can I get a copy of your native food/calorie chart? That sounds very useful.

-Blast

I'd like to see that chart myself, BZ. It sounds very useful, especially in this forum.

I think we might be a bit harsh regarding Mr. Wardle's performance. While it is true that he has made mistakes, most of which have been thoroughly discussed here, and that some of the expert survivalist may grade his performance as average, I daresay that I would be most pleased with myself if I spent 50 days in the Yukon and still had a week's food supply, a credible shelter, and some equipment left over with which to persevere. What I can't imagine, and am holding the mirror up to myself and the rest of us for introspection, is the degree to which we could stand suffering both the isolation AND fear for that long a period.

Individually, isolation and fear can have devastating effects on a person's psyche. Ask the multitude of psychotherapists who deal with the aftermath of clients and patients who have failed to negotiate with their fears, or whose repression of memories of isolation manifests itself in a variety of unhealthy ways. Talk with prisoners who have spent extended times in isolation, even though their meals and shelter were provided. Talk with people who suffer from debilitating fears such as claustraphobia.

If one or the other can produce such drastic effects, then imagine them both. Together, they can produce terror of which Hitchcock would be envious. Despite the flyovers and minimal human contact, living 20 to 22 hours of each day in an environment that makes you afraid has to be a tremendous mental challenge. It's no wonder that he was "mentally losing it", then or now. The week prepared him a little; this experience probably prepared him a great deal. I strongly suspect that prior experience, or perhaps specific, arduous training, is the only way one could survive under those conditions.

Watched the last episode last night - it was tiring watching a grown man crying and bubblin for almost an hour. He didn't even have an Fear Liath Mor circling his camp during the night, just some cuddly critters.