I would think that poverty might be a little different for those that live close to the land. I remember someone calling poverty being too broke to buy things your grandparents never heard of. To some degree that's maybe the case here. Still I do understand that Western civilization has crept into the lives of many aboriginals. Snow machines are ubiquitous and they need gas and maintenance. You still need to eat and anything not taken through hunting must be bartered or purchased.

"Stuff that your grandparents never heard of," depending on family, could include stuff like medical care, a modern education (and the stuff that comes with it, like a computer), taxes, fines for this or that, unhealthy foods that the kids can't seem to stay away from, etc. I'm guessing it's tough to stay out of the modern economic system.

The article about the exorbitant grocery cost in arctic Canada is shocking.

All in all, we are looking at a very different way of life, with challenges that are unknown to those of us in the lower 48 in mainstream (more or less) society....

First, thanks to AKSR for his input and feedback on this thread. I really do not think that many people realize how different living in the far north is compared to living in the south and it never ceases to dismay me on this forum and others, the amount of uniformed arm chair quarterbacking that these types of survival stories bring forth.

Living in the north has nothing to do with social or economic status, how much groceries cost and lack of affordability for such southern luxuries such as PLB's. Instead, these people have lived in the harshest of harsh environments for thousands of years and even now, without many modern day luxuries. Do they make bad decisions, lose sight of their travel path and become lost? Yes they do and it is no different then anyone else living in more hospitable environments. However in terms of extreme environmental survivability, the people of the far north are much better prepared then others and this particular survival story is a good example. I can tell you that if I was in a real survival situation, I could not think of a better group of people to be with.

Very true! Especially in Canada given their reputation for social justice and welfare. I had assumed they somehow had a better system in place.

Redacted.

I believe, that these guys were simply too relaxed, too overconfident in what they are doing routinely, and that only a coincidence spared their lives. I like the TeacherRO analysis more. As it's better be prepared, not just stubborn overconfident in your skills.

Alex, where exactly did I make that statement?

You are certainly entitled to your own opinion about the story, but please do not credit me with things I did not say!

Regarding the gadgets... If you are an Inuit hunter surviving off your skills successive implementation in the field daily (read 24/7) - you don't need any really. But if the great outdoors is just a mere 5%-10% of your life's time spending annually, it's better to have some to compensate for that severe lack of the practical experience. Multiply that by the diversity of the wilderness environments on the planet factor. There is no such a survival course or a book, which could be substituted for that deficiency, but there are plenty of daily survival tools polished by ages of wandering in the wild.

Sure:



To me it sounds like you think that was a walk in the park. As according to you they were stranded for 8 days without an apparent reason at all (which is exactly the lack of preparing you are arguing with).

They were reasonably prepared for the journey, and did do quite well. The fact that after 8 days they were still in quite good shape speaks for itself. I don't know if you've ever shot or eaten a caribou (I have), but one caribou is certainly enough food to sustain 3 people for a week. And igloos are in fact quite cozy.

You also attributed to me

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