Attempted "Survivorman" found dead

Found this link on another forum:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/...onto-hiker?bn=1

Man went into the wilderness with very little gear and dies.

Some years ago in southern Arizona, a late season storm, with wind, snow, and rain, blew through on an Easter weekend, catching many parties unawares. SAR was busier (in my kindly first sergeant's words) than a one-legged man in an a$$ kicking contest. After a few days, everyone was found, assisted, and we congratulated ourselves on roughly a dozen operations, with no fatalities.

Or so we thought until a few months later, when someone stumbled into a remote camp in the Baboquivari Mountains, complete with tent, sleeping bag, other paraphernalia, and a well dessicated corpse. Investigation revealed that this person had died during the stormy Easter previous.

Among his accouterments was a slender book entitled "Survival Made Simple" - evidently too simple.

Some things cannot be learned competently from books or TV shows.

Or internet forms, despite what some people seem to think...

kind of a puzzling story. I looked up the weather for Muskoka, Ontario, and on March 1 the high was 30 F, low 25 F. hard to believe that the cold could kill a guy at that level, unless he got soaked. even then, in the woods he should have been able to get a fire going...

30 F is 2 degrees below freezing and a person can subcumb to the cold and hypothermia at this temperature very easily. On the other end of the scale, people have died from hypothermia when the temperature is in the high 60's to low 70's. If you ever watched any long distance adventure racing, you will see people who are tired, hungry and cold being pulled off the course due them being hypothermic at temperatures you and I could easily tolerate with only t-shirts and shorts.

The article does not state what the man died of so I will wait before making any judgement, for as all we know, he could of died of a preexisting and unknown medical condition.

It happens.

On the scale of gear vs skill, he chose poorly, but he had gone out in warm weather. So it wasn't like he loaded up with new toys and took off without ever having used them. Most of us would have taken more, with the plan of leaving it in the pack unless we needed it, though, or trained closer to home. *sighs*

With the right mentor, he might still be alive. Or maybe he slipped and popped out his knee or broke his ankle or knocked himself out by finding a rock with his head. All of those greatly increase your odds of losing to hypothermia. And having a buddy with you a great thing for that reason, I don't care how much time you have in the woods.

I would rather have seen colder temps than this stuff- we've been having the same kind of winter here in Vermont and I'm not going out in it. This is lousy weather, warm enough that you sweat easily and think you can go lighter than you really can, cold enough to kill dead right there. I did one solo last summer where I was planning on going no-fire, so I hadn't even gathered fuel. A little after midnight I had to grab the little stuff and badly load my pack, then get out to a shelter that was heated becuase I was shivering badly enough I almost could get my headlamp turned on. And that was in the high 40s.

It can get any of us. He looked to be in good shape, and he had more experience than most people.

I think it's a bit puzzling also, given it was only four days. But this guy's fate may have been tipped by bad weather.

I seem to recall they got a massive dump of snow around that time. The news story indicates that search personnel couldn't get into the area on foot (meaning this guy couldn't get out either).

Wet, driving snow can soak you through in no time, and then you can enter hypothermia with surprisingly speed. It also soaks the easy-to-access firewood as well. Seriously, those around-freezing temperatures are the worst; it's much easier to stay dry and make fire when it's -10C.

I hope the weak-minded in the media won't beat up Stroud just to get cheap headlines. I think he's always been honest about how tough these trips are, and how much knowledge and preparation is needed.

EDIT: I see you guys beat me to it. I should have refreshed the thread before posting.

Richard Code was on a weekend survival trip near Huntsville, Ont.; brother says police told him he died of hypothermia
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nati...article1488960/

not much new info, but media are dragging Stroud into it...

I see people do all sorts of odd and strange stuff on TV, yet I don't feel compelled to go out and do the same stuff.

A man has got to know his limits. Perhaps he should have started off in the spring/summer and gotten a feel for his skills and gear (or lack thereof) and progressed from there. There are very few people who can do something at the expert level first try. The old "crawl, walk, run" method of teaching works for me.

As to Stroud being dragged into this, total crap.

I'm rehashing and thinking aloud based on this information from the media:



A space blanket has close to zero insulation. A space blanket around you is warmer than just your clothes - but not anywhere warm enough for a prolonged period of time. You need to augment that with extra insulation (your sleeping bag, vegetation, ... ) and a heat source. Without a heat source (i.e. fire) you will get wet (condensation), and it is highly unlikely that your clothes and sleeping bag will be warm enough when wet.

Equipped like that you put all your eggs into one basket. You rely exclusively on TWO components:
1) Your ability to make fire.

2)The ability to make a camp site that works in REALLY though conditions. (Wet snow/sleet is absolutely the worst and toughest conditions. Dry cold is much easier). Your shelter must be dry, and positioned in a way so the fire can be effective to keep you warm.

If either of those fails - particular the fire part - your trip has just turned into your worst nightmare. And that is assuming all your other clothing actually WORKS for those conditions.


I won't speculate about his abilities or if he knew what risks he exposed himself to. But if he just went out there with a space blanket, cutlery and fire implements there is no doubt that he would die if the fire failed him.


Could be wet, soaked wood. Or it could be an injury that left him unable to make a camp site. Or it could be plain, old hypothermia leaving him unable to make camp - that can be a really sneaky killer if you don't watch out. Or a combination. In my view, he probably died because he put too much reliance on his ability to lit a fire no matter what. A little more humility and forethought would perhaps mean he would bring some emergency backup (sleeping bag, emergency beacon - or even a cell phone), or make a trip into an area where he could self extract more easily. Without a safety net and relying solely on one factor (fire) in brutal conditions - that factor fails, you die. Simple and brutal.


On the plus side, he died doing something he really loved. He did not expose others to foolish risks. His death is sad and most likely totally unnecessary, but he died taking a risk doing something he loved. I can sympathize with that.

I was hoping for a bit more useful detail to appear in the news before commenting.
It does not seem to be coming.

It is a sad story and I hate to criticize dead people but from what I read he was not equipped to deal with this at all.

The winter has been very warm in Toronto and he might have been fooled into expecting it to be the same where he decided to do his camping trip.
Unfortunately it turned colder with blowing snow over the few days he was out. Friday was cold, wet and windy, with mixed rain and snow. It was light snow/rain and winds most of the week.
On Thursday there was a snow storm which went through here too.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/CYQA/2010/2/26/DailyHistory.html

As Iron Raven, Dougwalkabout and Mostly Harmless say, not nice weather to be out in.
I didn't like it a bit myself.

When it is near melting you face wet clothing, and hypothermia is a sneaky killer.

If he was slogging around in the snow he was likely tired, cold and wet.
The snow came as a big early dump this year and only moderate storms after, but there still would have been about 3 feet of it in the bush, maybe more.
The top layers have been crusty with the lower layers quite soft crystal almost like fine sugar. You go through the crust and then founder in the loose stuff every step.
Travel on this snow really does require snow shoes or skis.
(Or a skidoo) because you are not going to get far walking in it with just your hiking boots
It also tends to soak your boots and pants if it is warm enough to be near freezing.

Winter camp to me means a lot of gear. Most of it is bulk insulation and tarp/tent. If you are going on foot those little toboggans are nice.

I will repeat something I say often.
The biggest part of survival is to not place yourself in survival situations.
Going camping to test out survival techniques is fine but do it in a safe way. Make sure you have a Plan B available if your experiment goes wrong.

Now I can say something positive about this too.
At least he had the good sense to let somebody know where he was headed and when to expect him back.

Amen to that.

I read the article, and I feel we shouldn't rush to judgement. He had gone into the woods on several other occasions with little gear, he looked to be in decent shape from the picture, and the cop said he was no rookie in the woods. He may have had a heart attack or hit his head. Maybe he took his own life, we don't know yet. They didn't say much and they are doing an autopsy. With cold crisp weather, he might have made it out. Oddly enough, he may have been a victim of the warmer weather, because it is the hardest to stay warm when it is right above the freezing mark and there is heavy wet snow. If that was the case, he definately failed to act properly, make a fire, a shelter, some snowshoes, and sit tight for a day or two until it got colder, or he was rescued. They are still digging well equipped stone age hunters out of glaciers, and surely no one would challenge their experience in the outdoors.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/22/world/man-in-glacier-is-dated-to-stone-age.html?pagewanted=1

I feel bad when a kindred spirit passes, even if it turns out to his own fault.

I understand cold weather camping where you are fully equipped with gear, communication devices and so on...but putting yourself into a survival situation purposely if that is what he did is just insane.

As Stroud says in his book, there is nothing romantic about being in a survival situation, all you want to do is go home.

Even on Survivorman he takes a beacon and has a rescue team on stand by.

Hmm, not really the sharpest tool in the box, he even left his get out of dodge ticket with his 86 year old landlady.

That was my thoughts, compared to the silly jumping out of aircraft guy, Mr Stroud always seems to be a walking advert for never leaving Tim Hortons!

No?

Only all the people that had to risk there own lives to go find him. I wouldn't kick a bear in the junk unless I expected to get mauled, and I wouldn't venture into the Canadian wilderness in winter unprepared unless I expected to freeze to death.

Only an idiot does what he did.

Pretty harsh. It's always easy to make the right call after the fact.

It might be worthwhile to get the autopsy results, as others here have pointed out, before rendering judgment.

An old survival instructor once told a group of us, "Never put yourself willingly into a survival situation". That truly makes sense and I have always remembered that statement. Learn the skills, practice the science and do so in a controlled situation.

While it is wise to learn primitive fire making, living off the land skills, shelter building and so on, you should practice those skills in a controlled environment. Take camping gear and practice survival skills safely. Never count completely on surviving with minimums, some of the best would fail in certain conditions. In Desert Storm an entire small SAS team died of hypothermia in Iraq. Strong, fit and well trained soldiers. No one is immune to weather and/or circumstances.

I really hate to see Les Stroud getting negative press over this persons lack of respect for the wilderness. I believe Les has always stressed safety, training and experience as a critical element of his survival portrayal on the Survivorman series.

On the other hand Bear Grylls makes taking risks seem "normal" for surviving the wilderness and it amazes me more people have not been hurt or killed trying to emulate his antics. Maybe they spend night in a local resort just like Bear does!

Sorry to hear about Mr. Code. He was doing something he loved, perhaps not the right way but he was trying and probably gave it his best shot. Keep in mind, not everyone can afford a bunch of the somewhat expensive survival training, which may drive him or her into risks while trying their self-learned skills. Just practice in a safer area, with more backup equipment and preferably not alone!

It's a harsh world.

And truth be told, it's real easy to make the right call before the fact as well. It's call being prepared. Would you travel into the desert without water and wonder why someone called you an idiot after they found you dead from dehydration? I spend as much time out of doors as the next guy. I alway carry a healthy respect for mother nature with me however.

If you go looking for trouble don't be surprised when it finds you.

It always makes me laugh when people talk about survial training and survival experts and the like. Survival training eh?

How bloody hard is it to use a lighter and matches? or a small camp stove?

How hard would it have been for the guy to take a proper sleeping bag? Warmer clothes?

Would it have been that much bother to take a cell phone?

This dosen't require expensive training it requires common sense.

I didn't watch the show regularly, but didn't Les Stroud have a safety net? A back-up team to get him out of trouble if he got in too deep.

Richard Code went into the bush with apparently inadequate gear and his only back-up was to "call police if he wasn't back by Sunday night". A lot can happen between Thursday AM and Sunday night, that was no back-up at all, it was a prearranged call for the recovery.

I must admit that idea crossed my mind too, but I often have gone solo and only left a return date and expected route in case of emergency.

However I really suspect that it was just the best he was able to manage. There are a few things in the media reports that raise questions in my mind about his life and his mental state.
He was not living what I would call the High Life for one thing.

But again, there is nothing strong enough to make any real judgments from.
If it was a self punched ticket to eternity we will never know and I like to leave speculation over such things alone.

The notion that you put rescuers at risk has been and will be the cause of several heated debates, in this forum and elsewhere. I'll summarize my view on this in a few bullet points:

- No one forces anyone to join a S&R team. They do it because a) rescuing people has its own rewards, b) there is a certain satisfaction in training (preparing) and perfecting your outdoor skills to a level where you actually can go out and be an rescue asset in though conditions.

- The S&R leaders are highly skilled professionals that have a thorough understanding of the conditions and risks. They will not allow rescuers (which are a mix of volunteers and professionals) to take hazardous risks.

- The rescuers have a very robust safety net: Communications, proper wilderness gear and as they are part of the S&R efforts they don't have to wait for some 86 year old land lady to call in the cavalry: The cavalry is already there with them. Granted, there are risks, but nothing in life is risk free. No one has a better understanding of those risks, how to minimize them and what chances NOT to take than rescue personnel and their leaders.

This issue becomes pretty heated pretty quickly, so if you or anyone else wishes to discuss this further I suggest doing so in a separate thread.




Very elegantly put - can I borrow that quote for similar circumstances?




Very, very hard in deed - if your fingers are frozen. Even mild hypothermia can make this simple task close to impossible.

And it is not just a question of operating lighters and matches - you have to use them to set fire to something. Setting fire to dry wood is (usually) easy. Setting fire to damp, wet and/or frozen wood can be very, very hard in deed.

Not to mention you actually have to collect that wood. 2 feet of snow sort of complicates the task of collecting fire wood.

According to Mors Kochanski ("Bushcraft" book for Canadian boreal forest) you have to burn the equivalent of a quite decent three each day in -40C (-40F). I don't know how much you need for temperatures close to 0C / 32F, it would depend a lot of how well your camp site and camp fire work together, but it is still a lot of fire wood to collect. And in 2 feet of wet snow that is no easy task.

Never underestimate the difficulty of gathering enough fuel and setting fire to it when you REALLY need it.



That could very well be true - but please respect that we only know what the media tells us. In my experience, a lot of the details that are rehashed in the media will be wrong. Don't be to hasty passing out harsh personal judgment and name calling based on media reports.

I don't think it was his intent, I think he intended to return. But the result of such a long delay in a rescue is no rescue at all. His back-up team was possibly days late.

Elegant eh? If you say so. Gets the point I inteded to make I suppose



No offence, I do not know what neck of the wood you are from or what experiences you may have so I am assumeing nothing, but I got 30 years or so living and surviving in the Canadian North. Lighting a fire is not rocket science,It's easy.

A. Don't let your finger get to that point where they are useless. Build a fire before it gets to that point.

B. Keep your lighter inside your jacket, and wear warm mitts. If you dress properly hypothermia shouldn't be an issue.



I am really glad you cleared that one up for me. I was wondering what I was doing wrong all these years. Hold on a sec..... Just in case you are a sensitive type I will make sure I add these from now on.



2 feet of snow? You can't be Canadian. 2 feet is t-shirt weather. Even so, there is usually tons of wood available above the snow line(depending where you are)


Agreed, the good thing in winter is you can make a huge fire without having to wonder if you are going to set the whole area ablaze. Forest fires are not a concern so once a good fire is going you can add lots of big wood which will burn much longer. A good hot fire will then burn even green wood very well. When I start a fire in Alberta when it's minus 50 deg cel I almost have to strip down to my skivies and stand back about 10 feet. Even then You may scorch your eyebrows. Small fires are for summer. In winter, go big or go home.

I am a big Stroud fan, and I agree with you. He is very cautious, and anyone emulating him would have to know that. If nothing else is gleaned from his show, its that survival is difficult at best. The episode where Stroud was in the desert holed up in an old truck, his life seemed to ebb low, and we were worried about him. On the other hand, Grylls show is closer to 'Fear Factor meets Gladiator' than it is to Survivorman. His antics are so outrageous that I can't imagine anyone trying those stunts in the field.

it has been confirmed that the man died of hypothermia

An autopsy has confirmed that Survivorman enthusiast Richard Code died from hypothermia after taking a survival trip to the Huntsville area with little gear and no food.

Sorry if it seems I took your comment the wrong way Russ, but the thought did cross my mind when I heard the story.
Then the thought that he was just incompetent followed.

It was horrible weather to be out in and he should have had quite a bit more gear than anybody mentioned him having.

The area is not so isolated either, he should have been able to find a place to get in out of the weather too.

I have seen people get into trouble before in this area. Usually we get a few in deer season. People who don't dress for the weather or who get lost.
It does not have to be extremely cold to freeze to death, especially in the rain.

It's easy because you've practiced it from childhood - for 30 years, you claim. If you haven't done that it is not so "easy". Lots of small tricks to learn. Practice, observe, improve. Not rocket science, but it takes practice to be good at it. Particular in though conditions.

Same thing with the hypothermia thing: You know in your backbone what to whatch out for. YOU will (most likely) never allow yourself to get so cold that you're unable to operate matches. And you know how to dress in inclement weather. Lots of small tricks and tips that YOU never give second thought because they've been forged into your backbone since childhood. For someone who hasn't been there, done that they will have to invest a lot of time to learn these things. Not rocket science, just lots of practice.

I am actually amased that you take so easy on the task of getting a fire going in a friggin blizzard. But I guess I haven't lit enough fires...

Bear Grylls = upchuck
Please, please, please, never mention his name in a serious discussion...

Stroud talks about Code in an interview here

Stroud interview

An excellent interview that reinforces my admiration for Stroud and his work. Thanks for finding and posting it.

This was my point all along unless you missed it. You go out into the wilderness prepared to survive if you have to. Unless I totally missed something the name of this website is "equipped to survive" Right ?
If you haven't invested the practice into the very simple task of starting fires in bad weather then what are you doing wandering the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a few meager supplies and a space blanket? I do not wish anyone harm but I hope people will use this as an example and not try to be wilderness survival heroes unless they really know what they are doing. This guy did not die doing something he loved. He died slowly freezing to death wishing to hell he had packed the proper gear necessary to survive in the wilderness this time of year. I hate to sound crude, but "it is what it is" as they say.



I don't know, maybe you haven't.

My first step is usually to seek shelter from said friggin blizzard, not try and light a fire right in the middle of one. Always works for me...
To each his own

We all agree on that one. Be equipped or there will be rash consequences.

Now the fire thingy... Sorry, I just can't leave that alone.

In my experience, fire requires quite a bit of work. To "go big or go home" with a fire for, say, 12 hours requires quite a bit of wood gathering. Not impossible in a friggin' blizzard but rough weather still sort of complicates things (even if you have the wits to seek the most sheltered location in your area). The art of actually putting that fuel on fire is a topic in it self.

Which is why I skimp a bit when I read stuff as this:

and react with long, pedantic rants about exactly why I don't consider fire under rough conditions easy. Sorry if that irritates you. And no, I'm afraid adding won't help.

Are we done with the fire subject now?


As to other factors that may have contributed to this guy's downfall I note the weather took quite a turn for the worse. I would be very surprised if this wasn't give due warning in the forecasts. It is speculation, but either ignoring the forecasts or not realizing what they really meant may have been an important factor.

As always... the details aren't there in the media. And once more details are available the media aren't interested anymore, so we never hear from it.

I don't have any trouble lighting a fire in winter. Why would anything you said irritate me?




If you insist. You are the one who keeps bringing up the subject after all.

As you stated:



I'm done whenever you are Mr crabby pants.

Ok guys, I think we flogged this horse (thread) long enough. It is getting to the point where is it well past informative and heading into the arena of personal attacks...which is not why I visit this forum.

This thread has stopped being productive and is starting to get a bit nastier then we typically see here on ETS. So I am going to lock this thread for now until Blast can review and decide if it should stay locked or not.

I can't see any more useful information coming out of this thread. It stays locked.

-Blast