Another Arctic Survival Story

Stranded for 8 days at -30C on the arctic tundra? I don't think I'd fare as well as these Inuit gentlemen. The search area was 15,000 square kilometres of rock and ice.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada...anded-in-tundra

Very good story. How do you use a small knife to make an igloo? - small blocks?

Small knife for a true Inuit is probably anything just a hair under 12"

Another case of 'should have prepared more.'

I get that they had likely done this trip at least a dozen times successfully; not a walk in the park, but still doable.

However -- the Arctic in Winter is already an extreme survival situation -- the moment you step out your front door.

At a minimun: Arctic rated survival gear for each person: -20 bag, pad and tent, clothing, stove, etc.

Spare food (up to 6,000 cal / day) water, fuel, etc.

Better communications gear/ electronics: even a cheap 2nd gen. GPS would have prevented this mishap. ($10-25 on ebay)

Spare gas (!) tools, parts, for each snow machine

Signaling gear: mirror, radio* snow dye, panels, etc

Tools for the unique environment: snow knife, shovel, ( 1/person) snowshoes, bear gun, chemical heater packs

* I realize that not everyone can afford a sat phone or even the PLB technology...but a cheap GPS, spare gas and even a short range consumer radio (which might actually reach the promised 36-50 mile range given line of sight from person to an aircraft) they could have shortened the search time.

I think you are a bit over the top here. Hindsight is always 20/20, and there certainly are a few things that they could have done better, but overall they were reasonably prepared for that journey. Let's consider a few of your comments:
The arctic is these folks' home, winter and summer. They know what they are doing. They survived 8 days with no harm. I suspect some of the commenters here on ETS would have a hard time surviving 8 hours in the arctic in winter

They had one sleeping bag and mattress. An igloo is vastly superior shelter to any tent in those conditions. They obviously had good arctic clothing (riding a snow machine in -30C you would freeze in moments without it). They had a stove and fuel, which lasted 8 days.

They had tea and sugar. They shot a caribou, so they had plenty of food. Presumably they had a rifle to shoot the 'bou. They had enough stove fuel to last 8 days. They stayed hydrated (a big deal in the arctic).

This may or may not have helped, depending on how far off route they were. Gas is heavy. The more spare gas you carry, the more gas you burn. Depending on the terrain, carrying too much extra weight can lead to other problems.

This is probably the one thing you list that would have made a big difference.

Bottom line is I think they were reasonably well prepared, and did quite well under the circumstances. Surviving 8 days in arctic winter conditions with no ill effects is no small accomplishment. True survival incidents are always graded "pass/fail". They clearly got a passing grade.

In my brief Alaskan experience, an igloo, or anything resembling that, is vastly superior to any tent - warmer and more quiet and definitely more stable.

Isn't this incident an example of the value of possessing the requisite skills and knowledge (how to build a snow shelter, even if you only have a "short" knife, how to hunt, etc.) rather than just a pile of gear? I wonder how affordable a PLB would be for the typical Inuit family.....

Great story! To me, being prepared, or equipped to survive, doesn't equal thinking that everything will unfold perfectly and nothing will ever go wrong. (It would be just as foolish to think that you were well prepared just because an adventure goes off without a hitch.) We should do what we can to minimize problems, try to anticipate and mitigate what we can, but things will go wrong. That's life.

Kudos to these guys for knowing what they needed to do to survive the situation, and for doing so successfully. A GPS and 2-way radio may have helped them stay on the correct course or get help sooner, but you know what we'd say about them putting their faith in technology if they didn't have the chops to be out there in the first place ... It sounds like they had decent supplies and skills, just made a navigation error.

Not everyone can make an iglo. There are a lot of little tricks involved, that kind of trick you have to aquire through hands-on training: What snow makes good building blocks, the proper 3D shape of blocks, how to use snow to bind blocks together and so on.

Snow caves are much simpler, everyone can dig one. Provided, of course, you actually have a bank deep enough to dig into. I don't know squat about their particular location, but Lots of areas in the arctic don't get much precipitation, and what little snow that falls will blow away. Leaving a surprisingly thin snow cover most places. The wind will build pretty deep snow banks leeward of some obstacles, but finding one when you really need one can be hard.

Both igloos and snow caves will have a temperature around freezing point, and they will be draft free. That's actually really cosy and snug when it's -30 outside. A tent will only be warm when heated, which consumes a lot of fuel. And tents are pretty far from draft free...

I imagine retail markup might only be double or triple not septuple due to PLB light weight ...
so ordering online should be about the same price (or plus $60)...
so the cost per family would be about one week to three weeks worth of groceries


Poverty and Prosperity in Nunavut Four in ten people in Nunavut – 13,197 or 39.3 percent of the population – received social assistance in 2011
$60 drill, sells for $450 in Nunavut
$12 Rice Krispies / $9 ketchup ... $600 grocery bill median income for Inuit $19,900 year
shipping $29 + $22 per kilogram
So $60 drill (~4lb) + 29$ + $22 + $22 + $22 + $22 =~ $200 (rounded up)

Its funny how articles about food costs never include dry rice/beans/grains as groceries

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

Redacted.

Redacted.

For those in the more common culture/lifestyle, an eight day interruption in our planned schedule would be a huge event. In a different culture, perhaps not so much.

I am sitting looking at a sunny sky on a pleasant day in SoCal - far removed from the Alaskan scene and from their lifeways. It would be great to hear from the principals in this event and get their slant on the situation, or from any native Inuit., for that matter

As was stated in an earlier post, survival is graded on a "pass/Fail" scale. Bottom line - they passed. Not so sure I could do the same, even with abundant equipment. I am no stranger to cold weather, but nothing as unrelenting as an Alaskan winter.

Alright, guys, play nice.

All I know is that my bug in plan, with all the equipment I could buy, is only good for seven days. That assume modern shelter, my comfortable bed, temperate climate, etc. These guys beat me by one day, and all they had were tea, sugar, some fuel, a small knife, and a gun. I've gotta respect that!

I will lock this thread if there is one more personal attack.


chaosmagnet

Good Lord. It appears that posting any story about arctic survival, however fascinating or instructive, is the equivalent of trolling. I will endeavour to avoid such behaviour in the future.

I thought it was a good, instructive story and most of the commentary has been good or very good indeed. Don't blame yourself.


chaosmagnet

I agree. It was definitely worth posting, even if we did have a (very rare)spat. There is lots to learn from people in different cultures, surviving in radically different environments.