I am not sure of there exact reason for doing it other than the reason they gave. But I am very interested in how they did it with the limited supplies at hand, remembering they had to escape and evade the whole time as well as survive in a very unforgiving place. The book was a very interesting read on how they did it. Example they used very large fixed blade knife instead of a pocketknife, because it would not last under the abuse, also they did not have a choice in their equipment, they had to use what was at hand. The same thing happened with their clothes and all their equipment, to put it plainly everything wore out over the years. <br>If you had to choose equipment to take and it had to last thirty years what would your list be?<br><br>