Alone in the Wild

[Shewie]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching the series although the crying got a bit tedious after a while.

I think the photos and the letter from home were the straw that broke the camels back rather than the dwindling food situation.

Hats off to him for sticking it out for 50 days.

 

[nicodiemus]

Right. Time for some ranting.

You need to bear in mind, he wasn't on established game trails, but in deep Yukon. IT could have taken him days to cover just a few miles. I've seen some deep American forest.

When you consider his... rather fragile mental state.... it's easy to understand why he didn't do better.

Frankly, his safety camp was more than likely at the lodge. He wasn't thrown in blind, he had a detailed map and a planned route. His safety camp didn't need a map to find him (He had a sort of non maritime epirb that i've been after for a while, http://international.findmespot.com/), so the map was presumably in place to keep him away from the camp.

The fact of the matter is, he was utterly alone for the 50 days he was there. OK, he didn't handle the solitude as well as some would, but i think it's churlish to criticize him for this expedition.

The point of the program was to see if a lone man with almost no training could survive in the Yukon for the six months.

Patently, this was not possible.

OK, he was across a lake from a camping lodge. Would YOU want to swim a lake that close to starvation? Even in summer? You wouldn't survive. If not the swim, then the hypothermia after.

In any case, did you expect that the production crew would be camping in the woods... with a helicopter / plane? They needed either a significant clearing or a landing site where they'd be able to maintain the aircraft in a ready state, in range, in case Ed triggered his beacon.

Even Les Stroud, for whom I have deepest respect, has both emergency equipment and a safety camp nearby. He's got 20+ years of TEACHING experience in this field, and he STILL finishes some of his expeditions looking like hell.

Rant over.

Kudos to you, Ed Wardle. You're mad as a goose on stilts, but have more stones than a nudist colony sunning beach.

PS: He wasn't allowed to bring down big game.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Have a look at some Q&A from Ed on the nat geo site http://ngccommunity.nationalgeograp...ne-in-the-wild-what-did-ed-do-to-survive.html

 

[bilko]

I enjoyed the whole series even though it did get a bit depressing at times. Good editing and the hammy music enhanced what he must have been feeling. As a stand alone survival series i don't think it would be deemed a huge success by chanel 4 so they did the best they could with it.

If he had found the salmon as planned i think things would have been a lot different. Each day an expanding camp with probably a presentable shack and a reluctant to leave Ed at the end of it.

However, being restricted to small game, fish, and herbs for food i think there was a huge luck factor involved which clearly didn't pay off.

I learnt a lot from the program. You do need other people with you to be truly happy unless your name is Dick Proenneke. Or you do if you are not used to being alone.
"The wilderness doesn't care if you are there or not.
The wilderness doesn't care if you are hungry or cold or terrified"

They were the words of a drawn and defeated man just before he left but i get the feeling he will go back. Without having to make a film. With a better drop off point and a hunting license. Bears will always play on his mind but with a strong sleeping pen and proper outdoor precautions he will be fine imo.

Just goes to show...
60% positive mental attitude
30% ability
10% luck

 

[bushscout1]

Although I had seen the various threads on here, I only managed to catch the last show last night due to the shifts I've been working - just hope I can catch up on the rest online.

I thought that Ed was very brave to show such an honest view of the physical and mental effects of being alone in such a situation. It would have been very easy for him to have turned the cameras off / find a private area off camera whenever he was feeling down - would you have been as honest in front of X million viewers?

It made me think that whilst many of us would like to think we have the skill-sets to be able to survive in such situations (be they survival after a plane crash etc / TEOTWAWKI), it is unlikely that we would find ourselves in such a situation on our own.

Hence, as Ed pointed out - we are social creatures, perhaps a more realistic scenario would be to see whether a small group (two or more) could survive in a similar situation (perhaps with only one person with appropriate knowledge / skills / experience)?

Well done Ed, you have achieved something many of us can only dream of.

 

[Chris the Cat]

English cheddar,nuff said!
C da C.

 

[Zammo]

Looking back on the programme my opinion now is that it wasn't so much an exploration into whether one man could survive off the land but it was more a look at how extended periods of isolation effect people. Look at the way the website has been setup there’s interviews with a single mum, Terry Waite, an old person etc on how loneliness effects them.

Channel 4 weren't interested in making a survival programme if they were they'd have used someone a lot more robust than Wardle. And it’s questionable if it would have made better viewing watching someone easily survive two months in the wild? Wardle I feel was used because he represented more the everyman and they wanted to see how the isolation would ultimately affect him.


In fairness I don't really think the location of the lodge really had much bearing on the outcome, the guy was clearly distressed at the end. And even if he'd not been starving I honestly think he'd have still given up at around the same time any way, as he couldn't cope without human contact.

 

[locum76]

I just watched the last episode.

Best quote: 'I am about to cut out a porcupine's anus, stick that on your channel four!'

 

[Martyn]

Looking back on the programme my opinion now is that it wasn't so much an exploration into whether one man could survive off the land but it was more a look at how extended periods of isolation effect people. Look at the way the website has been setup there’s interviews with a single mum, Terry Waite, an old person etc on how loneliness effects them.

Channel 4 weren't interested in making a survival programme if they were they'd have used someone a lot more robust than Wardle. And it’s questionable if it would have made better viewing watching someone easily survive two months in the wild? Wardle I feel was used because he represented more the everyman and they wanted to see how the isolation would ultimately affect him.


In fairness I don't really think the location of the lodge really had much bearing on the outcome, the guy was clearly distressed at the end. And even if he'd not been starving I honestly think he'd have still given up at around the same time any way, as he couldn't cope without human contact.

I read some comments he made on the subject and I dont think he was that bad really. He said most of the time he dealt with the isolation and lonliness by either keeping himself busy or just not thinking about it. The problem was when he came to do the camera monologues. He was forced to address the issue and talk about it, which made it real for him and he almost always became emotional. What we have to remember is that we saw 3 hours out of a 50 day experience. He said for the most part, he was OK with it and just got on with stuff. But because he often broke down on camera, we are left with the impression that he was an emotional wreck for the whole thing.

 

[Rabbitsmacker]

i thought the program had a good premise, but his mental state let him down early. humans by nature are not naturally designed to cope totally alone. he basically got bogged down with kit, possibly poorly advised seeing things such as electric fences and let himself become focused on the perils of the wilderness.
the moment the care package was offered was game over, having put so much pressure on himself to do it alone, and when the letter was opened with the photos inside, it destroyed what was left of his reserves. my main gripe was that his entire survival hinged on the salmon run, which though reliable the actually run date varies considerably. when you look at peoples out in such scenarios, living and surviving are totally diffferent. tribes will barter and trade, send people to villages for the things they can't supply themselves etc etc. Extended irregular warfare patrols would carry as much as possible but have a limited in theatre period before re-supply was essential. i think some regiment guys did a month in a OP in the falklands living off of sugar and water, but in the end needed human contact to permit survival. basically i think with the skills he seemed to have, both mental and physical, the months stay was a bit optimistic. the loss of will after the first few days was the begining of the end. have to say the 2 full episodes spent watching him cry into the camera more than made this clear.

 

[Opal]

Well done Ed? alone for 50 days? he hasn't lived, I've been sent to Coventry by the missus for a YEAR this October just because I bought a motorbike (tears run down Opal's face) she spoke to me yesterday for the first time....as I was about to exit the door on the way to work she uttered these never forget words...

"if I get an estimate for a floor in the loft will you go half?"

there ain't a smiley on the net to show my anger.