Why even Ray Mears dies alone in the subarctic -- part 1

[udamiano]

Most houses have a cold cellar instead of a freezer, the perma-frost means that even in the hight of the summer, the ground about foot below the surface remains permanetely frozen, and much colder that our freezers. Whole carcasses can be stored in these, for quite a large amount of time. Another issue is the inevitable introductions of fishing and hunting quotas imposed by the local governments, many of these do take into account of the northern tribes, but I was told that they still fall short of what is needed to make these people to ally self-sufficient, many of these regulations are to do with Whale, and polar bear hunting, which in the past would provide a whole village with enough food for the whole winter, so they support they diets with a trip to the supermarkets. where you can buy all sorts of stuff apart from food, the place where the cigarette counter here is, is where the have all the animation, and I never seen the local with a aisle for snow machines and hunting equipment (If your reading this Tesco's take note, i would spend a lot more money with you LOL)

 

[Andy BB]

I must admit I did blink a bit at the original post -particularly at the energy expenditure side. Then I began to realise that these numbers had been put together primarily for, and from, expeditionary work - please correct me if I'm wrong Dogwood! Hence what appears to be massive energy expenditure based on ten+ hours of intense physical labour a day. Which no-one not trying to reach the North Pole by dragging a sled is likely to do!

There seem to be so many intangible variables in the mix. Does the solo man have decent weapons? Decent clothing and other equipment - axes/knives/nails/wire etc? Is he near the sea-shore or major inlet to a large lake where he can set up fish-traps (potentially an inexhaustable supply of calories laid on for just picking up/spearing - literally fish in a barrel!) Lobster/crab pots off the rocks on a beach etc etc etc. Shell-fish snacks? shrimp from rock-pools? Seaweed? Likelihood of available mammalian or avian prey to set traps/deadfalls for? Caves for living in? Sufficiency of trees to provide materials for burning and building kit with?

Also what time period are we referring to? 21st Century? Many areas nowadays will have had game thinned out by pleasure hunters or "bushmeat" locals already living on the edge in an increasingly over-populated world. Many fish-stocks have been increasingly hammered by over-fishing. 100-200 years ago it would have been significantly different.

Would I survive? No, of course not, although - like seals - my blubber will extend my survival time and delay my core temps dropping to critical But is it necessarily as cut and dried as the OP indicates? I'd hazard a guess and say it all depends on the circumstances, equipment available, location and last but not least - knowledge.

 

[forestwalker]

I would expect expediture to be anywhere from 2500 kcal to 10000 kcal (per day). The lower for basically "office" level workload (stay in camp, good shelter, good clothses, firewood pretty much sorted, etc), the latter for extremely hard work like handcutting logs into firewood and manhauling it into camp.

For an example of what can actually be done I would direct readers to "Shadows on the Koyukuk" (by Sidney Huntington and Jim Rearden) and the story told in there of the native woman who walked basically fron Nome on the coast of Alaska to the centre. Most of the time with very little equipment. So it *can* be done, but it is Not Trivial unless you know a Whole Lot of Stuff (and not really even then, just possible). And in the long run the inevitable accident or disease will kill you if you are alone. But it could be a while before it kills you: luck and how carefull you are, mostly. With a group some of those that would kill a lone person are survivable.

 

[udamiano]

IIRC Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Shroud based their diet on 10000 cal per day, for their walk to the pole, however the actual amount turned out to be nearer 12000-15000 calls. they ended up making cup-a-soups using butter instead of water to try and up the intake. The book on the expedition is well worth the read. they still lost a third of their body mass even on this intake

 

[rik_uk3]

Good post, although I can't remember Ray Mears advocating solo survival in those conditions.

 

[Sideburnt]

IIRC Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Shroud based their diet on 10000 cal per day, for their walk to the pole, however the actual amount turned out to be nearer 12000-15000 calls. they ended up making cup-a-soups using butter instead of water to try and up the intake. The book on the expedition is well worth the read. they still lost a third of their body mass even on this intake

This is true, and a really good example of adapting the western diet to a more 'local' diet. The balance of Carbohydrate, Proteine and Fat would have been drastically different.

I follow a low carb diet to control my diabetes, and use little tubs of butter to increase my cal intake, since my only other option is grains. Oh and I sometimes use nuts too, but this goes against the OP's thread

 

[rik_uk3]

IIRC Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Shroud based their diet on 10000 cal per day, for their walk to the pole, however the actual amount turned out to be nearer 12000-15000 calls. they ended up making cup-a-soups using butter instead of water to try and up the intake. The book on the expedition is well worth the read. they still lost a third of their body mass even on this intake

You can swallow 20K of cals a day but your body just can't process it, hence Fiennes and Shroud lost body weight. I enjoy all their books.

I do talk to a guy up in Northern Canada and he's said much the same as others here, even experienced hunters, people who know the area can go out and find nothing, not a thing. With a Moose he said it takes three or four people to haul it back to your transport in big chunks. Group living/hunting is vital. This guy was up in Inuvik for years now gone to the 'warmer' Yellowknife.