teens survive 4 days in the tundra

One was 17 and the other was fifteen and they were out hunting polar bears??

When I was 15 I got my BB gun taken away from me 'cause my mom thought it was too dangerous. :-/
 
I saw a TV programme a while back in which a 3-year old Innuit boy was guarding the camp against polar bears with a rifle!
 
Happy ending, hope the best for those young guys.

You can't remove from the kids they have been pretty ballsy.

Now don't want to play the blame game or want to boast I would have performed any better in such situation but from a cold rationnal point of view

Good points:
* did survive
* did make a shelter

Bad points:
* got lost in the first place
* packed little supplies
* apparently didn't left many instructions about where they were heading, how long they'd be gone...
* left their snow mobile (which was found first)
* hiked 80km (which is quite impressive) while he was 30km from home
* one took off his jacket while in hypothermia (while odd it seems to happen pretty often, maybe consequence of hallucinations related to hypothermia)

Fortunately lasting consequence might probably be only loosing a few toes which could have been a lot worst.

Interesting how this resonates with previous thread
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=817993

Which would reinforce the point I tried to make: sometimes it's difficult not to do anything stupid.
 
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Ravaillac said:
* one took off his jacket while in hypothermia (while odd it seems to happen pretty often, maybe consequence of hallucinations related to hypothermia)
Click to expand...

^ this does seem to be a pretty common phenomenon, have heard of it numerous cases
 
Having been put in a hypothermic state, thanks to Uncle Sam and his cronnies, I can tell you that you mind will start messing with you. And that you do start to feel very warm. Or at least I did, and it must be what everyone does b/c that is when the instructors pulled the pin. When I started stripping off outer layers and saying it was warm.
 
Yeah, I've had Uncle Sam's special training a couple of times. Once on a 12 mile road march in freezing rain. I don't recall much after the first couple of miles and apparently my training kicked in because I followed the guy in front of me for miles without recognizing it. Finally I collapsed and went into convulsions and fought off everyone who tried to help me, injuring a couple of guys until they dog piled me. I don't remember anything until I woke up in a clinic OR crammed full of people working on me and I was naked and covered in microwaved IV bags. (Some people pay big money for that sort of fantasy fetish, but I got it for free!)

The point is your mind is definitely not rational.
 
It can happen to anyone regardless of culture but when you live , work and play in a harsh enviroment your mistakes can be harsh as well, hope the eventually get their bear hunting done.
 
I just watched a show a couple weeks ago on NGC or DSC I can't remember but it was explaining the phenonemon of why people strip their clothes off when they're in a severe state of hypothermia. Unfortunately I can't recall the science behind why it happens but they were saying that at a certain point (when your nearing the end of the rope) people feel a sudden rush of heat thats almost overwhelming. The said that they knew of many cases where they found dead corpses out in the snow with all they're clothes scattered around them and they were naked. I thought it was quite interesting too...
 
I wonder if knowing this phenomena ahead of time could possibly prevent it from happening- certainly couldn't hurt knowing about it
 
How much was he wearing? The top layer of the jacket might have been a layer against the wind and in that case using it for a cover might have been a good idea. The writting in the story was too vague to get an idea. The other kid bagged a wolf and was just on a hike. Tough kids up there too bad those youth have so many other troubles.
 
mtwarden said:
I wonder if knowing this phenomena ahead of time could possibly prevent it from happening- certainly couldn't hurt knowing about it
Click to expand...

This book, highly recommended by Doug Ritter on his Equipped To Survive site, is an invaluable read on the factors affecting those in such situations.

Its a real eye opener!

DeepSurvivalLG.jpg
 
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