Unless it comes down to a storm or some kind of vehicle accident, the vast majority of survival situations are caused by plain recklessness. The person in trouble did something at one point that changed their situation from a pleasant hike to a battle for life or death, and almost always these things could have been easily avoided. Here’s five of the most common mistakes people make in survival situation:
1) They thought it would never happen to them
The movie 127 hours was based on Aron Ralston about the events that led to him having to cut off his own arm. He was hiking in an area he knew well, he was familiar with the terrain and the climate and had done the route many times, so he though “I’ll be fine”.
He only packed a 330ml bottle of water and 2 burritos which did not last him for the several days his arm was trapped under a bolder. Because he thought he’d be OK, he didn’t tell anyone where he was going, and even if he did he didn’t pack enough supplies to last him until a search team would have found him.
There are countless stories of people who left gear behind to make the top of a mountain faster, or thinking there wouldn’t be any hold ups along the route so a small amount of food and water would be OK.
Lesson Learned
Always assume the worst and pack accordingly.
2) They thought the weather was their friend
A good example of this is Egor Tarasov, a man who’s lived in Siberia all his life and was well accustomed to the climate and terrain. One day he was going to pick up some firewood at the end of summer and thought he’d beat the winter weather.
He had no such luck and a thick fog moved into the area and covered everything in a freezing mist. Tarasov was only wearing his summer clothes and ended up having to walk more than 70 miles across frozen bear territory, with temperatures well below freezing at night.
To many people have been stuck up a mountain or been cut off due to them trying to beat the weather and failing. The most famous example would be the Donner party who were stranded up a mountain range after getting cut off by early winter snows, and had to resort to eating their dead.
Lesson learned
Always assume the weather will do what you “don’t” want it to, and don’t risk trying to outrun it.
3) They went off course
Ed Rosenthal thought he would take a short hike across a desert area near his home that he knew very well. The journey was about four miles so he only brought a small bottle of water with him. After seeing a nice looking canyon he decided to walk over and explore which obviously didn’t go well. After spending six days in the desert and almost dying he was finally found, and it could all have been avoided if he just thought, “maybe i shouldn’t, i only packed for a short walk”.
Lesson Learned
If you don’t have supplies for where you’re going, then don’t go there
4) They didn’t listen to warnings
If you’re going to climb a mountain, then check the news of whatever organisation governs it. The mountain patrol wont tell people to stay off a certain area just because they feel like it, but because something bad is going to happen there.
The best example of this would be a man named Eric LeMarque who got lost on a snowboarding trip. On his way to the top of the run, the slope patrol started to order everyone off the mountain, to which Eric thought he’d ignore the warnings because the weather looked fine and he was so close to the top. After getting stuck for 8 days up a frozen mountain he was eventually found, but at the cost of both of his lower legs.
Lesson Learned
Listen to the people who know about the area you’re going to and check for weather warnings.
5) They Panicked
The single most important thing to have in a survival situation is the right attitude. A panicking mind is not a rational mind, and decisions that you should get right from the beginning could become clouded with fear.
Pauloosie Keyootak’s story shows how badly a panicked decision could mean the difference between life and death. Fortunately for him he was found quite quickly, but after getting caught in a storm he thought the best thing to do would be to keep going in the direction he guessed was right. After trying to travel 180 miles north on a snowmobile he ended up 100 miles south of his starting location after getting caught in a blizzard.
He should have hunkered down in his shelter or found a land mark to use as navigation, but instead he thought he’d keep going in conditions that gave him a view of about 30 feet. There have been so many people who ran away from a crash without grabbing vital gear, or jumping off a ship that’s slowly sinking without picking up any food or water they could have easily grabbed. These kinds of decisions have made the difference between life and death more times than people will ever know, and all because they panicked.
Lesson Learned
As the title suggests, Don’t Panic