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You Sweat, You Die
It was –10 degrees celsius in the dead of winter when his snow
mobile ran out of gas. He had no food, water, or matches, and
was completely lost in the northern Manitoba wilderness, a vast
expanse of isolated bush hundreds of miles from any urban
centre. But Christopher Traverse, a 24yearold construction
worker, had a survivor’s instinct, and he remembered some tips
he had learned from watching my survival films.
With the temperature dropping steadily on that first bone
chilling night, Chris modeled a shelter after one he’d seen me
construct, fashioning a makeshift bed and enclosure out of the
scant resources he had at hand—spruce branches and his snow
mobile. And that’s how he survived the massive blizzard that
descended later that night.
The next morning, he began a threeday trek through
waistdeep snow, which he often ate. He would later tell me
that he remembered how I point out that as long as you eat
snow during the day while you’re working (and not later as you
cool down), you can keep yourself hydrated without increasing
your risk of hypothermia.
Far off on the horizon, Chris spotted the glowing beacon
of the Devil’s Lake communication tower. He was determined
to make it there. Walking 12 hours a day, he also recalled an
other of my favorite survival tips: “If you sweat, you die.” So
Chris was careful to air out his socks every night to keep the
sweat from freezing his feet, and he wisely reserved one layer of
dry clothes for sleeping.
An eagle followed Chris overhead everyday, and he be
gan to think of it as his elder guide, coaxing him to carry on.
Search crews also soared above him, but despite his best efforts,
he couldn’t get their attention. They couldn’t see him through
the heavy snowfall. He kept walking.
After five grueling days, Chris found a highway, flagged a
Greyhound bus and made it to the aptly named Last Resort
Clothing (^) | 295