Posted on 12/06/2008 5:51:16 PM PST by JoeProBono
Daredevil SAS man-turned-explorer Bear Grylls was being airlifted to South Africa last night after being badly injured filming a TV documentary in Antarctica. The 34-year-old adventurer broke his shoulder in a life-threatening fall and was said to be in shock and agony from a serious fracture which left the bone protruding from his body. The accident happened at 11pm British time on Friday, and Bears insurance company arranged for his evacuation
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Bear Grylls is an ex-SAS combat survival instructor. I don’t know if he does certain things for show or not, but even if he does, he must be as tough as nails and know what he’s doing for real regardless......
He does like to take his clothes off on camera. Watched yesterday and the idiot was swimming under the ice of a frozen lake in Siberia.
These survival shows are great etc yet they leave out one detail.
Fear !
....the stars have a safety backup, people with them or very near them who know right where they are at. Fear of not knowing where you or help is . Fear, Cold , Hunger etc will make ya real stupid. Dumber than a Democrat !
The skills are great video yet must be practiced. Ever try and use just a fire steel to make fire ? It is tough. The shows give folks false sense of security . Boy Scouts who spend an afternoon building fires have better experience that some grown adults.
I attended all the US & NATO survival schools in the military including some contractor schools like Tom Browns. Each was lacking the mental aspect that kills.....fear. It can’t be taught, it has to be experienced. Hard to do so on video or in a class ....skills practiced and information collected thru education in such events as classes and excursions...........
Gadgets will get ya hurt. Skills and minimal reliable tools that can be ON YOU 24/7 when away from home need to be exercised in the cold, in the heat , wind, rain, dark and day with each hand in case you had an injury.
Hope ole Bear is Ok !.....LOL !
Just my 2 cents.....:o)
Stroud has help within reach but that help may be hours away. He was in the Amazon jungle and was pretty spooked by a jaguar stalking him. Basically he ran for the nearest village. He said bears don’t bother him but big cats are unpredictable.
Or worse
these guys flaunt it and have been extremely lucky up until now. I have no admiration for them what so ever. They are strictly out for shock factor and are nothing more than opportunists.
I spent a week myself, out in the Alaska Wilderness (Katmai) after a plane crash and survived for real. I walked out, (50 miles) to get help and also guided Big Game in the state for over 15 years. In that period, I saw countless close calls, several mechanical incidents which left me stranded.
I have had special training in survival as well as have been forced to use that training. It greatly angers me to see men like this, exploit the seriousness of wilderness survival, all in the name of television ratings.
Not to mention, the fact that watching Les Stroud in his Alaska Survival episode, made me laugh at how inept he truly is, as well as the countless levels of B.S. he spews about his great “knowledge” of survival or Alaska in general.
It was a matter of time, he takes a lot of chances in his show.
He takes a camera crew with him that does everything he does except they are carrying cameras. He has ptarmigans and sheep left in the field for him to eat. Watch the credits.
He is the better of the two shows.
Always Red Green to watch.....:o)
Duct Tape can save lives !!....LOL !
I’m a man.
I can change
If I have to
I guess.
It was just such a scam. Now if he was SAS then he's one tough SOB and is just a good showman with a nice resume. The survivor man seems to be more "real".
Whoever made the comment about "fear" and survival are speaking the truth. Water, fire and shelter.. then food...
I've done a little stuff "outdoors" but had nice little cheats, like magnifying glass, compass, knives and good gear.
Colonel Norman Dane Vaughan was a member of the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1928-1930 and the first American to mush dogs in the Antarctic. A monument at 10,320 feet, Mount Vaughan was named to honor Norman by Admiral Richard Byrd for his contributions to the Byrd Antarctic Expedition.
Vaughan served in World War II in the Department of Search and Rescue. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge while commanding dog sled ambulances used for the rescue of wounded soldiers. He later became Chief of Search and Rescue for the North Atlantic Division of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the air wing of the United Nations. In the Korean War, he served in the Psychological Warfare Department, assigned to the Pentagon.
Vaughan participated in the Dog Racing Event of the 1932 Olympic Games. He has mushed in 13 Iditarod Sled Dog Races in Alaska, and was awarded the Most Inspirational Musher Award and True Grit Award in 1987. Three years later he was named the Iditarod's Musher of the Year (1990).
During the late 1990's Norman initiated an annual Serum Run by dog sleds that followed the same Iditarod Trail used in 1925 to dash anti-toxin to Nome to aid hundreds of dying Eskimos suffering from diptheria.
Norman's motto in life was: Dream Big and Dare to Fail. His writings include, My Life of Adventure and With Byrd at the Bottom of the World.
The final published work of Norman Vaughan is the 'Foreword' he wrote in PURSUING THE UNTAMED, 2005.
Norman was the REAL deal.
“I dont know if he does certain things for show or not, but even if he does”
he does lots of things for show.
He stays in hotels, eats pancakes and then heads out. His crew catches some of the fish he eats.
One show he was running down the mtn in dirty jeans. Next scene he had clean jeans on.
So his show isn’t even well done. Just lots of flash.
Les is believable 'cause he makes no bones about what he's doing. He also freely admits he has a safety crew. Usually they are a few miles away and available by radio just in case. That's just common sense - this is TV after all. I've seen a couple of shows where Les has said enough is enough, and one where the safety crew called it off early due to severe weather moving in.
Shame about Bear though, hope he heals quickly and can get back to work soon.
Yes. I respect his love of family and his faith. I hate the British nanny state rules that make his program unbelievable. If Les doesn't kill something, he doesn't eat, and he is alone with his cameras. I love both shows, but Les's is more useful.
Yeah the whole thing about complying with safety regulations kinda spoils the “danger”.
The best one was where he was “stranded” in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the spring. I imagine they had a hard time getting enough film without having a house in the background.
South Pole trip for 94-year-old
Norman Vaughan with his means of transport
Thursday, 10 February, 2000, 17:54 GMT South Pole trip for 94-year-old Norman Vaughan with his means of transport
A man who conquered the South Pole in the 1920s is setting off across the ice again - this time at the age of 94. Colonel Norman Vaughan will travel 800 miles across some of the most hostile terrain in Alaska, on a sled pulled by huskies.
He will be leading a race which recreates an heroic sled run in 1925, when teams of huskies raced in appalling conditions to get vaccines to a remote town.
Colonel Vaughan faces Alaska's hostile terrain
Twenty men and their dogs were involved in the original run, fighting their way through driving blizzards for five days to reach the town of Nome, which was in the grip of a diptheria epidemic.
Conditions were so tough that some dogs froze to death on the way. Temperatures dropped to minus 60 degrees Celsius and visibility was almost zero.
The repeat of the epic feat has been staged annually since 1973, partly as a means of preserving the tradition of dog-sleds.
Colonel Vaughan, who will be leading this year's run, is no stranger to ice-bound adventure. He is the last surviving member of a group of US explorers who made it to the South Pole in the 1920s.
Colonel Vaughan speaks about his earlier adventures
He was studying at Harvard when he spotted a newspaper report about plans to stage the first American exploration of Antarctica. He dropped out of his studies to join the team, led by Admiral Richard Byrd, and became the expedition's dog trainer and driver.
At the end of the trip, he achieved the honour of becoming the only man to have had a mountain in Antarctica named after him - the 10,302ft peak Mount Vaughan. Many years later, at the age of 89, he celebrated by becoming the first man to climb it.
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