Historical or contemporary persons who'd thrive in TLD


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The title says it all. Which living or dead person do you think would not only survive but thrive in a TLD scenario? Here's my three picks.

Since both living and dead real people can sometimes be controversial, please let us keep this thread civilized, on topic and entirely apolitical.

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I don't remember if I posted it here before, but read The Year Long Day:

https://www.amazon.com/Year-Long-Day-One-Mans-Arctic/dp/0397011318

True story of a guy who lives on Spitsbergen Island (well north of the Arctic Circle) hunting, trapping, breaking bones, getting sick, getting attacked by bears, etc.  Ivar Ruud (who now lives in CA, I believe) is a stud!

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  • 7 months later...

I think Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage could give it a go.

Jamie: Look what I found....I wonder how many different ways we could make a snare? .... Dude stop wasting all the gun powder trying to start a fire!!!! Just use the Magnifying glass!

Adam: oh yeah... but blowing up stuff with Buster is just too much fun!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I nominate my great uncle Brix Crabtree, longtime alaskan, hunter trapper and craftsman. He ran a trapline till the year he died, and even in his 80's, when I met him, he was a giant of a man and still strong as an ox. I remember him looking at me and saying "We've got wolves that would carry you off whole! Heh heh!" 

Sam

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On 8/31/2016 at 2:50 AM, Thurman Merman said:

Also, don't know why I didn't think of it earlier:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

He hikes into Alaska, makes his own tools, builds his own house, and lives up there hunting and fishing!

You can find some of the videos on youtube by searching for "dick proenneke videos."  Really cool stuff.

 The best thing about Richard Proenneke was that he wasn't a hunter or trapper. He only took what he needed to eat, caught one fish for dinner almost daily and only shot things with his camera. He had no traps, wore no fur and truly lived a peaceful life in Alaska; he wasn't a menace to the wildlife at all. I bought the video collections, as he is kind of a hero to me. :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

I believe Lewis and Clark would fit The Long Dark perfectly. I mean, from historical records, their journey that started in St. Louis, Missouri was a treacherous one. They endured unimaginable starvation, as well as dangerous water and jarring illnesses and sicknesses. I mean, not to mention how they were able to document new species of plants and animals on this grueling journey. So, I believe this heroic duo would definitely do more than thrive in The Long Dark. 

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  • 1 month later...

My bet would be on Les Stroud. Why you ask? Because he actually survived in a real TLD scenario before TLD was even invented. Survive for 7 days a Plane Crash in Winter in the nothern parts of Canada - sounds familiar?

Oh and he plays on Interloper difficulty, because he starts out without any matches :D

 

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 Les Stroud doesn't survive, he endures. I like Les a lot and have much respect for him, but he just suffers for a week and then goes home.

 Bear Grylls (my beagle's name!) is far more likely to really survive, but in his program, he advocates some absurd behavior. Still, at least he tries to get out of a bad scene and is willing to do anything to make it happen.

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4 minutes ago, Carbon said:

 Les Stroud doesn't survive, he endures. I like Les a lot and have much respect for him, but he just suffers for a week and then goes home.

Careful now, with blasphemic comments like that you'll end up in hell :o

No seriously, what you wrote is only true for very few episodes (actually only one comes to mind, Norway where he was in deep shiat). In most episodes he does quite well for himself. It's one of the only survival shows where you can actually learn something or two that might be useful. I for one never go on a canoeing trip without my Multitool since I've watched Les :D

 

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 Mate, I know...it's hard for me to say that, such is the respect I have for the man. However, I own each and every episode of Survivorman and it's true; he is thoroughly trashed at the end of the week, every time.

 I'm not saying there isn't anything to learn; the show is full of great information and far more practical than much of what Bear Grylls presents, but I think it's misleading to call what he does "surviving". I'm not even sure that he would call it such; if he were out there for longer periods, I suspect that we would see quite different behavior.

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On 6/2/2017 at 5:21 PM, Portals said:

I believe Lewis and Clark would fit The Long Dark perfectly. I mean, from historical records, their journey that started in St. Louis, Missouri was a treacherous one. They endured unimaginable starvation, as well as dangerous water and jarring illnesses and sicknesses. I mean, not to mention how they were able to document new species of plants and animals on this grueling journey. So, I believe this heroic duo would definitely do more than thrive in The Long Dark. 

Well they'd certainly win the Long Dark prize for best journal! :)

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Hello guys any more? How about women? And no one mention about Mt Everest and task to survival up there! :) Why so little information on people testimony? Need more interest in this thread! :( 

Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, a doctor who treated herself for breast cancer for months while stationed at the South Pole

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/us/25nielsen.html

 

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  • 6 months later...

Ciliate, the one i would like to mention is neither a woman or went to Mt Everest. But i do for shure think he would fit in to those stubborn types who doesnt die no matter what happens to them. Jan Baalsrud :

kM5L3Gi.jpg

He was a soldier in the "Linge Company" and one of 12 soldiers who in 1943 where sent to North-Norway on a sabotage mission, disguised as fishermen. The mission failed as they where attacked by germans. And as a result Baalsrud where the only one who managed to escape and get himself to Neutral Sweden. To make a long story short, his journey to Sweden included : Got shot in his left foot. Had to swim trough ice cold water twice. Taken by an avalanche who burried him up to his chest. Walked around snowblind for three days until he suddently crashed in a house wall. Walked trough 4 blizzards. Due to severe frostbites had to amputate his own toes on both his feet with a pocket knife. Spent 10 days in a wet snowcave on the top of a mountain and low on food. Spent 17 days in a small stone cave.

After Baalsrud had recovered at a hospital in Sweden, he return to duty and was asigned as an instructor. He died by cancer in 1988. His last wish was to be buried in a small village named Mandal. During WWII civilians was warned by the Germans that those who helped the enemies, would get executed. Yet, the entire village of Mandal had stepped up to help Baalsrud.

If you want to know more about his survival, nytimes wrote an article about him :

Nytimes Article

 

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On 6.7.2017 at 4:57 PM, Carbon said:

but I think it's misleading to call what he does "surviving". I'm not even sure that he would call it such; if he were out there for longer periods, I suspect that we would see quite different behavior.

no it's exactly that. I've just read his book "Survive!" and he means business. Les usually does not show fancy craftsmanship which only trained outdoor specialists know because most people aren't trained that way and skills like, for exmaple, building a proper iglu take lots of training from a specialist until you're able to build something that won't kill you. And yes of course after 6 days in the jungle without any help most people will come out banged up - but you will live.

One example: he promotes drinking dirty and filthy water. Why? Because if you don't drink it you will be dead in 3 days for sure. If you drink it you will maybe live long enough to get found/rescued and anything you got from the water can be cured then. He's not showing what to do on your next outdoor "survival" trip with your buddies but what to do in a real life & death situation and he is trying to get close as safely possible to this situations in his shows, episode after episode.

So coming back to the topic: if you see how  Les uses just the insides of one Volvo, imagine what he would be able to do with all the houses, tractors and stuff plentyful around TLD county - if he'd happen to come around a woman he could start a family and feed his 50 children for life :D

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there was a guy who made the snow walker feat and faithful cartographer achievement look like nothing:

 

Quote

David Thompson (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was a British-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as Koo-Koo-Sint or "the Stargazer." Over Thompson's career, he travelled some 90,000 kilometres (56,000 mi) across North America, mapping 4.9 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) of North America along the way.[1] For this historic feat, Thompson has been described as the "greatest land geographer who ever lived."[

 

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