01x08 - Plane Crash

[bunniefuu]

This time on Survivorman, it's the middle
of winter, and I'm headed to the northern

reaches of Ontario in a land called
Tamagami, known for its giant old-growth

forests, expansive beauty, constantly
changing weather, and in the wintertime,

frigid temperatures.

To fly a helicopter or bushplane
up here, your knowledge

of survival is not an
extra, it's a way of life.

Bush pilots are a tough breed.

Small bush planes with floats or skis were
built to fly, not survive a crash,

and many pilots have lost their lives
strapped into their seats.

But this is not a rescue operation.

My crew is taking this wreck to my
survival location.

Hopefully, there's enough of a plane left
to help me survive, until I make my own

way back through the frozen, snow-covered
bush.

This is the Canadian North in the dead of
winter.

Out here, you have
to persevere, because

your very existence
is being put to the test.

And the only alternative is death.

The bush in winter offers no forgiveness.

You either adapt quickly and survive,
or you die quickly.

I have to spend the next seven days in
this frigid North.

Alone.

Going.

into a remote location, deep in the dense
forest.

The wrecked plane that will serve as my
only shelter is transported ahead of me.

So that's one plane wreck, 50 pounds of
camera gear, no food, no water, no matches.

It's not out of place to feel intimidated
by the frozen, isolated forest below.

But it's my job to survive out here,
for the next seven days, completely alone.

And to eventually walk out.

It's a tall order.

Here we go.

Thanks, Peter.

Have a good week.

And stay warm.

That's easy for you to say.

Here we go.

That's it.

I'm alone now.

What is the number one priority of
survival?

Depends on where you find yourself.

In the desert, it's water.

In an exposed area, it's shelter.

Here, in the Canadian North, in the dead
of winter...

I've got one option, one option only right
now.

Get a fire going as soon as possible.

I'll just figure out how to do that
without any matches.

This plane wreck is from an actual
accident.

A double fatality.

It's up to me to see how I can use it for
survival.

The crew will come back and pick
everything up at the end of the week.

Plane battery.

Busted up the gas tank.

About two liters of dirty gas in there.

I'll be real careful I don't start
sweating too much.

I'm going to put the fire on this side of
the airplane, the inside.

Because it's just going to be too windy
out on the lake anyway.

And I found a piece up here.

It's going to work just fine as a base.

So why don't I practice everything first
and show it like a pro?

Well, I like to keep it real.

Fire with a battery, wires and some
gasoline?

I've never tried before.

If this works, it'll be a first for me.

I found one birch tree.

And I seeded a couple of cedars.

And so I was able to finally get some
cedar bark.

And birch bark.

Which will help a lot.

Maybe if it was shorter it would be
better.

Ah.

I better put my gloves on for this.

Okay.

Oops.

Alright.

That's what I'm working with.

I don't like playing with gasoline.

Makes me nervous.

Put one right.

There we go.

Resting on the terminal.

And touching the gasoline rag.

I'm actually nervous.

Ah.

Come on.

Hmm.

I'm gonna try this another way.

Hoping this will kind of work like a bit
of a cup.

We'll pour some gasoline into it.

Have all this birch bark and gasoline
soaked rag ready.

I once heard that it's not the gasoline
that ignites.

It's the fumes.

So I need to have a little pool of gas and
an enclosure.

That will hold in the fumes ready for a
spark.

Okay.

Got some.

Try this.

Hey!

Ha-ha!

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Woo!

Oh, yeah!

That was sweet!

Oh, let's get this gas can out of here.

Woo-hoo!

Oh, tell me that wasn't a thing of beauty.

I love it when a plan works out.

All right.

Now that I got a wicked fire going,
I'll have to keep it going.

As much as possible.

Um... And the sun's
already going down.

I mean, it's fading real quick.

My only hope right
now is to try to outfit that

airplane in a way that I
can survive the night in.

The only option I have for tonight is to
hold up in the c*ck of the plane itself.

Not exactly airtight.

Not exactly warm.

But it's all I've got.

Well, this isn't gonna be pretty.

Don't kid yourself.

A survival shelter is rarely comfortable.

I just need to block out the wind and keep
in as much body heat as possible.

Well...

I don't think I can do much more.

Not for tonight.

Night comes in pretty early this time of
year.

Thanks for a long night.

The onset of a frigid winter night is a
most sobering reality.

And I may be a glutton for
punishment as my own filmmaking

plans are about to
challenge my ability to survive.

Northern Ontario.

Winter.

Day 2.

Stuck inside a drafty, cramped plane
wreck.

It was way too cold to just wake up and
start filming.

Not until I stoked the fire a bit.

My biggest concern, of course,
is the cold.

And above all else, I've got to keep a
fire going.

Of course, I've got to see about getting
some food.

And I can rehydrate myself just by eating
snow for now.

Everyone says, don't do it, don't eat
snow.

Well, I don't have any water, so I'm
eating snow.

And lastly, well, I do know where I am.

And I know approximately where I need to
get to get back home.

But it's going to take a few days to walk
out of here.

So for now, I'll just try settling in
here.

My challenge this time is to make my own
way back.

I watched the route in as we flew,
about 70 miles straight north.

But first, I'll stick
it out here and try

to gather some supplies
for the journey out.

If you're wondering why I've got such
strange-looking clothing, when I knew I

was going to be having to survive in the
Canadian north in the middle of winter,

for me, it's got to be wool.

It keeps about 80% of its insulation value
even when it's soaking wet.

But the best part is, you can get real
close to a fire, and you don't have to

worry too much about sparks or anything
like that.

It's not going to melt on you.

So it's got to be wool.

It's rugged, it's tough.

Works for me.

It's heavier, but it works.

Well, let's see what I have to survive
with this time.

Of course, I've got my wool blanket and my
axe.

Those are two items that, well,
nothing else matters.

It's just you won't get me out in the
middle of the Canadian wilderness,

in the middle of winter, without a good
axe and a wool blanket.

I also have, of course, always a good
multi-tool.

And, uh, this little guy here is supposed
to be a survival saw.

I'm going to try it out.

See how it does.

Cutting wood.

Other than that, of course, I have the
airplane.

That could help a lot.

Well, I've been thinking.

Something I've never shown is what you'd
have to do if you were actually injured.

And in a plane crash
situation, if you did

survive, it's highly
likely that you're injured.

So, let's do this with an injury this
time.

Just kidding.

But, let's simulate an injury.

So, let's assume that my injury is a
busted up left arm.

Maybe from the elbow down or something,
smashed in.

I've got to keep it up and keep it warm.

Now, this plane is actually made out of
fabric covered with paint.

The wings are metal, but, uh, and the
fabric comes right off the paint.

It's quite a bit of a makeshift sling
here.

But if it works, it works.

Wrist is immobilized, arm is immobilized.

I'm now officially injured.

I am not looking forward to having the use
of only one arm.

But, for now, this will
give me a very small taste

of the difficulties
associated with an injury.

At least I don't have to deal with the
pain.

Well, all the area, sort of just down in
through there.

Towards the back of the plane,
that's wide open.

And I've got to cover
that up to make sure I

can try and get this as
windproof as possible.

Right now, the clouds have come over,
which have made it a little bit warmer.

But the wind is blowing up.

So I'm going to try and make this at least
a bit windproof, if not insulated.

And this door, really,
is just in the way,

because it stops the
heat from coming into me.

Whereas I might be able to use it to block
off some of these other holes.

Hey!

Well, I'm getting a quick lesson in the
difficulties of surviving with one arm.

Not everything can be ripped off of a
plane using only an axe and one arm.

But all of this wiring gives me an idea.

So I've got this one guy ready to go.

You can see the loop.

And what I want to do is tie it off to one
solid object.

I think right here will work really good.

So I see there's some fresh tracks right
here.

And you can kind of see that they all
converge on the same one spot here.

If you find a place where the rabbits are
already naturally funneled into a certain

spot, and you just reinforce that
funneling and put the snare right in the

middle, you stand a much better chance of
catching one.

I'm calling them rabbits.

Snowshoe hair up here.

Just reinforcing this funneling.

I think this is why I
find wintertime is the

easiest time of year to
snare any particular game.

First of all, you can see where their
tracks are.

Okay.

That should be pretty good.

I've just got to put my noose in place.

There we go.

I don't know if I can get out of here.

Without wrecking their own trail and
creating too many footprints of my own,

I'm better off.

Snaring can be a very effective hunting
method, but it's a tough way to go.

As the animal pushes hard
with its legs to get away, it only

serves to tighten the noose
around its neck until it suffocates.

All right, well, that's one snare.

I've got to set up at least another five.

Ten would be even better.

Setting up snares or deadfalls is all
about bettering the odds.

There are no guarantees.

If I can catch two or three,
I'll have enough to eat

now, and enough to take
with me for my trek out of here.

Finding and collecting firewood is an
ongoing process.

No matter what you're
doing, collecting wood along

the way all the time
is a survival essential.

This tree is small enough
to be manageable with only

one arm, and not too far
from the plane crash site.

Working too hard can prove
deadly, as the combination

of sweat and the frigid cold
can lead to hypothermia.

Well, look at this.

I wanted to set up the cameras and work on
this survival saw to see how well it works.

So I gave it a little, little practice
pull just to see.

And look.

Here's the one end, here's the other end.

Busted right off one pull, and it snapped
right off.

Here's the little ring that's supposed to
go on.

Supposed to go on right there.

Huh.

Useless.

You know, it says that this is supposed to
be good for a snare as well.

That's a mighty small snare, if you ask
me.

The ice up here, this time of year,
can be three to five feet thick.

It's worth the effort for now to see if I
can chop through to try for some fish.

But I've got to watch out that I don't
blow out the muscles in my one arm.

That's enough for now.

Just looking at this metal.

I've got a bit of an idea.

Something I might be able to do here.

If I can get a piece of it off.

Ow!

Not that way.

If I can bend this metal into shape,
I may have a pot for boiling.

But first I want to burn off the paint.

There.

Let me show you what it looks like inside
my little shelter.

Well, believe it or not, I feel fairly
protected inside this little plane here.

It's not very warm.

But it's close to the fire and I am
getting some residual heat in here.

It weighs heavy on my mind
to begin the long trek out across

the lakes and rivers and through
the dense, snow-covered bush.

Well, if the sun
seems pretty high in the

sky for a morning
shot, that's because it is.

It's taken me hours just
to get warmed up again

and get my cameras working
and batteries warmed up.

Keep this fire going.

Got terribly cold last night.

The wind stopped, the sky opened up,
and that meant bitter cold temperatures.

I don't want to stay here much longer.

I'm going to make preparations to get out
of here.

I also lost time this morning going to
check all my rabbit snares.

Nothing.

And not a half a foot from the plane
wreckage.

There's fresh rabbit tracks, so one went
right by me last night.

Once again, using the wreckage itself may
help me to survive.

If you've been wondering what this little
tale is, whenever I've been out fall or

winter camping, everybody's always looking
for a place to sit down.

Put their little gloves on a little log
and sit on it.

Try not to get their bum wet.

Well, I don't have to look for any place.

I can just sit down wherever I want.

Simple and silly, but it sure is
effective.

There is no way I can carry the battery
with me on my way out.

But there are yet other
pieces of the plane that

will help me start a
fire while I'm on the trail.

I'm going to take these squares of cotton.

All I want to be able to do is really get
the cotton into an enclosed space,

like a tin can would be awesome.

Close it up like that.

And I'm going to put
it on the fire, but not

let the flames actually
get to the cotton.

And that way I make what's called charred
cloth.

And you'll see how that can help me out
later, if it works.

The cotton is hidden
from the flames inside the

folded metal, and left
to blacken, but not burn.

Survival calls for constant multitasking.

Keeping an eye out for essentials every
step of the way, like firewood or food.

Always improving your shelter.

You know, survival stuff, like filming a
TV show.

Let's see what we got here.

Look, and, well, it didn't.

Oh, get done.

Okay, I can put this back in.

But you see the black stuff there?

Nicely charred.

This is going to work, I think.

Okay, so this is charred cloth.

And all I have to do is try to get a spark
to land right onto it.

And it should catch a glow.

And with any luck, fire will follow.

Instead of being burnt to ash,
the cloth is charred and turns into what

is essentially very thin charcoal,
ready to take a spark.

My idea of getting through this ice to
catch fish is going nowhere.

I can't keep this up.

The risk of damaging my one
good arm is too great, especially

knowing that my challenge
is to head out of here soon.

Sleeping during these
winter nights is at best a few

minutes here and there while
I try to keep from freezing.

So in the noonday sun, I catch an hour of
sleep while I can.

But the sun may not last long.

Oh, man.

Has my energy ever drained?

It's just hard to put one foot in front of
the other right now and keep moving.

But that's what you've got to do.

You've got to have that firewood.

You've got to get the fire going.

And with one arm, survival is definitely,
definitely, extremely tough.

But there still is one thing I can do with
one arm.

I can play with my harmonica.

To Les Stroud, from the students of
Sawmill Valley Public School.

Three days without food.

I think I'll call it a night.

The weather today was perfect for travel.

Tomorrow, I'll try to take a stab at
leaving.

That way I won't be late, which would
worry the rescue crew.

It's too cold.

Too cold.

My plans were to leave, but Mother Nature
had other plans for me.

Oh, it's all about the cold.

Clouds came in.

They brought with them a storm.

Winds blowing fiercely from the south.

Making this protected little shelter into
an exposed shelter.

It's four days now without food, and I
get barely an hour of sleep each night.

I'm tired of dealing with a fake injury.

The sling's coming off.

I'd rather just get out of here.

Back to warmth.

Back to food.

Might as well take a walk and check my
snares anyway.

Boy, this blew up real quick.

I may not be getting anywhere.

Not today.

If this storm keeps up, I'll be stuck at
the plane wreck another night.

Got a snare up in here, I'll check.

Check it out.

I had set this snare up only 12 hours
before using the wires from the plane.

Sometimes, you get lucky.

I don't really know what to say.

I, uh...

You know, I hate to take the life of any
animal.

But in a matter of survival, then,
uh...

If it's a case of live or death, life or
death, all creatures are fair game.

Dinner.

This is not easy weather.

You should keep your lenses clean.

The snow is getting finer and finer,
and that's got me worried.

Because, I'll tell you, if this turns into
freezing rain...

Well, I'm not traveling anywhere,
that's for sure.

And it'll be kind of miserable.

Well, time to do the deed...

with the rabbit.

More correctly, snowshoe hare.

If you're still with me on this,
what do you want to do now, is take...

the rabbit's fur...

off.

Just like you're taking off a sock.

And, uh, you know, sort of a wet sock,
like, so that it rolls back on itself.

It's, uh, actually, much easier since he
didn't freeze on me.

If he was caught early in the night,
he'd be frozen solid.

So... Just finish this.

Oh!

Jeez.

Oh, my hands are just frozen.

Hang on.

If you can capture game this big, there are
many more uses for them, other than food.

Oh.

Oh, that's cool.

Okay.

Well, I said... to take it off like a
sock is because... the fur on the inside.

We now have, essentially, a sock.

Well, I'm gonna save you the...
grossness of, uh, taking the guts out.

And, uh... get this guy cooking.

Sorry, big guy.

Well, my fear...
has come to pass.

The snow has turned into freezing rain.

There's really not much I can do but sit
here...

and, uh, cook this rabbit.

Try to stay out of the rain.

My little shelter here.

After four days without food, it's easy to
get over the sadness of k*lling an

animal... and attend to the most
basic of human needs, the need for food.

This is where my filmmaking and my actual
survival meet.

Oh, in case you haven't noticed...

I completely abandoned the whole one-armed
survival thing.

That's enough of that, man.

Now, I just want to get this food into my
stomach.

Then I want to try and get out of here.

Oh.

Yeah.

Oh, this is gonna be so nice.

Look at this.

Ah.

Now...

This... is gonna taste good.

Wow.

Mmm.

Rabbit is a good survival food in
the fact that... they're not hard to catch.

However...

there is a thing called rabbit starvation.

See, they're completely lean.

No fat.

And, if you eat nothing but rabbits,
so you catch a couple of dozen and exist

over the next month or so...
eating nothing but rabbits...

you bring yourself into protein poisoning.

You've gotta get fat somehow.

But... that's because most people don't
continue to eat the internal organs...

and the brain, and the eyes, and even the
bones.

And you can bet... I'm gonna finish off
every little bit of this rabbit tonight.

Well, it was freezing rain or snow all
night long.

Fire's pretty much... out.

A few coals, that's about it.

Maybe it's time I make my way out of here.

Five days, and finally my chance to get
going.

I can use what I broke off of the plane to
help me travel...

and the rescue crew will come in later to
clean up the mess.

I lost a full day due to the bad weather.

It would've been nice to get another
snowshoe hare or two.

But at least eating one, bones and all,
has renewed my spirit and energy.

The weather may slow my progress yet.

If I don't make it back on my own,
the rescue crew will come looking for me.

I hate it when that happens.

Weather... turned pretty nasty here,
late in the day.

I'd love to be able to build a nice rock
shelter...

covering and everything.

But you know what?

I'm on the move, and I think rather than
put the energy into building a big shelter.

..

I'm gonna put the energy into gathering a
big whack of firewood.

And if I have to, I'll just sit beside the
fire all night.

I've got a pace going that'll keep me warm
without the risk of sweating.

A 14-hour long night requires a lot of
heat.

A piece like this makes for a great base
for a fire to start off with.

It's pretty hard to get a fire going right
on the snow.

It sucks the moisture right up.

Got big wood.

Got the base.

Got my little spot.

Tinder.

It's a risky decision to make,
but I think the effort of trying to build

a solid shelter would be better put into
maintaining a big fire.

There's a lot of easy wood nearby.

Perhaps a little unorthodox for the
survival manuals, but I know it can work.

That's the right stuff.

More freezing rain.

Without the battery
and gasoline, it's not my

chance to see if my
plan for fire will work out.

Remember the cloth that I charred?

Now is when it has to help me.

And along the way, I stopped to get a
drink just in a little stream bed.

I looked and saw some different rocks
there.

And I just tried a couple with my axe.

Sure enough, I've got one rock here that
made a spark off the axe.

So I'm just holding the axe just right
above it.

Let's see if I can...

Come on.

Uh oh.

Oh yeah.

Look at that.

Okay.

I don't want to mess around too much,
but I will show you.

Alright.

Put it in my cedar.

There.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Yes, indeed.

Once you've got the flame, birch bark
time.

Nothing takes a flame better than birch
bark.

Even when it's soaking wet, it burns well.

The bark of a birch tree is loaded with
oils.

See that?

That was just a rock right from here in
Tamagami.

Some cloth that I charred that came off
the airplane.

And my axe.

Fire.

It takes a big hot fire to make it through
the night.

Size does matter.

All right.

Have a look at what I'm trying to follow.

It's really faint in this overcast, but you
can just barely see old snowmobile tracks.

This weather is crazy.

It goes from bright and sunny and
sometimes cold, very cold.

To rain, to cloudy.

It's changing nearly every hour.

I don't know, a weird week.

I'm following a snowmobile trail.

But that's no guarantee of rescue.

Up here, you could
walk for more than a week

on established trails
and never see a soul.

I am very, very lucky that I had that thaw
a few days back packing the snow.

It means I can get by
without needing snowshoes,

as long as I still
have a trail to follow.

Two feet to either side of this trail,
and I'm thigh deep in snow.

The trail seems
endless, but it's almost

impossible for the human
psyche not to continue on.

Ever moving forward, believing that
salvation lies just around the next corner.

It's a dangerous mantra.

And now I've broken one of my own cardinal
rules.

I've warmed up, but I let myself get wet
with sweat.

Stopping now without a ready-made shelter
or fire, and I could easily freeze.

Sticking to the trails means I shouldn't
get lost, even in the dark.

So what am I doing
walking around in the

frigid night air of a
Northern Ontario winter?

Well...

I made a decision.

See, it's sixth night.

Tomorrow's the seventh day.

I'm supposed to be making my way out of
here tomorrow.

So I figured rather than sleep 15-minute
intervals... Oh, my mouth's frozen.

All night long.

Oops.

I just keep walking.

See, I can't get lost if I follow these
snowmobile trails.

I should be good to go.

As long as I don't hit a lake.

I can sleep tomorrow in the sun.

And I'm awake anyway.

I'm gonna pull an all-nighter.

Well, I made it through the night.

As exhaustion sinks into my bones,
it's all about the constant push forward.

Out of the cold.

Away from the wind.

My thoughts are of warm places.

And hot food.

Sometimes, I think my
production team is waiting

for the chance to film
my failure to survive.

Perhaps hoping that they will be there to
catch Survivorman, face down in the snow.

Frozen solid.

One hand on the camera.

Tape still rolling.

For now, since I'm
still a few miles from

civilization, they get their
chance at a small rescue.

I'm sure they'll never let me live this
one down.

I think I could have made it back before
night falls again.

But I'll take the lift when I can get it.

This is one frostbitten Canadian boy.

Happy to go home.

Happy to go home.