We’re pretty fortunate to have access to modern equipment and materials. Prior to World War II, the noted polar explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson was contracted by the US government ( “Air Corps of the United States Army”) to produce a survival manual that could be used by air crews flying in arctic regions. This eventually was published in 1944 as the book “Arctic Manual”.
If you can find a copy, it’s an interesting read. While the equipment and materials are different, the message is pretty much the same: stay dry, stay hydrated, stay fed, and don’t kill yourself with carbon monoxide. Stefansson’s expeditions in the early 1900’s with the Natives in northern Canada formed his opinions that the best clothing and sleeping gear was made from caribou skins (though for commercial purposes reindeer hides would be much the same). I’ve actually slept on caribou hides on the snow, and they are pretty darn effective. Thank goodness we have better options for our winter clothing.
Stefansson’s opinion about what food to carry for survival was pretty simple: pemmican made from dried lean meat and fat (equal parts of each). Though not necessary for survival, he wasn’t totally against a little variety.
“Although not nearly as rich in calories, pound for pound, chocolate is usually looked upon as good condensed rations. Rice is another. On the third Stefansson expedition, where fuel did not have to be economized because it was secured along the way through killing seals, one of the favorite rations was a stew made by boiling rice in a lot of water to which were added chocolate and lumps of chopped up suet – in that instance caribou fat.”
mmm,..mmm,..good,...just like grandma used to make !!
Throughout the book it’s given to understand that you will be living off the land. Hunting provided a lot of the food used by Stefansson during his expeditions. He was explicit about what was worth shooting. You weren’t supposed to shoot anything smaller than a wolf, as anything smaller wouldn’t provide enough food for the amount of effort and weight of ammunition. He had this to say about polar bears.
“Europeans commonly like the taste of bear meat, saying it is like pork. But it is stringy, gets between the teeth, and makes the gums sore. After you have been on bear for a week or two you are likely to begin cutting it in small pieces and swallowing them before you are through chewing. This applies to cooked meat, not to raw. Cooking increases toughness and brings out the stringiness. Chewing frozen raw bear meat is like eating raw oysters; half-frozen it has, like other raw meats, the consistency of hard ice cream.”
And when things really turn bad:
“In discussion of skin boats and skin clothing, we have pointed out that, before the extremity of cannibalism is reached, all articles made out of rawhide or hide not commercially tanned can be used as food. They have considerable food value and there is no substance in them that tends to make you ill.”
Stefansson goes into detail about how to use the equipment he recommends, how to travel, when to travel, and basically how to live in the arctic.
“With the general aviation slant of the Manual, we point out that this is also the emergency outfit that might be carried in an airplane by three men making a flight across the Arctic Sea by any of its diameters. If they make a safe forced landing and can neither fly again nor summon help, if they are in good health at the start, use reasonable judgment, and with reasonable luck, they ought to be able to make their way to some native or white settlement
in 2 years, or less, through the use of this equipment.”
,....in two years or less !!!!!!!!!
Makes our Wiggy's, PolarGuard, Mountain House, sat phones, SPOT locators, GPS's, ELT, etc sound pretty darn nice.
Jim W
