A few survival stories from the Mossy Oak Trail Guide illustrate the benefit of having a survival mentality. Here are some of those stories.
The first story is of Randy Knapp. He was eighteen years old and with two friends he decided to summit Mt. Hood on New Year’s Day. Equipped with appropriate supplies for 10 days, Randy and his friends were doing well until they were hit by a blinding snow storm and decided to head home. Having left their map in the truck, they mistakenly headed in the wrong direction and were lost in the snow storm. They spent the next 13 nights, for a total of 16 days, in a snow cave before they crawled out and were spotted by searchers.
The next story is of Colby Coombs, a 25 year old, who was vacationing in Alaska. He and his two climbing friends were caught up in an avalanche in Mt. Foraker. They were knocked 800 feet down the mountain. Coombs was knocked unconscious and woke up 6 hours later dangling from his rope. He had sustained a fractured ankle, a broken collar bone and two broken vertebrae in his neck. His 2 friends did not survive the avalanche. The next four days he struggled to climb down to their base camp and then traversed another five miles to cross a glacier before being rescued.
The last story is of Amy Racina. On day twelve of a seventeen day solo trek, through King’s Canyon National Park in California, Amy was knocked down when a hillside crumbled beneath her. She fell sixty feet into a ravine, broke her hip and shattered both legs in several places. She was 25 miles from the nearest trail head and she wasn’t expected back for more than five days. She dragged herself with her hands down the ravine for the next three days before being found by a hiker. It was another 24 hours after that ...
... middle of paper ...
...day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” He gave us water: John 4:13-14 says, “Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” He gave us food: John 6:35 says, “Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.”
I don’t know if you or I will find ourselves summiting Mt Hood, caught in an avalanche, or on a solo trek through a canyon, but I do know we will survive if we expect the unexpected, stay prepared and pray to the One who provides shelter, fire, water and food physically and spiritually!
Being adventurous, coming out of your comfort zone, and taking risks will lead you to survival. Survival was the main goal for the past and still is in the present. In the 1980s, MLK day was officially declared a holiday, terrorists attacks were happening in Lebanon with the Marines, the Vietnam Memorial opened in Washington, D.C., and the Vietnam War had recently ended. All of the events all have one thing in common, which is survival. There are three short stories that proves you have to take risks and come out of your comfort zone in order to reach survival. The first one is The Quickening by Michael Bishop and was written in 1982. Lawson, the main character in The Quickening, had to break out of his comfort zone and step up to be a leader
In the story “Sharon Wood: No Limits,” by Sharon Wood, the author describes Woods experience on Mount Everest. In the story Wood overcomes many obstacles to achieve her goal. She had to handle the extreme cold weather along with the heavy bags they had to carry. Due to lack of oxygen they also needed to carry oxygen tanks with themselves. It requires a lot of strength and determination to climb one of the tallest mountains in the world. Sharon Wood was an inspirational, and discipline woman. Finally, only Wood and her climbing partner, Dwayne Congdon, made it to the top. Rest of the team did not have enough ability to make it to the top. After all the struggle Wood went through; she had finally reached the top of Mount Everest. This was
An example of survival can be found in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The town’s people were scared of this unknown creature and were afraid for their lives. In an act of survival, they hunted the beast down in a full town riot. Lucy, John, and Van Helsing hold a significant part in the novel as far as surviving goes. Even though they shared more than others, their survival skills left a significant impact on the
... asked how the crowed would be feed, one response was to go into the market to buy the food that was needed. But noticing that there were two problems one, having to deal with lack of food, and the other lack of finance left, the disciples in a state of dumbfounds. Instead of looking to the one who was and is a problem solver. This signifies Jesus power over food.
To start with, we can see a multitude of real life examples of survival just through our television. Reality TV shows like Naked and Afraid and Man vs. Wild focus on people being pushed into survival situations. These shows help to demonstrate just how far humans will go to survive; participants eat bugs, create tools, and brave diseases. That’s not to mention all of the other real cases in which people have had to go out of their way to live. It happens every day, enough that we consider them commonplace. From events as big as the influx of Syrian refugees making dangerous journeys to Europe, trying to escape danger, to normal people having to take care of themselves after being caught in deadly situations such as house fires or car crashes.
During their western voyage, the group notoriously known as the “Donner Party” inevitably became trapped in a snowstorm in the winter of 1846 and 1847. Originally, the group set out for California in search of new opportunities. Figure 1 shows the path that the party followed to arrive in their set destination. After departing from Springfield, Illinois, the Donner’s first stop was in Independence, Missouri where they joined the rest of their traveling companions. The party had then planned on arriving at Fort Bridger to join another expedition, but they were too late and the expedition left without them (Johnson, 1). They left from Fort Bridger on July 31, 1846 using their own navigation skills in hopes of landing at their destination (Diamond, 2). When an unfortunate snowstorm hit, the group was left stranded. To make matters worse, they were split up between Truckee Lake and Alder Creek. They struggled during this time for they had few supplies and a limited food source. Of the 81 person party, only 45 survived the horrendous conditions (Johnson, 1). That number of casualties may seem fairly typical based on the condit...
The novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the story of a notable traveler named Chris McCandless. The novel, oddly begins with his death, but one can learn new information about his life and all the adventures he has had. Despite the fact that almost everyone believes Chris is crazy, he is able to help us determine what it takes to survive: resiliency. Resiliency is the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like (dictionary.com).
“August 2000, our family of six was on the way to a wedding. It was a rainy day, and Gregg was not familiar with the area. The car hit standing water in the high-way, and started hydro-planing. Greg lost control of the car. Then, the car went backwards down into a ditch and started sliding on its wheels sideways. After sliding for 100 feet or so, the car flipped, at least once. After flipping, the car came to rest on its wheels, and the passenger window broke out.
So yesterday we finally made it to Idaho we set up camp and went to sleep early cause tomorrow was going to be a long day… We woke up early in the morning we had breakfast consisting of nothing more than bread and rations we packed up and we were on our way for today. We all knew once we entered Idaho the Shoshoni Indians were going to be close, so Clark and I split up I went up the Lemhi Pass 4 or so miles in we had come across something amazing, the Missouri. After taking a break there for a couple or so minutes I climbed to the top of the Dividing Ridge. What I discovered was heart breaking I called the other guys up and showed them the ginormous mountain ranges ahead of us. Everyone there knew that now either myself and crew
My legs ache from this long, treacherous hike. As I walk up the rocky, steep trail, my feet start to slip, but I regain balance before I fall. I shiver from the extremely cold temperatures, and my body starts to go numb. Soon I realize, my body can not take this hike for much longer. When I find a nice place to rest and make camp, I pray that there are no bears or other predators that are looking for a feast. Just as I was about to get some sleep, I hear a loud noise, coming from the mountains. I look over and see an avalanche coming down straight towards me. I grab all my stuff and start running the other way, trying my hardest to get away from the rocks tumbling towards me. This extreme place is located in the Rocky Mountain Range, and is the highest point in Colorado and the rocky mountain range.Mount Elbert has an impact on animal's, temperature, and the steepness and extremeness of the mountain.
Survival is indeed a word that can change a human’s perspective on what they need to do to remain alive. In order to survive, people have been known to go to great lengths and to do things they would not ordinarily do. I have noticed this throughout my life by watching movies, and reading books. Most of the time, it is the main character who comes face to face with death, and does anything to keep themselves alive. I have set up a few great examples that show’s people in their survival situations, and what they will do to get out alive.
I almost fell off a cliff on the side of a mountain. I was in Pitkin, Colorado, on a camping trip during the summer of 2009. The trees were green, the air was fresh so were the lakes, rivers, and ponds were stocked with fish and wildlife was everywhere. Usually, on these camping trips, I would be accompanied by a large number of people. However, this time, it was just my parents, my three brothers, and my two sisters. I was almost 12 years old at the time and having three older brothers made me very competitive. Naturally, when my family decided to climb one of the mountain’s which were around us, I wanted to be the first one to reach its peak.
By 4 PM we had conquered most of the peaks. As we were climbing what we thought was our sixth peak, Big Red, a storm struck. It was a cold driving rain that froze us as we struggled up the mountain. We reached the top jubilant, but exhausted. As the crew tried to get a bearing I came to the slow realization that we were not on Big Red, but another peak. We had two peaks to climb, and in freezing rain! With no options, we hiked on.
Kearny, Cresson H. Neclear War Survival Skills. Cave Junction: Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, 1990.
A blast of adrenaline charges throughout my body as I experience the initial drop. My body's weight shifts mechanically, cutting the snow in a practiced rhythm. The trail curves abruptly and I advance toward a shaded region of the mountain. Suddenly, my legs chatter violently, scraping against the concealed ice patches that pepper the trail. After overcompensating from a nearly disastrous slip, balance fails and my knees buckle helplessly. In a storm of powder snow and ski equipment, body parts collide with nature. My left hand plows forcefully into ice, cracking painfully at the wrist. For an eternity of 30 seconds, my body somersaults downward, moguls of ice toy with my head and further agonize my broken wrist. Ultimately veering into underbrush and pine trees, my cheeks burn, my broken wrist surging with pain. Standing up confused, I attempt climbing the mountain but lose another 20 feet to the force of gravity.