Bear Grylls has encountered all types of challenging situations during his expeditions, but he says that a forest fire is “one of the most terrifying and deadly phenomena you’ll ever encounter.” Rule #1: Don’t start the fire “Forest fires are often caused by humans. If you’re not careful, they might even be caused by you,” [...]
From Bear Grylls’ vast experience in survival expeditions, he’s pretty well honed his list of what gear you need to bring along. In his book How To Stay Alive, he provides some guidelines for what to pack in a potentially life-saving backpack. His first rule is to keep it light. With less weight, you can [...]
Whether climbing a mountain, moving across ice, navigating a jungle or crossing the desert, conserving your physical energy is important for adventures and expeditions. “Your body is like a machine. If you fuel it, it’ll keep on working. If you don’t, it’ll break down,” writes Bear in How To Stay Alive. Careful conservation of energy [...]
Attitude is everything. It can literally be the difference between life and death. In his books and TV shows, Bear tells stories of people who’ve survived in some of our planet’s most hostile environments. For example, in the series Escape from Hell, Bear reenacts how people survived avalanches, being lost in sand storms in the [...]
While Bear Grylls gives lots of advice about how to survive in rugged terrain, if there’s one thing he is passionate about it’s enjoying the outdoors—not just surviving it, but really experiencing all the benefits of spending time in nature. “Have you experienced the hypnotic patter of rain on your tent, the clear call of [...]
As a survivalist, Bear Grylls has had to find his way out of all types of inhospitable terrain, and sometimes his escape is down a river, as he once had to build a raft in the Borneo Jungle in Man Vs. Wild. If you’re lost, following a river can be a good navigational tool as [...]
If you’re spending time in the outdoors, having a fire is useful for many reasons: for heat, for cooking, for boiling drinking water, for drying off, for drying clothing, for light, for keeping wild animals away and even as a signal if you are lost and need to be rescued. “Nothing will improve your morale [...]
Bear Grylls has had some extreme injuries in the outdoors. At age 21, he broke his back in a parachute accident in Zambia, when the chute failed to open during a 14,000-feet jump. He fractured three vertebrae and spent a year in rehabilitation. He has also broken a shoulder in Antarctica, been bitten by a [...]
Finding water in the mountains sounds like it should be easy, whether from streams formed by melting snow or fast-running rivers meandering through valleys. But in reality, you might find yourself on a high mountain ridge with no obvious source of food or water. Or, at lower elevations, the terrain might be too dry to [...]
The first priority of survival in general is to seek the protection of a shelter, and that goes doubly if you’re in sub-zero temperatures. Often, especially if you’re above the treeline, that shelter must be made from snow. “Snow can save your life and will insulate you far better than the metal of a broken-down [...]
