FOREWORD

      Having spent my life in so many dangerous and at times unforgiving terrains, I have learnt that to come out the other side alive you have to find the spirit to keep going, whatever the cost. Each of the stories in this book tells of that same spirit in those who endured. As individuals we cannot conquer a mountain or a storm, but we can learn to harness nature’s elements, and our own limitations, to see almost any ordeal through.

      Appropriate preparation and experience are essential for any expedition, but they are no guarantee of safety. Even the wariest of adventurers can fall foul to difficult conditions, faulty equipment or lapses in concentration. Only by keeping calm and finding confidence in their own abilities will they stand a chance of passing through the constant threats thrown up by nature. Within this book are stories of those who ventured out with an awareness and appreciation of the danger ahead, but who faltered, rallied and survived: Joe Simpson’s horrific fall on Siula Grande in 1985; Aron Ralston, trapped by rocks and forced to amputate his arm; Ernest Shackleton’s epic South Georgia expedition and his determination to return his stranded men alive.

      Alongside these, are the stories of great difficulty and suffering, but endured by those who survived without that experience and equipment. These are the horror stories that defy the statistics. Tales of plane crashes, kidnappings and prison escapes, the stories of ‘everyday’ people unprepared for the hardest conditions: eleven-year-old Norman Ollestad, the sole survivor of a light-aircraft crash, who descended over 8,000 ft engulfed in a blizzard; Cambodian journalist Dith Pran’s four years of starvation and torture under the Khmer Rouge, and his desperate escape when the regime was overthrown; the three young Australian girls who walked for 1,600 km through the desert to find salvation.

      There are so many compelling character traits to admire in all the survivors featured in this book, even in the ‘bad-guys’ – the bank robbers and prisoners who escaped or the hijacker who vanished into legend. These people, too, show the enduring spirit for survival, adventure and for freedom. They were motivated to escape whatever it was that restrained them. It is the same motivation felt by many adventurers to avoid the nine-to-five, the desk job and the pension scheme. Fear of injury and death must be ever-present during a daring escape, just as on a dangerous climb, but the fear of the mundane, of accepting the humdrum, can be far more terrifying. And, of course, there is a price to pay for high adventure – in unending sweat, fear, discomfort and pain.

      But no one ever said it would be easy.

      BEAR GRYLLS

       image/svg+xml Double tap on map and activate links to navigate to details (not all devices support this functionality) or select from links below. 14 Survival14 Fridtjof Nansen 88 Prison152 Cornelius Rost 114 War138 Jan Baalsrud 174 Shipwrecks142 The Great Escape 230 Hostages234 Natascha Kampusch 208 Soviet submarine K-1928 Gary Powers 30 Apollo 13230 Terry Anderson 240 82 Ruben van Assouw 218 Steven Callahan118 William Brydon 200 Robert Tapscott Roy Widdicombe246 Roy Hallums 188 Whale ship Essex236 Naheeda Bi 174 Commodore George Anson64 Wilco van Rooijen 124 Leo Bretholtz24 Climbing Haramosh 122 Gunther Pl146 Heinrich Harrer 108 Antonio Ferrara130 Freddy Spencer Chapman 250 Jasper Schuringa252 Freighter Maersk Alabama 222 Richard Charrington70 Bahia Bakari 212 Maurice Maralyn Bailey164 Dith Pran 202 Poon Lim204 USS Indianapolis 192 Ernest Shackleton158 Captain Anthony Farrar-Hockley 182 Captain James Riley20 Tokyo earthquake 168 Major Phil Ashby178 Mutiny on the Bounty 134 Operation Frankton198 William Shotton 114 196 Cargo steamer Trevessa 102 Dan Cooper98 Escape from Alcatraz 94 Henri 90 Hugo Grotius 88 Mary, Queen of Scots84 Darlene Etienne 76 Chilean miners rescue72 Flight 1549 Hudson crash 60 Aron Ralston56 9/11 terrorist attacks 50 Joe Simpson46 Mt St. Helens eruption 40 Norman Ollestad22 Aboriginal relocation 32 Juliane K18 Douglas Mawson 34 Flight 571 Andes crash

       Into the Frozen North

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