I Shouldn't Be Alive

Superb program. As an experience outdoorsman (backpacking, kayaking, back country skiing, travel,to remote areas of Alaska/Yukon, Nevada, Northeen California, I am always aware how fate can quickly turn against you. I've done a couple of stupid things.

This series is so well done, they even find actors that bear a resemblance to the real persons they are personifying. I watch these as reruns all the time.

I have a few recommendations:

1. Take a screen shot of your route from Google Maps and text/email it to several good friends. Give them time/dates when you are expect to return. And tell them you will call/email/text them upon your return. Even it's a simple day hike, message someone with your route and the area you plan to be in.

2. If in a very remote area without cell phone coverage (like most of the Sierra Nevada), carry a sat phone or a less expensive alternative, the DeLorme Satellite Communicator that allows you to send an SOS message ( and text friends with your exact location.)

I hope they continue to make new episodes..

I know the moment I saw the title and the series having its trailers on the Discovery Channel here, I so know I have to watch. Being almost at death's door once, I so understand the feeling of almost never making it.

So far actually I had only watched like two episodes so far, but I am trying to watch the other episodes available on the Discovery Channel on the cable here. With drama and real-life accounts of those who were involved, one can be very sure it's definitely not a reality show. A no-holds-barred series.

Definitely a series where the human limit is really tested to the very extremes. Where humans can actually triumphed over adversaries in dire situations.

I'm interested in outdoor survival, so I was naturally attracted to the title of this series. I started watching the episodes hoping to learn something from them.

What I took out from this series was the following:

1. When you're lost, keep moving. Although there're no guarantee of survival, all the people who survived in this series kept on moving searching for help.

2. Always carry container to carry water.

3. Have plastic sheets and strings to form a shelter from wind and sun, they can also help to collect water.

4. Carry something to filter water. Having real outdoor water filter would be ideal.

5. Carry GPS, and if possible a satellite phone especially if you're going out to the remote areas of wilderness. Keep them in waterproof plastic bags. Going without it is playing Russian Roulette with fate.

6. Carry means to start fire.

7. Carry 3 days worth of food each day worth about 1800 calories. Each Day only weighs about a pound and a half, so it wouldn't be so heavy.

8. Carry a mosquito net in tropics and insect repellent to cover your body.

9. Of course know where you are starting from. Carry a compass and a map of the area.

10. Carry a basic survival kit and first aid.

11. Optional, carry a tent and sleeping bag.

12 Wear a comfortable shoes. Carry a windbreaker, and a hat even if the day is warm.

I've tallied up all these equipment and I found that I can come up with a pack that weighs well below 10 lbs. That's not much of a burden in contrast to the drastic increase in survival possibility.

So the program was not only interesting, but inspirational, and educational as well.

Highly Recommended.

This is a very good show, or at least as far as I have watched it at the moment: series 1, 2 and 3. The actors are very good - although in most cases one has never heard of them! - and the reenactment of the accidents and ordeals are both very realistic and very dramatic. The fact that one knows that it is real events and not fiction, makes it more interesting and exciting than a work of fiction.

I like it that they do neither blow up heroes or gloat in misery. The real events speak for themselves. Also, you learn a lot from this. I feel that if I would ever find myself in a survival situation, I would be more prepared now. I have also got myself some basic survival gear, that I always carry around with me. This show can save lives!

The only thing I have against it, is that they show glimpses of what is to come in the beginning of the program, and also in between after the commercial breaks. Although the glimpses are very short, they are enough to spoil some of the fun for me - so I try to look away and not to listen then. And also the fact that they tell in the beginning how many days the events took place over. I do not want to know that in advance!

I changed from watching true crime where people die horribly at the end to watching survival stories and it improved my mood and perspective on life. As someone dealing with on and off depression, these stories are really inspiring. Please bring this back.