In 1987, I had this idea that a great way to teach wilderness survival would be to head out into the woods and do exactly that.

Survive.

Now I need the skills because I'd be filming myself alone.

And you, the viewer, would be made aware of that.

And I thought, what a great way to make these skills more relatable to you.

Problem was, the technology was not available for me to film myself beyond the old grainy camcorders as we used to call them.

Well, fast forward to the year 2000, 13 years and indeed the technology became available.

the take home information.

And the skills that you would learn from this series would make you more confident in nature.

You'd stay warm, dry and safe, and therefore you'd be able to reconnect to the natural world.

What you're about to watch is raw and real, and not to be confused with reality television.

These are my journeys into the world of survival and around the planet.

These are the skills that can keep you alive and open the doors to nature.

The only reality that matters.

- Oh man.

Have my energy ever drained It's just hard to put one foot in front of the other right now and keep moving.

And with one arm, survival is definitely, definitely extremely tough.

(mysterious music) (upbeat mysterious music) as I carried on filming into the first season Survivor Man, I began to get greater fantasies on what kind of narrative story I could tell to teach something about survival.

It's one thing to teach about how to survive getting lost on a mountain bike, another a canoe in northern Ontario, a kayak in Costa Rica somewhere.

I thought, hey, let's try a plane crash.

That'll be a good idea.

That was a lot more difficult to carry out than any of those other examples.

Still, if I could make it work.

What a fascinating experience it would be.

And so it was.

I think that somewhere along the lines while filming the series Wild Harvest, Paul and I realized we need to concentrate on one plant per episode.

We tried 11 plants in one episode.

It was just not going to work at all.

And I am pretty sure that is the kind of thinking I had for this plane crash episode.

While I'm doing it, why don't I throw in an injury?

Big mistake.

The other vital part of this story is that I was going to film it in the depths of winter.

Now, often I am asked what is the most difficult place to survive in?

And I'm here to tell you, it is not about geographical location.

It never will be.

It's always about temperature.

The colder it is, the harder it is to survive.

- [Narrator] This time on Survivorman, it's the middle of winter and I'm headed to the northern reaches of Ontario in a land called Temagami, known for its giant old growth forests, expansive beauty, constantly changing weather, and in the wintertime, (indistinct).

To fly a helicopter or push plane up here, your knowledge of survival is not an extra, it's a way of life.

Push pilot are a tough breed.

Small bush planes with floats or skis were built to fly, not survive a crash, and many pilots have lost their lives, strapped into their seats.

But this is not a rescue operation.

My crew is taking this wreck to my survival location.

Hopefully there's enough of a plane left to help me survive until I make my own way back to the frozen snow covered bush.

- This is the Canadian North in the dead of winter.

Out here, you have to persevere because your very existence is being put to the test, and the only alternative is death.

The bush in winter offers no forgiveness.

You either adapt quickly and survive, or you die quickly.

I have to spend the next seven days in this frigid North alone.

(plane door clicks) (plane engine revs) - [Narrator] Where I'm from to a remote location deep into the dense forest.

The wreck plane that will serve as my only shelter is transported ahead of me.

So that's one plane wreck, 50 pounds of camera here, no food, no water, no matches.

(plane engine revving) (suspense music) It's not outta place to feel intimidated by the frozen isolated forest below.

But it's my job to survive out here for the next seven days, completely alone, and to eventually walk out.

It's a tall boarder.

(plane engine revving) - Here we go.

Thanks Peter.

- [Peter] Have a good week and stay warm.

- That's easy for you to say.

Here we go.

(footsteps clacking) (plane engine revving) That's it.

I'm alone now.

- [Narrator] What is the number one priority of survival?

Depends on where you find yourself.

In the desert, it's water.

In an exposed area, it's shelter.

Here, in the Canadian North, in the dead of winter.

- I've got one option and one option only right now.

Get a fire going as soon as possible.

I'm just gonna figure out how to do that without any matches.

(suspense music) - [Narrator] This plane wreck is from an actual accident, a double fatality.

It's up to me to see how I can use it for survival.

The crew will come back and pick everything up at the end of the week.

(birds chirping) (Les grunts) - Plane battery.

Bust up gas tank.

About two liters of dirty gas in there.

(footsteps clacking) I'll be real careful, I don't start sweating too much.

I'm gonna put the fire on this side of the airplane, the inside 'cause it's just gonna be too windy out on the lake anyway.

And I found a piece up here, gonna work just fine as a base.

- [Narrator] So why don't I practice everything first and show it like a pro?

Well, I like to keep it real.

Fire with a battery, wires and gasoline, I've never tried before.

If this works, it'll be a first for me.

- Found one birch tree and a couple cedars, and so I was able to finally get some cedar bark and birch bark which will help a lot.

(metal clanking) Maybe if it was shorter, it'd be better.

Ah, better put my gloves on for this.

Okay.

Oops.

All right.

That's what I'm working with.

I don't like playing with gasoline.

Makes me nervous.

Put one right.

There we go, let me show you.

Resting on the terminal and touching the gasoline rag.

I'm actually nervous.

(metal clinking) Come on.

Hmm.

(metal clanking) I'm gonna try this another way.

Hoping this will kind of work like a bit of a cup.

We'll pour some gasoline into.

Oh, well, this birch bark and gasoline soaked rag ready.

- [Narrator] I once heard that it's not the gasoline that ignites, it's the fumes.

So I need to have a little pool of gas and an enclosure that will hold in the fumes ready for a spark.

- Okay, got some.

(objects clattering) Try this.

Hey, ha ha!

(Les laughs) Whoo!

Oh yeah!

That was sweet.

Oh, let's get this gas can out here.

Oh, tell me that wasn't a thing of beauty.

I love it when a plan works out.

(fire crackling) All right, now that I got a wicked fire going, I'll have to keep it going as much as possible, and the sun's already going down.

I mean, it's fading real quick.

My only hope right now is to try to outfit that airplane in a way that I can survive the night in it.

- [Narrator] The only option I have for tonight is to hold up in the cockpit of the plane itself.

Not exactly airtight, not exactly warm, but it's all I've got.

(objects clattering) (suspense music) (objects clattering) - [Les] Well, this isn't gonna be pretty.

(upbeat suspense music) (objects clattering) - [Narrator] Don't kid yourself, the survival shelter is rarely comfortable.

I just need to block out the wind and keep in as much body heat as possible.

- Well.

I don't think I can do much more, not for tonight.

(air hissing) (suspense music) (fire crackling) (suspense music continues) Night comes in pretty early this time of year.

Makes for a long night.

- [Narrator] The onset of a frigid winter night is a most sobering reality.

And I may be a glutton for punishment as my own filmmaking plans are about to challenge my ability to survive.

(upbeat rock suspense music) Northern Ontario winter, day two.

Stuck inside a drafty, cramped plane wreck.

(Les exhales) - Well, it was way too cold to just wake up and start filming.

Not until I stoked the fire a bit.

My biggest concern, of course, is the cold and above all else, I've gotta keep the fire going.

Of course, I've got to see about getting some food and I can rehydrate myself just by eating snow for now.

Everyone says don't do it, don't eat snow.

Well, I don't have any water, so I'm eating snow.

And lastly, well, I do know where I am and I know approximately where I need to get to get back home, but it's gonna take a few days to walk outta here.

So for now, I'll just try settling in here.

- [Narrator] My challenge this time is to make my own way back.

I watched the route in as we flew, about 70 miles straight north.

But first I'll stick it out here and try to gather some supplies for the journey out.

- If you're wondering why I've got such strange looking clothing when I knew I was gonna be having to survive in the Canadian North in the middle of winter.

For me, it's gotta be wool.

It keeps about 80% of its insulation value even when it's soaking wet.

But the best part is you can get real close to a fire and you don't have to worry too much about sparks or anything like that.

It's not gonna melt on you.

So it's gotta be wool, it's rugged, it's tough.

Works for me.

It's heavier, but it works.

(airy mysterious music) Well, let's see what I have to survive with this time.

Of course, I've got my wool blanket and my ax.

Those are two items that, well, nothing else matters.

It's just you won't get me out in the middle of the Canadian wilderness in the middle of winter without an a good ax and a wool blanket.

I also have, of course, always good multi-tool and this little guy here is supposed to be a survival saw.

I'm gonna try it out, see how it does, cutting wood.

Other than that, of course, I have the airplane.

That could help a lot.

(sharp mysterious music) Well, I've been thinking something I've never shown is what you'd have to do if you were actually injured.

And in a plane crash situation, if you did survive, it's highly likely that you're injured.

So, let's do this with an injury this time.

(ax thuds) Just kidding.

(ax thuds) But let's simulate an injury.

So let's assume that my injury is a busted up left arm, maybe from the elbow down or something, smashed in.

I've gotta keep it up and keep it warm.

Now this plane is actually made out of fabric covered with paint.

The wings are metal, and the fabric comes right off the paint.

So quite a bit of a makeshift sling here, but if it works, it works.

(birds chirping) Wrist is immobilized, arm is immobilized.

I'm now officially injured.

- [Narrator] I am not looking forward to having the use of only one arm, but for now, this will give me a very small taste of the difficulties associated with an injury.

At least I don't have to deal with the pain.

- Well, all the area sort of just down in through there, towards the back of the plane that's wide open and I've gotta cover that up to make sure I can try and get this as windproof as possible.

Right now, the clouds have come over, which have made it a little bit warmer, but the wind is blowing up.

So I'm gonna try and make this at least a bit windproof, if not insulated.

And this door really is just in the way because it stops the heat from coming into me, whereas I might be able to use it to block off some of these other holes.

(ax thudding) (metal clattering) Hey.

- [Narrator] Well, I'm getting a quick lesson in the difficulties of surviving with one arm.

(Les grunts) (objects clattering) - There we go.

(plane ripping) - [Narrator] Not everything can be ripped off of a plane using only an ax and one arm.

But all of this wiring gives me an idea.

(snow thuds) (Les grunts) - So I've got this one guy ready to go.

You see the loop, and what I want to do is tie it off to one solid object.

I think right here will work really good.

So I see there's some fresh tracks right here, and you can kinda see that they all converge on this same one spot here.

If you find a place where the rabbits are already naturally funneled into a certain spot and you just reinforce that funneling and put the snare right in the middle, you stand a much better chance of catching one.

I'm calling 'em rabbits snowshoe hair up here.

Just reinforcing this funneling.

(branches rustling) I think this is why I find the wintertime is the easiest time of year to snare any particular game.

First of all, you can see where their tracks are.

Okay, that should be pretty good.

I just gotta put my noose in place.

There we go.

I dunno if I can get outta here.

The wrecking their own trail and creating too many footprints of my own.

I'm better off.

- [Narrator] Snaring can be a very effective hunting method.

But it's a tough way to go.

As the animal pushes hard with its legs to get away, it only serves to tighten the noose around its neck until it suffocate.

- All right, well that's one snare.

I've gotta set up at least another five.

10 would be even better.

- [Narrator] Setting up snares or dead falls is all about bettering the odds.

There are no guarantees.

If I can catch two or three, I'll have enough to eat now and enough to take with me for my trek out of here.

(mysterious music) Finding and collecting firewood is an ongoing process.

No matter what you're doing, collecting wood along the way all the time is a survival essential.

This tree is small enough to be manageable with only one arm and not too far from the plane crash site.

Working too hard can prove deadly, as the combination of sweat and the frigid cold can lead to hypothermia.

- Ah.

(tree bark crackling) Whoo!

Well, look at this.

I wanted to set up the cameras and work on this survival saw to see how well it works.

So I gave it a little practice pull just to see and look, here's the one end, here's the other end.

Busted right off one pole, and it's snapped right off.

Here's the little ring that's supposed to go on.

It's supposed to go on right there.

Huh, useless.

It says that this is supposed to be good for a snare as well.

That's a mighty small snare if you ask me.

(footsteps clacking) - [Narrator] The ice up here this time of year can be three to five feet thick.

It's worth the effort for now to see if I can chop through to try for some fish, but I've gotta watch out that I don't blow out the muscles in my one arm.

(suspense mysterious music) (ax thudding) That's enough for now.

(footsteps clacking) (metal thudding) - Just looking at this metal, I got a bit of an idea, something I might be able to do here if I can get a piece of it off.

Ow, not that way.

(metal clattering) - [Narrator] If I can bend this metal into shape, I may have a pot for boiling.

First, I wanna burn off the paint.

(fire crackling) (metal thuds) (upbeat suspense music) - There, let me show you what it looks like inside my little shelter.

Well, believe it or not, I feel fairly protected inside this little plane here.

It's not very warm, but it's close to the fire and I am getting some residual heat in here.

- [Narrator] It weighs heavy on my mind to begin the long trek out across the lakes and rivers and through the dense snow covered bush.

(light airy music) - Well, if the sun seems pretty high in the sky for a morning shot, that's because it is.

It's taken me hours just to get warmed up again and get my cameras working and batteries warmed up.

Keep this fire going.

Got terribly cold last night.

The wind stopped, the sky opened up, and that meant bitter cold temperatures.

I don't wanna stay here much longer.

I'm gonna make preparations to get outta here.

I also lost time this morning going to check all my rabbit snares.

Nothing and not a half a foot from the plane wreckage, there's fresh rabbit tracks.

So, one went right by me last night.

(plane metal clattering) - [Narrator] Once again, using the wreckage itself may help me to survive.

(plane metal clattering) (suspense music) - If you've been wondering what this little tail is, whenever I've been out fall or winter camping, everybody's always looking for a place to sit down, put their little gloves on a little log and sit on it, try not to get their bum wet.

Well, I don't have to look for any place.

I can just sit down wherever I want.

Simple and silly but it sure is effective.

(metal clacking) (metal thudding) (upbeat music) (metal scraping) All right.

(ice shattering) Okay, so this is charred cloth, and all I have to do is try to get a spark to land right onto it, and with any luck, fire will follow.

- Oh man.

Have my energy ever drained.

It's just hard to put one foot in front of the other right now.

This is not easy weather.

Just keep your lenses clean.

I think rather than put the energy into building a big shelter, I'm gonna put the energy into gathering a big whack of firewood.

Dinner.

Directly inspired by his own survival expeditions, journeys and challenges.

World renowned survival instructor Les Stroud brings you survive, essential skills and tactics to get you out of anywhere alive.

Available for 19.99.

In addition, the book will to live Dispatches from the Edge of Survival is available, featuring Les Stroud's own top ten survival stories of all time.

21.99.

To order, please go to lesstroud.ca, and click on shop