My Kind Of TV
For your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd pass along some info about a couple of new TV shows on the Discovery Channel. You'll either Really like them or Really won't. That's ok. I won't take it personally.
Man vs Wild (Fri. 9pm E/P)
In this show, a man is dropped into dangerous situations and while using his survival skills, teaches the audience how to get out of these challenging dilemmas alive.
The premier show dropped our survivalist into the desert at Moab, Utah. His goal was to survive the 110 degree heat, and most importantly, make his way to safety. He traveled through the desert, displaying some impressive climbing skills while navigating a quintessential sandstone slot canyon. He showed us how to find food, get out of quick sand, find a clean water source and swim a river with a strong current.
Overall, I thought the show was pretty interesting. I'm always interested in learning new skills, especially if they can save my life.
I Shouldn't Be Alive (Fri 10pm)
This show is on immediately after Man vs Wild, and aside from the corny title, the first episode turned out to be a pretty interesting story. This week's drama retold the story of two brothers out for a hike, again in the Utah desert, in the Brrr of November. The hike was of a pretty high difficulty level in that rock climbing and repelling was required to get through the slot canyons.
Of course, it wouldn't be a story had they not fallen into a pool of freezing water with one of the brothers severely breaking his leg. Bro #2 hikes through the freezing temperatures to find help, and it seems that he spends more time swimming than walking. Having missed the route back to his car, it ends up taking him 23 hours to complete what was a 4 mile hike. They do both make it out... and yes, they shouldn't be alive!
Everest - Beyond The Limit (Tue 10pm )
I'm looking forward to the first episode of this show. I've read a lot of books about Everest and mountain climbing, the best being Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Touching The Void by Joe Simpson.
What makes this series interesting is the current ongoing debate about the quality of mountain climbers currently making a bid for the Everest summit. Climbing Everest is akin to running an Ironman... it takes the average person years to be physically prepared to accomplish the task. Unfortunately, there have been recent stories of climbers learning to rappel and ice climb for the first time while climbing the mountain. At a cost of nearly $50,000 per person, we seem to be seeing a trend of the trendy buying their way up the mountain. One in every five climbers have given their lives to the mountain. The cost seems quite high for the reward, especially when so much depends on luck.
The show preview already hints that the Everest exhibition will go terribly wrong, as it shows someone being removed in a stretcher. Aside from the "just gotta look at the car wreck", the program promises to show unbelievable climbing and mountain footage thanks to their three Sherpa-Cams. I'm interested to see if the show addresses the inexperience on the mountain or if it glosses over it.
As you can tell, I have a taste for epic adventure. If nothing else, these shows will keep my mind occupied while I'm on the treadmill!
Man vs Wild (Fri. 9pm E/P)
In this show, a man is dropped into dangerous situations and while using his survival skills, teaches the audience how to get out of these challenging dilemmas alive.
The premier show dropped our survivalist into the desert at Moab, Utah. His goal was to survive the 110 degree heat, and most importantly, make his way to safety. He traveled through the desert, displaying some impressive climbing skills while navigating a quintessential sandstone slot canyon. He showed us how to find food, get out of quick sand, find a clean water source and swim a river with a strong current.
Overall, I thought the show was pretty interesting. I'm always interested in learning new skills, especially if they can save my life.
I Shouldn't Be Alive (Fri 10pm)
This show is on immediately after Man vs Wild, and aside from the corny title, the first episode turned out to be a pretty interesting story. This week's drama retold the story of two brothers out for a hike, again in the Utah desert, in the Brrr of November. The hike was of a pretty high difficulty level in that rock climbing and repelling was required to get through the slot canyons.
Of course, it wouldn't be a story had they not fallen into a pool of freezing water with one of the brothers severely breaking his leg. Bro #2 hikes through the freezing temperatures to find help, and it seems that he spends more time swimming than walking. Having missed the route back to his car, it ends up taking him 23 hours to complete what was a 4 mile hike. They do both make it out... and yes, they shouldn't be alive!
Everest - Beyond The Limit (Tue 10pm )
I'm looking forward to the first episode of this show. I've read a lot of books about Everest and mountain climbing, the best being Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Touching The Void by Joe Simpson.
What makes this series interesting is the current ongoing debate about the quality of mountain climbers currently making a bid for the Everest summit. Climbing Everest is akin to running an Ironman... it takes the average person years to be physically prepared to accomplish the task. Unfortunately, there have been recent stories of climbers learning to rappel and ice climb for the first time while climbing the mountain. At a cost of nearly $50,000 per person, we seem to be seeing a trend of the trendy buying their way up the mountain. One in every five climbers have given their lives to the mountain. The cost seems quite high for the reward, especially when so much depends on luck.
The show preview already hints that the Everest exhibition will go terribly wrong, as it shows someone being removed in a stretcher. Aside from the "just gotta look at the car wreck", the program promises to show unbelievable climbing and mountain footage thanks to their three Sherpa-Cams. I'm interested to see if the show addresses the inexperience on the mountain or if it glosses over it.
As you can tell, I have a taste for epic adventure. If nothing else, these shows will keep my mind occupied while I'm on the treadmill!
posted by Barb at 9:38 PM
2 Comments:
Although these feats are amazing, I often wonder where the line between admirable and insane lies. Where will it stop? We all want to test our boundaries and human limits. At the same time, to do something just to see if you can "survive" it seems kind of stupid to me. But then...so does doing an Ironman. And I want to do one. So maybe I'm not one to talk.
It's only been one episode of each but I'm already addicted to Everest and Man vs Wild. I've been waiting for weeks - perhaps even months - for these two shows to premiere and they haven't let me down.
Of course, the people in the shows are crazy, masochistic, maniacal fools.
Now excuse me, while I go for a bike-run-swim.
J.
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