Saturday

The Sonora Desert in the south western United States covers an area of approximately 120,000 square miles. It is an arid, seemingly barren environment with scorching daytime highs and freezing overnight lows. Riding a dirt bike out into the official middle of nowhere, Les simulates a break-down scenario. He empties out the contents of his pack; half a gallon of water, a snack bar and his multi-tool, is all he has with him for the next 7 days.

The Boreal Forest of Northern Canada is a vast tract of wilderness stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. It is home to 85 species of mammals including; moose, deer, bear and wolves. Crisscrossed by rivers and lakes, the Boreal forest is frost-free for only about three months of the year. Les intentionally tips his canoe in mid-stream and crawls from the icy waters onto shore where he does a quick inventory of his supplies. A handful of cashews, beef jerky, a solitary match, multi-tool and 50 lbs of camera equipment to document the next seven days in the bush.

Pond Inlet, on the northern reaches of Baffin Island provides one of the most challenging landscapes our planet has to offer. Over 700 km north of the Arctic Circle, it sits amidst grinding, ever-shifting flows of sea ice where polar bears roam in search of fresh meat. In this severe climate, Les has been equipped with a bare minimum of raw materials to aid him for the next 7 days; a hunk of uncooked seal liver, some oil-rich blubber for heat, a seal hook, three matches, and a knife.

This episode sees Les air dropped onto a snow covered peak in the Canadian Rockies, courtesy of the Canadian Mountain Air Rescue Service. They’ll come looking for him in seven days. Until then, Les is entirely on his own; save for the grizzlies, cougars and wolves that also call this place home. To emulate a real life survival scenario, in this case a heli-hiking expedition gone wrong, Les has with him only a few readily salvageable items, among them a broken camcorder and tripod. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!