I love how he's such a rugged man talking about extreme wilderness survival and his experiences in the wild but his face lights up the most every time he talks about Lemmings
"you only feel tremendously alone when you feel you need someone's help" God that applies both there in the Arctic and in everyday life it feels like lol
I felt like I wouldn’t survive the one time I got stuck in the trees when snowboarding, and I was on a busy mountain 😂 (to be fair, I got stuck face down, downhill, between two trees, my snowboard hooked around both trees 🙃)
Love how Mark isn't afraid to tell us about his vulnerabilities and his emotions. The third man story really got to me, as well as the pure psychological horror of total isolation. Glad he's willing to tell some of his stories and share his experiences.
Bears rarely attack humans. Seems we don’t taste as good as seals. But they are very curious to check out weird animals going by. Further south it’s starting to get more problematic because the ice is melting too early, and hungry bears end up on land near settlements, with no seals to distract them.
I worked in Inuvik NWT in the late 90’s and it was an incredible experience. December is total darkness and the in the summer you get almost 3 months of sunshine. The most amazing thing is that Inuit people have not only lived in the high arctic for thousands of years, they thrived there . One of the most interesting conversations I ever had was with an Inuit elder who explained that if you fought the weather you would surely die, but if you learned to live with it, it would help you live . I’ve never met anyone more in tuned to the environment than Inuit people .
Why? Bears rarely attack humans, the animal you should really fear is the domestic dog. They kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Any animal can attack at the drop of the hat, you should have a healthy amount of fear and respect for all animals whether they are wild or domestic or whether they are predators or herbivores. Dont forget the most dangerous animal in the world is a hippo not a bear.
@@jackwhitbread4583 You should absolutely have a healthy amount of respect for all animals. Testing the patience of a mother bear or a mother cow is equally idiotic in many circumstances. However, polar bears are amongst the few animals to actively hunt people as a species, not just some random individual bears. If you see a polar bear it knew where you were by it's sense of smell far before it saw you. It choose to come to you and in a world of food scarcity and limited opportunity you can bet they are not coming to you out of sheer curiousity other than hoping you're their next meal.
Alaskan here, in Fairbanks. Regarding that -40 comment, that's not something I will ever choose to endure. -30 is one thing (it's *COLD* but with enough layers you're fine), but -40 cuts through all of your clothes. It's as if you aren't wearing a coat at all. Heaven forbid your glove falls off; you'll never get that thing warm before your fingers freeze. It's just bonkers. Fortunately we're hovering at 9F (-13C) this Christmas :) That's warm enough to take the trash out without putting a coat on. Briefly.
Yeah.. I’ve experienced -40 both here in Norway and in Minnesota in 2013/14. The literal pain of just taking a breath of air is something I’ve never really been able to convey.. At least for me, I end up breathing in a slow, strange way, just to be able to take a breath without freezing my lungs…
i'm over in Sweden, and during a stint way up in the northernest parts we had a cold snap down to -38c. was a very uncomfortable experience to do laundry in, tell you that. carrying a wet bunch of clothes, even just a minute outside (laundry room was a bit away), felt like it was about to freeze to my arms forever. never felt a more lovely dichotomy between freezing cold and a warm shower before that, though.
I was deeply touched by the story of someone helping you keep going. I won’t go into detail, but at a time when I was near death, I felt my father’s hand cup the top of my head, which he always did when I was ill. I knew I would live and stopped worrying about my kids. I do not care if it was real; it remains a powerful experience and one of the most important moments of my life. Thank you.
“Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?” “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
@@JustinPuyearironically, paleontologists discovered Utahraptor at the same time as the first film was being made. Spielberg thought it was cool, but the name wasn’t as scary so he kept using velociraptor.
I'm gobsmacked that ANYONE could do what he's done and go back for more. As I watch this in a warm and comfortable place with others nearby (though circumstances have derailed me temporarily), I feel immensely lucky to be in civilization. I wouldn't last three minutes anywhere as unpeopled as even a rural area, let alone one of the Poles of the Earth.
Great guy, genuine, knowledgeable, and humble. I guess that's what you become after years of experience in such a harsh environment for extended periods of time. Thank you Mark for sharing that with the world
Whats more disturbing to me is that big herbivores like Gorillas and Hippos have a bite force that far exceeds that of the biggest and most ferocious bear!! They're are capable of easily ripping humans apart and the hippo often does, luckily the gorilla is much more docile and as long as you don't make direct eye contact they won't attack or feel like you are challenging their dominance. It's not just predators you should fear, you should fear all wild animals.
@@jackwhitbread4583I’ve literally been stalked by an angry deer. Peaceful, harmless, cute, female white-tailed deer. She was probably sick or injured. But yeah, any wild animal is wild and therefore requires wariness.
The Arctic's easy to get to, take a vacation to Tromso, they have a McDonalds. More seriously if you're interested in the early ship-based pioneers the Fram museum in Oslo is the best museum I've ever visited.
When we parachuted into the Arctic we had to carry .50 cal sniper weapons as polar bear defense. They're the only land animal I'm aware of that actively hunts humans. They're the truest apex predator, they don't recognize anything that moves as a threat. I also got to meet Norman Vaughn in the 90's. He was with Admiral Byrd on the first Antarctic expedition, then Norman went back and climbed the mountain named for him in the 90's.
@@tripsaplenty1227 Tigers who hunt humans are an outlier, They are usually old, have an injury, or were orphaned and not taught how to hunt by their mom. Healthy tigers don't hunt humans, they try to avoid them. A healthy, fully-adapted polar bear will hunt a human. They also are not afraid to enter human areas. For a few years, they were infamous for going down the taxiway in Prudhoe and Utqiagvik *formerly Barrow), smacking the blue taxi lights because it was amusing to them.
8:36 Arctic Hares are not what I would describe as “small” animals. Freakiest thing I saw in the Arctic was these bunnies with blood on their mouths because it turns out they are carnivorous.
And here I thought depictions of carnivorous leporids in media (especially anime like Re:Zero) were exaggerated or even made up to make an easy subversion (i.e., "cute innocent-looking rabbit turns out to be bloodthirsty"). Turns out it is a real thing lol (though not to the extent of eating humans or something)
Arctic hare are actually mainly herbivorous, since a lot of the areas they inhabit do have some amount of vegetation. however, like many herbivores, they are opportunistic carnivorous scavengers. when you need all the food you can get, you can't exactly pass up a freshly shredded caribou.
I hope Mark knows that crying _is_ manly. Expressing your emotions and working through them is manly. Back in the day the men considered the manliest often cried as an expession of powerful emotion. Also if he's too tired to deal with someone mocking him for having a teddy bear I'll happily give 'em a smack for him. I'm tough but the cold cuts me down instantly, camping in just at freezing weather and slightly below was really rough. Even with the right gear I don't think I could handle it.
@@Dave-cw2mj in most situations, being emotional doesn’t do any good. Stoicism has traditionally been considered manly because especially in a survival situation, the ability to put aside your own emotions to get jobs was a sacrifice men had to make to ensure survival. The ability to hold in emotions is a universally admirable trait which is why even today there are Amazonian tribesmen that subject themselves to bullet ant bites without showing emotion to prove they can overcome hardships to become a man. It’s only in modern western society with all the comforts/conveniences that we’ve allowed people to be emotional while moving the goalposts of what it means to be manly.
@@ingetout see but that’s different. Yeah you should stay calm and level headed in emergency situations but we live in a society now that doesn’t really call for genuine survival and pushing down your emotions indefinitely, just creates angry people who hurt others. Our ability to hold onto things is very toxic to us so we have to purge
The coldest I've ever experienced, and briefly, is -28° or -29° (F) two or three times in South Dakota (not factoring the wind). Is very painful and daunting. What this guy does is simply astounding.
I'm by no means an expert, but I've never heard of polar explorers eating straight lard. I have, however, heard about them having pemmican, a Native American survival food made of dried meat ground into a powder and mixed with tallow, sometimes with other ingredients like dried berries added. After the tallow hardens, you get this dense brick of protein and fat that practically doesn't spoil because there's little or no moisture in it and the hard tallow doesn't let any air in. After the Europeans arrived in the Americas, pemmican was one of the things they traded with the natives for, but eventually they started making it industrially in factories, which is how we get to polar explorers carrying large bricks of pemmican with them to feed themselves and their sled dogs.
24:40 -- THISSSS. SOOO many people don't get this. It might seem counterintuitive, but literally getting down to your underwear inside a sleeping bag will make you SO much warmer than trying to wear a big coat and all your clothing on while inside it
Hmmm thinking about the whole "you don't want to sweat in the arctic" didn't think I'd survive. I sweat easily and if I'm bundled up. I would only imagine sweating even more lol
Thing is, you WILL sweat. You're exerting yourself heavily trudging through snow all day. But with proper layering of your clothes, sweat isn't an issue. It only becomes an issue if you end up exposed while sweating, as the sweat can freeze almost instantly.
@@CarolRadsprecherthey do not commit suicide!! That much I know. They were forced into it by grimy directors and its been a many-decades-long myth at this point lol
@shiivainu9442 Thank you! I knew that the lemming mass suicide was a myth, but I had no idea about the directors making them do that. Disgusting. I doubt that any species of animals commits mass suicide -- other than humans, of course.
Yo everyone knows the pleasures of drawing with pee in snow. #2 you just pop a squat wherever. You’re leaving little nuggets of food for the local animals ☺️
I was a musher in Colorado and I strongly recommend people experience a dogsled tour at least once. I did it for seven years and every single time I got runners on snow I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for it. Pure zen.
Dude... you are an absolute legend. We've heard the uptick in polar bear attacks leading to death in the news (even though most of us will never experience something so terrifying), and I can't help but be curious. I've been going down that rabbit hole lately because I'm morbidly curious. Much respect to you 👏
I'm also 58, like Mark, and ever since I was a little boy I've never understood why people would subject themselves to such insane conditions. Humanity has worked for millennia so we no longer have to endure that stuff! We have warm buildings and vehicles. We have hospitals with professionals to take care of our wounded feet. We have communities that are generally free of hungry apex predators. Talking to those we love is a joy, not something to be avoided. Some people don't have much choice. Seeing a homeless person without a -40 sleeping bag curled up in a doorway or sleeping under a bridge in the middle of a Minneapolis winter breaks my heart. Now that's what loneliness looks like to me.
Food for thought for the next time when you want to complain about your office job or zoom meeting. One can clearly see that Mark has the personality for this job.
Been up there on a large vessel. It's so, no pun intended, cool. Super dry. Polar bears can't get onto the ship luckily and make for some great photo opportunities. I couldn't imagine trekking up to the pole.
I had the crazy privilege of spending some time up in the Arctic last winter, it was hands down both figuratively and literally the coolest thing I’ll ever experience. It is the most magical, peaceful and unforgiving place on earth; my mind and soul had never felt so still until those mf’ing winds started up lol. Even my short-lived and relatively controlled time in the wilderness for all it was beautiful and a lot of fun was very challenging… to deal with those extreme conditions ongoing for such amounts of time without the promise of a cosy cabin at day’s end would take the steeliest of balls. Mark is made of pure badassery 🤩 Thank you for this (and for showing the lemmings some love :))
Good grief, I thought I was a contented loner until I watched this.The physical endurance and survival skills are impressive, but things quite a few people could master. The mental fortitude to do it alone, however, has to be as rare as hen's teeth or vegan polar bears. Fascinating guy living an extraordinary life.
Was in -50C once. To be honest, it was so shocking, I can't do it justice. I don't think it felt colder pain wise anymore than -30C, but the effects on your immediate senses, all of them felt like, you didn't really have any.
Ha! I was right!! I just grabbed a dictionary and looked at the definition of the word "Man", Sure enough, there's an arrow to a pic of Mark Wood. This guy is awesome.
It's rather weird to distinguish Scott when Roald Amundsen was a much more accomplished explorer and leader: he beat Scott to the South Pole and (unlike Scott) took good care of his team-mates.
Decent mini-series too, really neat usage of film tricks to convey atmosphere (dutch angles, etc). It's too bad they had to add the "supernatural" element instead of just leaving it as a psychological horror (which it 1000% nailed, no monsters required)
I find it really sad that he thinks, along with a lot of others, that he's an adult male so he can't cry or like a cute little fluffy animal 😢 What a fascinating guy! This was really cool, thanks for the upload!
The RRS Discovery in my hometown of Dundee did a lot of firsts in the arctic exploration and it always makes me feel good to ramble about it. (History nerd moment)
He is amazing. I started this video thinking that I’d hear how deranged he is lol! He has an incredible spirit - and I have a new viewpoint. I’m 22 minutes in and hope we find out what led him into Arctic exploration.
JUST read The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and it fits with this episode so well!! John Franklin and the Northwest Passage is tragically morbid. Love this series 🙌
The person who selects the people for these videos.. give them a raise. They always pick the best people!
I love how he's such a rugged man talking about extreme wilderness survival and his experiences in the wild but his face lights up the most every time he talks about Lemmings
nobody is immune to a tiny adorable fluff ball
"you only feel tremendously alone when you feel you need someone's help"
God that applies both there in the Arctic and in everyday life it feels like lol
exactly. extremely poignant observation on human nature and loneliness.
As an adamant independent I felt really special to be attended by my nephew to be sure I wouldn't fall on the wet ground on the way to my car.
@@bcaye ❤
I’m 90% sure Mark is just trying to politely tell us we wouldn’t survive a day up there.
I mean to be fair, why would anyone want to go there unless they had to for science etc? 😂
Pretty sure he's right.
I don't need an expert to tell me that 😅
I felt like I wouldn’t survive the one time I got stuck in the trees when snowboarding, and I was on a busy mountain 😂 (to be fair, I got stuck face down, downhill, between two trees, my snowboard hooked around both trees 🙃)
Unless you were born in Canada or Russia. -40 isn't cold, it's Tuesday. 😂
Love how Mark isn't afraid to tell us about his vulnerabilities and his emotions. The third man story really got to me, as well as the pure psychological horror of total isolation. Glad he's willing to tell some of his stories and share his experiences.
That polar bear video is absolutely terrifying. They are relentless animals, and I am very surprised he survived. Lucky guy.
Bears rarely attack humans. Seems we don’t taste as good as seals. But they are very curious to check out weird animals going by.
Further south it’s starting to get more problematic because the ice is melting too early, and hungry bears end up on land near settlements, with no seals to distract them.
I assume it wasn't hungry and just inquisitive instead
@@benoithudson7235 Polar bears look at us as potential lunch, where something like a black bear does not.
@cruisinguy6024 Yeah, it's behaviour read as curious rather than aggressive to me. But still an extremely dangerous encounter none the less.
I want to cuddle him 😂😂
I worked in Inuvik NWT in the late 90’s and it was an incredible experience. December is total darkness and the in the summer you get almost 3 months of sunshine. The most amazing thing is that Inuit people have not only lived in the high arctic for thousands of years, they thrived there . One of the most interesting conversations I ever had was with an Inuit elder who explained that if you fought the weather you would surely die, but if you learned to live with it, it would help you live . I’ve never met anyone more in tuned to the environment than Inuit people .
This is one of my favorites in the series, so far. What a cool guy. I have a whole new respect for a profession I didn't even think about before.
2 minutes in and I'm already so captivated
indeed one of the best i have seen
Literally cool...
@@GeraldDeBelen omg hahaha
Mark Wood came to our Primary School. My 2nd year teaching and he gave the BEST assembly. The entire school were enraptured!!!😊
Got to love these "support" videos. They always pick the best people
Yes. I seem to enjoy watching people talk about things they are experts at
@@TonyTylerDrawslol yes
They really do!
"well I've come face to face with a polar bear" and being actually ALIVE to talk about it must be the most badass thing I've seen
Why? Bears rarely attack humans, the animal you should really fear is the domestic dog. They kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Any animal can attack at the drop of the hat, you should have a healthy amount of fear and respect for all animals whether they are wild or domestic or whether they are predators or herbivores. Dont forget the most dangerous animal in the world is a hippo not a bear.
@@jackwhitbread4583The thing is, polar bears actively hunt for humans. They see humans as a food source.
Other bears don’t.
@AkaneTendo yup, they live in an article wasteland any meal they come across is probably the best meal they've seen all day
Someone never heard of Brian Blessed bonking a polar bear on the nose.
@@jackwhitbread4583 You should absolutely have a healthy amount of respect for all animals. Testing the patience of a mother bear or a mother cow is equally idiotic in many circumstances.
However, polar bears are amongst the few animals to actively hunt people as a species, not just some random individual bears. If you see a polar bear it knew where you were by it's sense of smell far before it saw you. It choose to come to you and in a world of food scarcity and limited opportunity you can bet they are not coming to you out of sheer curiousity other than hoping you're their next meal.
Alaskan here, in Fairbanks. Regarding that -40 comment, that's not something I will ever choose to endure. -30 is one thing (it's *COLD* but with enough layers you're fine), but -40 cuts through all of your clothes. It's as if you aren't wearing a coat at all. Heaven forbid your glove falls off; you'll never get that thing warm before your fingers freeze. It's just bonkers.
Fortunately we're hovering at 9F (-13C) this Christmas :) That's warm enough to take the trash out without putting a coat on. Briefly.
I love it. Man I can’t wait to live there, one day.
Yeah.. I’ve experienced -40 both here in Norway and in Minnesota in 2013/14.
The literal pain of just taking a breath of air is something I’ve never really been able to convey..
At least for me, I end up breathing in a slow, strange way, just to be able to take a breath without freezing my lungs…
@@JFlatby that’s wild!!!
i'm over in Sweden, and during a stint way up in the northernest parts we had a cold snap down to -38c. was a very uncomfortable experience to do laundry in, tell you that. carrying a wet bunch of clothes, even just a minute outside (laundry room was a bit away), felt like it was about to freeze to my arms forever. never felt a more lovely dichotomy between freezing cold and a warm shower before that, though.
If -13°C in Alaska late December isn't a sign that global warming is real then idk what is
I was deeply touched by the story of someone helping you keep going. I won’t go into detail, but at a time when I was near death, I felt my father’s hand cup the top of my head, which he always did when I was ill. I knew I would live and stopped worrying about my kids. I do not care if it was real; it remains a powerful experience and one of the most important moments of my life. Thank you.
“Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?” “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
@Thank you. My father would have agreed with you.
Mark has such a calm demeanor, imagine that helps a lot with getting through those extreme ordeals
I like how he carries a polar bear claw like Dr Grant carried a velociraptor claw in Jurassic Park
Exactly what I thought when he said that!
Jurassic park is unrealistic af 😂 Velociraptors were only about a foot and a half tall
@@JustinPuyearironically, paleontologists discovered Utahraptor at the same time as the first film was being made. Spielberg thought it was cool, but the name wasn’t as scary so he kept using velociraptor.
I'm gobsmacked that ANYONE could do what he's done and go back for more. As I watch this in a warm and comfortable place with others nearby (though circumstances have derailed me temporarily), I feel immensely lucky to be in civilization. I wouldn't last three minutes anywhere as unpeopled as even a rural area, let alone one of the Poles of the Earth.
His reasoning for not keeping in contact with friends and family during extreme expeditions was really interesting! Gotta be mentally tough.
He phoned his mate after losing his music fella
@@jameslindley1564 Emotional problems require emotional solutions.
Only after his spirit had broken@@jameslindley1564
Me: *lives in Argentina, where there are no bears at all, let alone polar bears.
Also me: *takes notes on how to survive a polar bear attack.
Al menos somos muy cercanos a la antártica
You just never know.
Maybe one day you'll leave Argentina and go to Russia where you find lots of polar bears
Polar bears are planning an invasion of argentina through Antarctic ocean.
If it's black, fight back, if it's brown, lay down, if it's white, say goodnight.
Man, Mark is a terrific speaker of his profession, I can imagine how phenomenal it would be to be trained by him to be a Arctic explorer.
I don't know where you found this fella, but I'm ready to read his book. Great video.
Great guy, genuine, knowledgeable, and humble. I guess that's what you become after years of experience in such a harsh environment for extended periods of time. Thank you Mark for sharing that with the world
thank you
The eating the skin joke at 12:16 is bonkers 🤣
no
@RayFelix-it9gq who hurt u
@RayFelix-it9gq Quiet Felix
@RayFelix-it9gqYes
@RayFelix-it9gq yes
Was not expecting to enjoy this video so much! What a warm genuine person with something to teach us all.
So glad that he gave the recognition to Tom Crean. His story is truly remarkable and took part in one of the greatest of all survival stories.
As a scandiphile, I am a little salty that he seemingly only mentioned brits.
It's disturbing that polar bears look really cute. It's like nature has a dark sense of humor. 😂
Whats more disturbing to me is that big herbivores like Gorillas and Hippos have a bite force that far exceeds that of the biggest and most ferocious bear!! They're are capable of easily ripping humans apart and the hippo often does, luckily the gorilla is much more docile and as long as you don't make direct eye contact they won't attack or feel like you are challenging their dominance. It's not just predators you should fear, you should fear all wild animals.
That's because they're distantly related to dogs and our human brains have evolved to see dogs as cute lol
They're cute because they have to be attractive in order to seduce and mate for reproduction. Or maybe it's because cute is the perfect camouflage
@@JohnathanJWellsoh yeah, doggos are just little bears, and bears are just badass doggos. It is known
@@jackwhitbread4583I’ve literally been stalked by an angry deer. Peaceful, harmless, cute, female white-tailed deer. She was probably sick or injured. But yeah, any wild animal is wild and therefore requires wariness.
Love the variety of topics on this channel
Makes the winter camping we did in the lower part of Ontario seem like a happy little time in the bush.
Ok, Mark, you've inspired in me admiration and respect but absolutely no desire to venture to either pole. ❄
The Arctic's easy to get to, take a vacation to Tromso, they have a McDonalds. More seriously if you're interested in the early ship-based pioneers the Fram museum in Oslo is the best museum I've ever visited.
You are an inspiration. Tough enough to face a polar bear and tough enough to be vulnerable. You are incredible.
How neat! I was not aware that there were five North Poles!
You and I both had the idea there were 5 North Poles
Same
When we parachuted into the Arctic we had to carry .50 cal sniper weapons as polar bear defense. They're the only land animal I'm aware of that actively hunts humans. They're the truest apex predator, they don't recognize anything that moves as a threat.
I also got to meet Norman Vaughn in the 90's. He was with Admiral Byrd on the first Antarctic expedition, then Norman went back and climbed the mountain named for him in the 90's.
Tigers hunt humans.
@@tripsaplenty1227 Tigers who hunt humans are an outlier, They are usually old, have an injury, or were orphaned and not taught how to hunt by their mom. Healthy tigers don't hunt humans, they try to avoid them.
A healthy, fully-adapted polar bear will hunt a human. They also are not afraid to enter human areas. For a few years, they were infamous for going down the taxiway in Prudhoe and Utqiagvik *formerly Barrow), smacking the blue taxi lights because it was amusing to them.
So happy to see Tom Crean getting the respect and attention he deserves!!
Love this series, y’all haven’t dropped a bad one yet
These tech support videos are much appreciated, Wired
What an absolute legend, I don't usually watch these all the way through but this was fascinating and personable
8:36 Arctic Hares are not what I would describe as “small” animals. Freakiest thing I saw in the Arctic was these bunnies with blood on their mouths because it turns out they are carnivorous.
"Tha's no ordinary rabbit"
Whats he gonna do, nibble my bum @@wraithcadmus
Well what else they gonna eat? Snow? Ice plants?
And here I thought depictions of carnivorous leporids in media (especially anime like Re:Zero) were exaggerated or even made up to make an easy subversion (i.e., "cute innocent-looking rabbit turns out to be bloodthirsty").
Turns out it is a real thing lol (though not to the extent of eating humans or something)
Arctic hare are actually mainly herbivorous, since a lot of the areas they inhabit do have some amount of vegetation. however, like many herbivores, they are opportunistic carnivorous scavengers. when you need all the food you can get, you can't exactly pass up a freshly shredded caribou.
I hope Mark knows that crying _is_ manly. Expressing your emotions and working through them is manly. Back in the day the men considered the manliest often cried as an expession of powerful emotion. Also if he's too tired to deal with someone mocking him for having a teddy bear I'll happily give 'em a smack for him.
I'm tough but the cold cuts me down instantly, camping in just at freezing weather and slightly below was really rough. Even with the right gear I don't think I could handle it.
A lot of men nowadays genuinely believe emotion is weakness, and it's sad.
@@Dave-cw2mj in most situations, being emotional doesn’t do any good. Stoicism has traditionally been considered manly because especially in a survival situation, the ability to put aside your own emotions to get jobs was a sacrifice men had to make to ensure survival. The ability to hold in emotions is a universally admirable trait which is why even today there are Amazonian tribesmen that subject themselves to bullet ant bites without showing emotion to prove they can overcome hardships to become a man. It’s only in modern western society with all the comforts/conveniences that we’ve allowed people to be emotional while moving the goalposts of what it means to be manly.
@@ingetoutit’s okay to have a little cry friend
@@ingetout see but that’s different. Yeah you should stay calm and level headed in emergency situations but we live in a society now that doesn’t really call for genuine survival and pushing down your emotions indefinitely, just creates angry people who hurt others. Our ability to hold onto things is very toxic to us so we have to purge
🌈
will never understand people who can be up there. willingly. props to you
He put me on my feet, but didn't make me move my feet. What a great friend.
The coldest I've ever experienced, and briefly, is -28° or -29° (F) two or three times in South Dakota (not factoring the wind). Is very painful and daunting. What this guy does is simply astounding.
As someone who lives in a city where the winter temperatures often dip below 30, I had to giggle a little. It's not THAT painful. 😂
I'm by no means an expert, but I've never heard of polar explorers eating straight lard. I have, however, heard about them having pemmican, a Native American survival food made of dried meat ground into a powder and mixed with tallow, sometimes with other ingredients like dried berries added. After the tallow hardens, you get this dense brick of protein and fat that practically doesn't spoil because there's little or no moisture in it and the hard tallow doesn't let any air in. After the Europeans arrived in the Americas, pemmican was one of the things they traded with the natives for, but eventually they started making it industrially in factories, which is how we get to polar explorers carrying large bricks of pemmican with them to feed themselves and their sled dogs.
I know the Inuit eat straight lard.
24:40 -- THISSSS. SOOO many people don't get this. It might seem counterintuitive, but literally getting down to your underwear inside a sleeping bag will make you SO much warmer than trying to wear a big coat and all your clothing on while inside it
Hmmm thinking about the whole "you don't want to sweat in the arctic" didn't think I'd survive. I sweat easily and if I'm bundled up. I would only imagine sweating even more lol
Thing is, you WILL sweat. You're exerting yourself heavily trudging through snow all day. But with proper layering of your clothes, sweat isn't an issue. It only becomes an issue if you end up exposed while sweating, as the sweat can freeze almost instantly.
Yeah it can be a pain, I've been frozen into a balaclava before after several hours on a snowmobile
This man has the best stories! Respect.
Just seeing Tom with a armful of winter puppies I already knew he was the leading force of those expeditions.
I would be happy to give this dude my orange iPod, so his expedition goes better next time.
Our man here sure love lemmings
For good reason! Not that I know anything about lemmings. 😅
@@CarolRadsprecherthey do not commit suicide!! That much I know. They were forced into it by grimy directors and its been a many-decades-long myth at this point lol
@shiivainu9442 Thank you! I knew that the lemming mass suicide was a myth, but I had no idea about the directors making them do that. Disgusting. I doubt that any species of animals commits mass suicide -- other than humans, of course.
I bet that lemming went back to his little lemming town and told them what he saw and nobody believed him.
"They're Titans! You have to believe me!"
Lemming was all 'no sh!t there I was'
That is an adorable thought
He's like that messenger who ran to Marathon all in one go with an important message. "Guys, they're back! The prophecy is true!"
As an Irish person, thank you for mentioning Tom Crean!
What an amazing man! Thank you as always, Wired!
Why does this interview bring tears to my eyes.
Please have him on again and again and again
"Dogs aren't allowed in Antarctica anymore"
Yeah having watched The Thing, I think that's probably for the best
One day that iPod will get found and confuse the heck out of someone.
You're telling me nobody thought to ask how do you go #1 and #2 while exploring the artic? Come on people!
They go in bags and carry it back with them so as not to spoil the environment, also pooping and peeing in the Arctic would attract Polar Bears.
So glad I'm not the only one who was waiting for that question!
Yo everyone knows the pleasures of drawing with pee in snow. #2 you just pop a squat wherever. You’re leaving little nuggets of food for the local animals ☺️
I was a musher in Colorado and I strongly recommend people experience a dogsled tour at least once. I did it for seven years and every single time I got runners on snow I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for it. Pure zen.
Dude... you are an absolute legend. We've heard the uptick in polar bear attacks leading to death in the news (even though most of us will never experience something so terrifying), and I can't help but be curious. I've been going down that rabbit hole lately because I'm morbidly curious. Much respect to you 👏
I'm also 58, like Mark, and ever since I was a little boy I've never understood why people would subject themselves to such insane conditions. Humanity has worked for millennia so we no longer have to endure that stuff! We have warm buildings and vehicles. We have hospitals with professionals to take care of our wounded feet. We have communities that are generally free of hungry apex predators. Talking to those we love is a joy, not something to be avoided.
Some people don't have much choice. Seeing a homeless person without a -40 sleeping bag curled up in a doorway or sleeping under a bridge in the middle of a Minneapolis winter breaks my heart. Now that's what loneliness looks like to me.
Food for thought for the next time when you want to complain about your office job or zoom meeting. One can clearly see that Mark has the personality for this job.
-40.... +10 is already the point where I say it could really get warmer now. Huge respect for people like him :D
That Third Man bit was absolutelly astonishing. 😮
Been up there on a large vessel. It's so, no pun intended, cool. Super dry. Polar bears can't get onto the ship luckily and make for some great photo opportunities. I couldn't imagine trekking up to the pole.
I had the crazy privilege of spending some time up in the Arctic last winter, it was hands down both figuratively and literally the coolest thing I’ll ever experience. It is the most magical, peaceful and unforgiving place on earth; my mind and soul had never felt so still until those mf’ing winds started up lol. Even my short-lived and relatively controlled time in the wilderness for all it was beautiful and a lot of fun was very challenging… to deal with those extreme conditions ongoing for such amounts of time without the promise of a cosy cabin at day’s end would take the steeliest of balls. Mark is made of pure badassery 🤩
Thank you for this (and for showing the lemmings some love :))
love the guys who brings illustrations during meetings
1:13 not the polar bear getting on the 0.5 camera trend
I could **hear** that bear sniff the camera in my head.
I watch a lot of these. This is one of the best!
If there was a Tropical Beach Expedition, I'd be the first to volunteer😊
Death blinked in his face, but he stood firm. That must've been a moment.
Considering a tent is an unnatural presence in the wilderness, that lemming was a little explorer himself 😆😆
The producers sigh of relief when he clarified he didn’t eat the foot skin😭
I think that’s the first time I’ve heard the producers actually spontaneously REACT to anything an expert have said.
the polar bear is adorable. wild it can rip you to shreds in an instant
Good grief, I thought I was a contented loner until I watched this.The physical endurance and survival skills are impressive, but things quite a few people could master. The mental fortitude to do it alone, however, has to be as rare as hen's teeth or vegan polar bears. Fascinating guy living an extraordinary life.
one of my favorite support videos I’ve seen!
6:50 - Ha, Al Lowe - if you don't know, he made up the character "Leisure Suit Larry" and worked with Sierra way back then :)
Was in -50C once. To be honest, it was so shocking, I can't do it justice. I don't think it felt colder pain wise anymore than -30C, but the effects on your immediate senses, all of them felt like, you didn't really have any.
Well he was quite adorable. I needed inspo to brave the nyc waterfront cold weather to go to the store
As someone who used to live up there... there's a reason people are paid insane money to do pretty mundane jobs.... it's a hard place
6:50 - Hey, that's the Al Lowe who created the Leisure Suit Larry games! Definitely wasn't expecting that 😀
Ha! I was right!! I just grabbed a dictionary and looked at the definition of the word "Man", Sure enough, there's an arrow to a pic of Mark Wood. This guy is awesome.
I love this video, the dudes been through a lot.
It's rather weird to distinguish Scott when Roald Amundsen was a much more accomplished explorer and leader: he beat Scott to the South Pole and (unlike Scott) took good care of his team-mates.
Dan Simmons - The Terror. Fantastic story about Franklin and company.
Decent mini-series too, really neat usage of film tricks to convey atmosphere (dutch angles, etc). It's too bad they had to add the "supernatural" element instead of just leaving it as a psychological horror (which it 1000% nailed, no monsters required)
1:31 I was not ready. Amazing, but not ready.
I find it really sad that he thinks, along with a lot of others, that he's an adult male so he can't cry or like a cute little fluffy animal 😢
What a fascinating guy! This was really cool, thanks for the upload!
The RRS Discovery in my hometown of Dundee did a lot of firsts in the arctic exploration and it always makes me feel good to ramble about it. (History nerd moment)
He is amazing. I started this video thinking that I’d hear how deranged he is lol! He has an incredible spirit - and I have a new viewpoint. I’m 22 minutes in and hope we find out what led him into Arctic exploration.
“Youve occasionally made me smile as well” 😄
"The ice that is used has very little water content." 😳
I watched this entire video. Very interesting, if not also amusing.
I will never understand why there is no HUGE movie about the race to the poles
The rule I know is that if you can see the polar bear it's already too late.
This was the best one. Mark you’re the man!
This is unbelieavable. I can't even fathom.
The first to teach me something new today, thank u
Beautifully dodging the 'Alone' question there 😂
JUST read The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and it fits with this episode so well!! John Franklin and the Northwest Passage is tragically morbid.
Love this series 🙌
A polar bear's head is about the length of a full grown man's torso. They could absolutely take a human.
Utterly unexpectedly fascinating!
What an incredible being. Thank you so much for this
Loved this one as I always love the ____ support ones. Thanks Wired!