A documentary about survival. Part III - "Interview"

While I was writing a report , I spoke with various people who asked interesting questions. I issued the answers to them in a short interview.

How did you get lost, why?

We got lost on the third day. On this day, as I understood, the transition processes to the “hungry” regime began in the body and I understood very poorly. The crucial point was that in such a semi-branded state I made an important decision about where to go next. And naturally I was mistaken. This could have been avoided in principle, I had already made a similar mistake before, but at that moment this state was especially strong.

When it was all over, assessing what happened with all the consequences, we came to the conclusion that it was good that I was lost. This greatly enriched the internal state of various experiences, plunged me into the expected image. These days I experienced colossal despair in some places, when I fell exhausted in dense thickets, not seeing the sky, and realizing that I was lost. During this period, we shot a good material, probably the best for all survival. Saw amazing views. And most importantly - I got a good lesson and experience in that I need to be very careful when making decisions, especially in moments of distraction and weakness. All repeatedly recheck and evaluate.

What was the route?

We walked about 70 km through the mountains. Half of them are in impassable thickets of slopes. Approximately a quarter of the route lay at an altitude of over 1000 meters. This was the area of ​​the Bakening volcano. Stunning beautiful places with colorful earth, mountain lakes and traces of volcanic activity.

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What did you mainly eat?

He ate mostly blueberries and pine cones. Often starved to eat flowers of Ivan Tea, nettles, unripe rowan. Pine cones baked in the coals - it turned out very tasty. Mushrooms and unfamiliar berries did not eat, he was afraid. There were still some, eat plants, but they seemed so tasteless that I did not eat them.

What survival skills were needed? What were the difficulties?

The most important thing in this survival I had for a long time before it began is moral readiness for such conditions. About half a year in mind were these thoughts, so by the beginning of the process I was incredibly morally strong and ready for such a turn of events.

From what could not have been foreseen, it was difficult to switch between survival and working with the film crew. The greatest volitional and energy costs were in the evenings and nights - when it was necessary to store firewood for the night and at night to maintain a fire. The nights exhausted me most: you fall asleep by the fire, it goes out after an hour, I wake up from the cold, and you need to re-kindle the fire on the remaining coal, which is about 30-40 minutes of work (wood is either raw or just burn for a long time), smoke, and watery eyes the nose is stuffed up and so 4-5 times a night. There was no such firewood to make a long-burning bonfire (Nodju or taiga). In the mornings I was already completely exhausted and slept normally only 2-3 hours after sunrise, when it was already a little warm and you could not follow the fire. Toward the end, I thought about spitting on a bonfire, flopping on the ground under a fallen tree, and stupidly enduring the cold of the night, but I knew that it would take more energy than the struggle for warmth. Yes, and shoes and feet were wet all the time, it was necessary to dry. As a result, I did not spend a single night without a fire. Even in wet weather in a drizzling rain in the forest, surviving near the end, when I had almost no strength left, I made a fire anyway. The fire was bred solely by flint, so the skill of skillful work with him is considered one of the most important in this campaign.

Was it possible to use tactics - to go at night, so as not to freeze, but to have a rest during the day? It is clear that for filming it was not realistic, but in principle.

Not. The landscape is very complicated, high vegetation (sometimes higher than the head), under which stones, sometimes invisible even during the day, overgrown pits, streams and ravine, and in the dummy even during the day you need to strain so as not to break the legs. Even surviving without a film crew, I would not dare to do so in this area.

What was the dwelling built from, where did you have to sleep, were there open nights?

I tried to choose ready-made shelters, such as a thick fallen tree. Sometimes he finished building some semi-finished objects, putting thin branches and covering the top with what was at hand and what was a lot - sedge, hogweed and everything that has bigger leaves. For some time, the weather at night was obvious in the evening, and I slept under the open sky, caring only for flooring. Where the forest allowed - he laid several even long poles up to his full height, somewhere he gathered a lot of dry moss and laid it, sometimes he laid the same sedge.

A place to spend the night is a separate song. Sometimes I was a hostage of time and energy, and I had to spend the night where the night fell. Once I spent the night on a slope of 45-50 degrees in a small part of the forest, I found a small, more or less sloping place there, but still, by the morning I was pretty wrinkled. The hut was built entirely from scratch only once and spent 2 nights in it, it was on the shore of a beautiful lake. There were many other places more sheltered from the wind and comfortable places, but here aesthetics got the better of common sense, by that time I was tired of sleeping in all sorts of dark thicket, I wanted space and beauty.

And after 11 days on vegetative food scarcity and almost without communication, did any changes in the psyche begin?

Radical did not have time to start. I began to saddle and get depressed only in the last few days, but I struggled hard with this and tried my best to cheer myself up. Although the roof started to move a little bit - I began to talk with objects around me - with a forest, with a fire, with a river, with trees, etc. He saved himself by making plans: what would I do first after returning, what would I do later, with whom I would see that I would eat, buy, etc.

Probably the biggest desire was to eat more and sleep in the warmth, and what else did you dream and think about in such conditions?

Oddly enough, but the feeling of hunger rarely bothered me, and I dreamed not about food at all. Sometimes it even scared me and I ate just because I needed something to eat. I want to particularly note this point, because if I became depressed and stopped eating, I could quickly lose strength and die if I was unattended. Therefore, it is very important to work on your mood and make yourself eat. In general, I understood the importance of the activity as such. Even through strength, in exhaustion, one must be forced to do something to provide oneself with comfort, food and warmth. In the activities of salvation. Once you are too lazy to make a warm overnight - you lose a lot of energy during the night, you can’t find food during the day and so you can fall completely without feelings and not get up anymore.

Sleep is yes, and not so much in the warmth, but simply in a row at least 3-4 hours. The evening and night were the most difficult time of the day for me. I constantly woke up from the cold, when the fire went out, and jumped up at every suspicious rustle - bears did.

I also noticed such a moment behind me - I began to think every time about the profitability of my actions. Those. if the action allows me to save or get less energy than I spend on it - then I refused this action. Very carefully and economically consumed energy, for example, if a small effort is not enough to break off a dry branch, then I leave it and no longer make attempts to fight it.

How many days have you been comfortable alone? After so many days of loneliness, did the value system and the general attitude to the environment change?

Loneliness was not complete, I still had to communicate with the crew on technical issues. It was necessary to give interviews and talk about their feelings, plans and actions. When we stayed with director Sergey Tselikov together for 4 days, sharing with the rest of the group - at this time, communication was necessary, not for me, but for cohesive actions. During this period, Sergei actually also survived. So I didn’t have complete immersion in the image, and the value system has not changed much.

Judging by the descriptions, the weather was nasty all the time, do you get used to it in a few days, or, on the contrary, did fatigue of conditions accumulate?

As races with the weather, we were very lucky - the whole week was sunny weather, by Kamchatka standards - this was a lot of luck and this made my life much easier. But as a matter of fact, with dry legs I was only 3-4 days out of 11, the rest of the time was either endless wades without razuvaniya or walking on wet grass of human height, in which the legs were soaked for the entire length in the first minute. The discomfort from staying in the dampness certainly took away more strength. It was hard to get used to the dampness, and every day I quagged myself with the thought that in the evening I would create a fire and finally dry my shoes and clothes. But this dryness, in fact, remained only for the night, since in the morning, at the very first movement through the thickets, the whole bottom was again soaked to the skin. There was no heavy rain either, only in the last few days it was overcast, it wrinkled and drizzled. On the one hand, I was glad that there was no rain, but on the other hand I regretted it, because I would like to try to test myself in heavy rain. Rainfall would radically affect my life.

Did you come to the conclusion to survive alone in order to set a more difficult task or did you simply not find more people willing?

Those who wanted were, and it was not a matter of difficulty, although, of course, it was emotionally harder for me to survive alone. The survival of one person looks more dramatic and interesting in the film than the survival of the group, and the lack of communication should have immersed me more in the image. It was very difficult to make such a decision, we had to refuse those whom we have already invited to the project.

And did you always joke with the forest, the fire, the trees and the rivers? Or just philosophized with them?

Basically it was instant household information, something like: “Aha! Dry stick. Now I will take you. ”Or“ Oh! Bonfire, you have not gone out? Pretty boy!". He quarreled with what he couldn’t cope with, what he couldn’t lift, tear off or carry, rudely cursed. I did not pour out my soul to the trees and rivers, I think they already understood everything.

What conclusions were drawn from the experience of this adventure?

The main thing that I understood in this survival was the following: to keep a good spirits and good mood, to show will and act no matter what. Even through strength, in exhaustion, one must be forced to do something to provide oneself with comfort, food, warmth and good mood. You need to take care of yourself in all ways. A positive attitude allows you to spend less will to act, and in the activities of salvation. Once you are too lazy to make a warm overnight - you lose a lot of energy during the night, you can’t find food during the day and so you can fall completely without feelings and not get up anymore. In short, the mantra for survival will sound like this: “mood - will - action”.

Has anything happened inside, in the shower?

There was a feeling that circumstances did not finish me off. I was too strongly mentally prepared for such circumstances, and for more than a week I was generally in a good stable condition. Moreover, whatever one may say, I knew how long my survival would last, this greatly influenced my mood. The allotted time was not enough to carry out an internal coup. Although the forces were running out, and something was also beginning to mature in my head. I think a little more, and radical changes would occur to me. It would be interesting to go through this under the supervision of a film crew. But alas, we were limited in time and it was time to return. On the other hand, it was very hard for me to work with the camera, it was difficult to switch from survival to an interview, I didn’t say a lot about that, I was very upset, I was upset and depressed. If I were alone, without responsibility to the camera, the film and the project, then perhaps it would be easier for me to survive.

What moments were special for you?

I remember the sunset on the mountain when I got lost. I remember a difficult moment after a failure on the lake. And of course, the moment of completion of survival - when I was overwhelmed with inner strength and calmness from the awareness that I survived, did not give up and was able to complete the event “with a shield”, even despite a severe physical condition and weakness.

As perceived by the people who go after you?

Very calm. I didn’t envy or malice that they live better and eat hot food every night and drink tea with chocolate.