After watching a couple of episodes of Man Versus Wild, I couldn’t resist looking to see if Bear Grylls had any scouting experience. To my shock, he did, and currently holds the position of Chief Scout in Britian. Not only was he was a Cub Scout, as an older youth, he participated as a Venturer.
Why was I shocked? Because last night I watched the Texas episode and aside from a VERY conveniently found animal trap and extremely useful rope, one of his adventures was not well thought out. Maybe it is because I’m a climbing instructor, but when he threw said rope across a large gap in the rocks overlooking a great distance to the ground below, then proceeded to cross the rope, without fully checking to see how well the anchor was secured, I cringed. Of course, in true action tradition, the anchor shifted and he almost fell, only to somehow cross to safety. Hmmm. Perhaps if he had done more than throw the anchor, give it a quick tug, and then use the rope, he would have known it wasn’t secure ahead of time. He should have pulled it from several directions, ensuring it wouldn’t slip when the rope was subjected to his weight. Then there was the nut that he formed using rope. It held well enough, but when he reached the bottom of an improvised rappel, he jerked the rope down, nut and all much too easily for my liking.
Let’s be fair though. As I watched him, I did wonder about his scouting experience also because of how scout-like he did a lot of the tasks. There is a lot of good information in his program that the scouts can take with them and use on their own adventures.
All in all, I think Bear cold benefit with working with the Venturers again, to refresh some of his skills. He could certainly stand to take a climbing instructor course again.
