I Shouldn't Be Alive

Jennifer and Jim Stolpa ended up lost in the snow miles from help. They survived for days alone and without help. Could YOU? In the coldest Colorado winter for a decade, survival expert Les Stroud shows what you can do to survive if you are trapped in a blizzard without any special gear. He strips his truck and turns a car seat into a makeshift pair of snow boots to battle his way through the Rocky Mountains. He shows you how to make a signal fire from an old tire and a car battery, then treks off through 80 mph winds and knee-deep powdery snow in temperatures of minus 86 degrees F wearing nothing more than an old overcoat and pants — just like the Stolpas had during their ordeal. Navigating his way eastward with only a watch, building a shelter from dead trees and starting a fire with baby supplies, Les shows how to get through a deadly winter night. Later in the program, he visits a military training lab to show you what happens when he exposes himself, unprotected, to extreme cold. Shivering in 41 degrees below zero — and worried about frostbite, Les experiences the ravages of hypothermia and watches as his ability to perform simple manual tasks deteriorates out of control.

If lost in the rain forest, could you beat the elements and avoid death? Would YOU know what to do? When adventurers Kevin Gale, Yossi Ghinsberg and Markus Stamm followed jungle guide Karl Ruprechter into the Amazonian rain forest, they were expecting adventure, not a life and death struggle that only two of them would survive. Based on their story, former Green Beret and special forces veteran Capt. Myke Hawke shows how you can make it out of the Amazon alive. He wrestles anacondas for food, and demonstrates how to find safe water, build shelters, spot poisons, and navigate your way out of the jungle to safety.

When Greg Rasmussen crashed his plane on the African savanna, he was at the mercy of boiling skies and savage wild animals. He survived ... would YOU? Safari guide Phil West imparts the secrets of survival on the African savanna. At age 30, Phil is already one of Africa's most respected trackers and guides. Trekking through hazardous bush terrain in northern Kenya, Phil gets up close and personal with lions, cobras, rhinos and elephants. He shows how to survive — and avoid — such encounters. Here on the savanna, the weather is just as terrifying as the wildlife. If you make the wrong decisions, dehydration can kill you within hours. Phil reveals the professional tracker's tricks for finding water, food and shelter in this fearsome terrain — and how to keep your nerve when confronted with the terrors of the African night.

1982. Five people get caught in a tropical storm and their yacht sinks. They have to survive in the middle of the ocean on a raft with absolutely no survival equipment. To their horror they find the area of the ocean to be infested with sharks.

A U.S. Army Private, his wife, and their five-month old son travel to a funeral, but on the way there, they miss the sign that leads to the city and instead go into an uninhabited national park which is closed for the winter.

Three friends go to the Amazon for a trip but things get nasty when their guide leads them to jeopardy. As the four (three friends and guide) split into two groups, one pair faces disaster at every turn, while the other two are never heard from again.

Two brothers go on a hike in Utah's Canyons. They expect the trip will take no more than 8 hours, but when freezing temperatures come, one brother breaks his leg and the other has to find help... and fast.

A couple go on a tour of the San Jacinto Mountains, only to find themselves stranded and alone for 4 days fighting for their lives.

A man and his aged dad go kayaking in the Alaskan wilderness. Everything goes fine until they run into some ice on the river, and soon find themselves swept underneath.

Two-time adventure racing world champion Danelle Ballengee suffers a pelvis-shattering 60-foot fall and 2 nights in sub-freezing weather in a Canyon near Moab, Utah, accompanied only by her dog, Taz.

A couple go on a tour of the San Jacinto Mountains, only to find themselves stranded and alone for 4 days fighting for their lives.

An 18 year-old elk hunter in Montana is seriously injured by a bear and must spend a night wandering the wooded mountain area in search of help before his injuries claim his life while his parents search for him.

Divorcee Mathew McGough is taking his five-year-old daughter Shannon for an overnight camping trip to Wallaroo Rocks, deep in the Western Australian Outback. It's Mathew's last chance to spend time with his daughter before he packs up and moves to South Australia to start a new life, so he's keen to make it a trip to remember. When Mathew takes a wrong turn it triggers a sequence of disastrous events that puts both their lives in serious danger. After 8 days in the outback Mathew is on the verge of death and confronted with an excruciating dilemma - kill his young daughter, or leave her to face a painful death alongside him, in one of the world's most hostile environments.

On the final leg of an amazing two year sailing voyage, the Silverwood Family hit some stormy weather 180 miles west of Bora Bora in the South Pacific. It's no big deal, until a broken mast pin and a submerged rocky reef suddenly turns their adventure into a potentially deadly one. As the mast snaps, it falls on dad John, severing his leg. It's up to teenage son Ben, to become the man and help to save his family. He gets the family off the sinking boat, but as they spend a terrifying night on a reef in the middle of the ocean, will rescue get to them before Ben's father dies of blood loss?

Charlie Hench has set himself a big challenge before he turns the big 50 - to fulfil his dream of a late-summer solo hike through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But he underestimates the challenge ahead. Charlie is at 9,000 feet when an early snowstorm suddenly blows in. The amateur hiker is soon out of his depth, lost in the snow-covered landscape. A missed step on the treacherous boulders and he's crashes over the side of the mountain. Only a ledge, the size of a car bonnet, saves him from falling 500 feet to his death. Charlie is trapped and badly injured, with a shattered wrist and fractured spine. He's alone and there's no way up or down. He knows no-one will even know he's missing for days, but will he survive trapped on the exposed on the side of a cliff?

Five young guys from Bozeman, Montana have got together for a back-country ski trip to celebrate New Year 2005. Sam Kavanagh, Blake Morstad, Jason Thompson, Chris Maki and Matt Schuyler have grown up together. They're close friends and expert skiers. On the final day of their trip they accidentally trigger a huge avalanche. One of the gang is killed and another is left critically injured. Miles from safety, a dream adventure turns into a living hell.

British hiker Matt Briggs spends ten days stranded in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island following a crippling fall on a solo trek. With no sign of rescue and his supplies running low, Matt and his canine companion 'Little Dog' must fight horrendous injuries and brutal terrain to save their own lives.

Experienced climbers Rachel Kelsey and Jeremy Colenso are in the Swiss Alps descending the Piz Badille Mountain when they are caught up in a terrifying electrical storm. Anchored onto the mountain with their metal climbing equipment, Rachel and Jeremy have become human lightning conductors. They have a heart-stopping dilemma - risk it all climbing down through the storm or spend the night on the mountain, where temperatures dip to -20.

Businessman and entrepreneur Dewey Gaedcke decides to check out the spectacular Kilauea Volcano, driving down a secluded local road, before hiking through the dark to a viewing spot. But in the dead of night, becomes disorientated - in the heart of a 330,000-acre national park, covered with deep craters, steaming volcanic vents and crusty lava fields. Dewey is faced with a five day battle to live in this arid, lunar landscape.

School teachers and old friends, Ben Gowans, Jason Cox and Clay Craig embark on a 'guy's trip' to the remote wilderness of Utah. Ben has talked his friends into canyoneering through some of the states most beautiful slot canyons. But after taking a wrong turn the friends quickly find that they are in way over their heads. With no way out, Ben decides to climb 60ft up and out of the canyon. As he's nearing the top disaster strikes - the rock he's holding onto snaps and he freefalls back down the canyon. Severely injured and unable to move Ben's life rests in the hands of his friends.

In 2006, ex-Navy diver Rob Hewitt embarks on a short recreational fishing dive off the Kapiti Coast near Wellington, New Zealand. A fun day turns into a living nightmare when he gets caught in a vicious rip current and gets dragged out to sea. Coming face to face with a huge shark and suffering dehydration and exposure Rob is driven to the limit of human endurance.