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What to Carry, What to Burn

von Blair Braverman

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Edge-of-your-seat survival stories, as told by adventurer and dogsledder Blair Braverman.

How did Ada Blackjack endure a brutal Arctic winter alone? Why did one shipwreck crew work together to survive, while another crew–on the same island–hunted each other for food? What can we learn from survivors about getting through the impossible–in the wilderness, and in our own lives?

New stories every other week!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  1. Ep 14: Redemption in the Yukon

    Two strangers--who couldn't be more different from each other--are trapped together in the frozen wilderness. Sources include: - Hey, I'm Alive! by Helen Klaben and Beth Day - Helen Klaben on To Tell the Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch

  2. Ep 13: The Lost Boy

    When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler loses the trail on a family hike, he has to survive in the Maine wilderness all alone. Sources for this episode include the documentary Finding Donn Fendler; the book Lost on a Mountain in Maine, by Donn Fe

  3. Ep 12: The Raft

    When honeymooners Holly and Fitz miss their boat ride out of a Peruvian village, they think they'll be stuck for weeks--until a stranger offers a bold alternative. Sources: Ruthless River by Holly Fitzgerald Holly Fitzgerald: Lost in the Ju

  4. Ep 11: The Second Shipwreck

    21-year-old Violet Jessop goes to sea to support her family--and ends up caught in two major maritime disasters. (Spoilers below, in the source list.) Sources for this episode include the book Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs

  5. Ep 10: Jan Baalsrud

    In 1943, Jan Baalsrud and his friends sneak into northern Norway on a fishing boat to blow up a Nazi air base—but when the Nazis catch them first, Jan ends up barefoot in the snow on an arctic island, trapped and alone. Sources: We Die Alon

  6. Ep 9: Juliane Koepcke

    Juliane Koepcke had an unusual childhood, helping her biologist parents with fieldwork in the Amazon. At seventeen, after surviving a two-mile free fall from a broken plane, she has to lean on everything she learned from her family to survi

  7. Ep 8: Valerian Albanov

    Navigator Valerian Albanov escapes an icebound ship--and ends up the reluctant leader of a desperate trek across the frozen sea. Sources for this book include the book In the Land of the White Death by Valerian Albanov, translated from Russ

  8. Ep 7: The Painted Ocean

    When shark fisherman José Salvador Alvarenga gets caught in a storm at sea, he thinks he'll be able to ride it out. But the motor breaks in his little boat, and he starts to drift across the Pacific... Sources for this episode include the b

  9. Ep 6: Adam and Eve Crusoe

    When Lucy Irvine stumbles on an ad in the back of a magazine—an eccentric writer is looking for a “wife” to join him on a tropical island—she thinks she’s found the adventure of a lifetime. But the survival you sign up for is not necessaril

  10. Ep 5: Lauren Elder

    It’s 1976, and a 20-something aspiring painter, Lauren Elder, is flying over California’s Sierra Mountains to pick up a cat named Ferocious. When the plane crashes, she’s faced with a decision: stay and wait for rescue, or cross a wildernes

  11. Ep 4: Bob and the Invercauld

    It's bad enough that 19th-century sailor Bob Holding gets stranded on an island after a shipwreck—but to make it worse, his companions are entitled, incompetent, and straight up murderous. Plus, they're not as alone on the island as they th

  12. Ep 3: The Wreck of the Grafton

    Francois Raynal and his buddy, Captain Musgrave, are looking for a rumored island full of silver when they end up stranded in the Southern Ocean, surrounded by thousands of belching sea lions. After surviving a year in the wilderness, they

  13. Ep 2: Ada Alone (ft. Sarah Marshall)

    When five explorers are abandoned on a frozen island, with ever-dwindling food and supplies, they try to arrange their own rescue by dogsledding across the frozen Arctic Ocean. Twenty-three-year-old seamstress Ada Blackjack is left complete

  14. Ep 1: The Friendly Arctic (ft. Sarah Marshall)

    Ada Blackjack wants one thing: To make enough money to bring her son home from an orphanage. But good work is hard to find in 1920s Nome, Alaska, so when four strangers come to town, looking to hire someone for a secret yearlong expedition,

  15. Trailer

    A brand new podcast by Blair Braverman, launching May 12, 2026. See you soon! Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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