What to Carry, What to Burn

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?v=7ZQzB-gvp_I- How One Church Member Survived a Plane Crash and 49 Days in the Yukon Wilderness "by the Grace of God," by Lindsey Miller in LDS Living: https://www.ldsliving.com/how-one-church-member-survived-a-plane-crash-and-49-days-in-the-yukon-wilderness-by-the-grace-of-god/s/89838- Bond Still Strong Between 1963 Crash Survivors in the Tampa Bay Times: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/11/10/bond-still-strong-between-1963-crash-survivors/Blair's story in the NYT: He Went Out on an Epic Wilderness Adventure. Only His Dogs Came Back.https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/10/magazine/steffen-skjottelvik-canada-journey-death.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H1E.JP3C.h8fCWrcN1-Oo&smid=url-share

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 Fendler, as told to Joseph B. Egan; “Fendler Remembered as a True American Hero,” by John Holyoke in the Bangor Daily News; “Fendler Boy Found Alive in Woods Eight Days After Becoming Lost,” in the New York Times; “70 Years Ago a Mountain in Maine Challenged a Boy’s Will to Survive,” by Nok-Noi Ricker, in the Bangor Daily News; and “Remembering Donn Fendler,” by John Thurlow, in Down East.

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 FitzgeraldHolly Fitzgerald: Lost in the Jungle Againhttps://www.guernicamag.com/holly-fitzgerald-lost-jungle/TEDx: What the Jungle Taught Me About Inner Strengthhttps://www.ted.com/talks/holly_fitzgerald_what_the_jungle_taught_me_about_inner_strength

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 of Violet Jessop who Survived Both the Titanic and Brittanic Disasters, by Violet Jessop, introduced, edited, and annotated by John Maxtone Graham.

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 Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance, by David HowarthDefiant Courage: Norway’s Longest WWII Escape, by Astrid Karlsen Scott and Dr. Tore HaugThe Fugitive, published in The New York Times, by Robert KolkerWelcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair BravermanIrene by Sofia Jannok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU-np8zS4HQ

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 survive the jungle. Sources for this episode include the book When I Fell From the Sky by Juliane Koepcke, the film Wings of Hope by Werner Herzog, and the New York Times story “She Fell Nearly 2 Miles, and Walked Away,” by Franz Lidz.