Page 286 - The Lost Ways

bogged down, when they had lost many of their animals, and when they had to start
making decisions as to what to leave behind, right then they should have cut their losses
and turned back. There were other instances when the party barely made it through as
well.

When you are in a survival situation and you are struggling to get where you’re going and
falling behind with every step, it is best to turn back. True, you will have to start all over
again, but it’s better to go back to a place you are familiar with that might have supplies
and other people than to continue into the unknown unprepared and behind schedule.
In a survival situation, if you are barely making it, you will likely die.

Stress Leads to Anger and Volatility

The more stress people are under, the more volatility a group will be dealing with. In a
survival situation, people are often pushed to their absolute limits. They are hungry, they
are tired, and they are watching their children starve. This leads to stress, which leads to
anger, which leads to volatility and violence.

This is what happened to James Reed when he lost his temper and stabbed a man to
death, which led to Reed being cast out of the group. Avoiding stress as much as possible
in a survival situation will serve you well.

Age and Gender Play a Huge Role in Survival

Archaeologists have studied the Donner Party’s plight and have gone to the sites where
the party was stranded, both on Donner Lake and Alder Creek. Through careful study of
the sites and the ages and genders of those who died, they have determined that many
of those who survived were women.

A total of 87 men, women, and children were trapped in the mountains that terrible
winter, and only 47 survived. There were 53 males and 34 females, and of those, 30 males

died and 10 females died. That means 64% of the males died and only 33% of the females
died. Age also played a role in survival, with everyone aged 49 and over having died and
10 of 16 children under the age of 5 having died.

Why did so many more women survive? It comes down to a few gender-specific traits.
Women have more body fat and consume energy more slowly than men, both of which
would protect them more from cold and starvation, and they have milder temperaments
that cause them to be more reliant on cooperation than on aggression.

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