(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
I'm Bear Grylls.
I go to some of the most dangerous places on earth
to show you what it takes to make it out alive.
I've travelled the globe
facing challenges in the sort of places
you wouldn't last a day without the right survival skills.
Oh!
Now I'm in the Mojave Desert, one of the hottest places on earth.
This time we're bringing the worst of the wild to me
so I can show you how to survive the most extreme environments.
My team will be giving Mother Nature a helping hand
to make sure conditions are as bad as they can get.
I'm gonna experience the brute force of a flash flood...
(RATTLING)
..show you that your reactions
are no match for the deadly rattlesnake...
See that? Wham! Like lightning.
..and take on a massive man-made sandstorm head-on.
It's reading 99 miles an hour!
MAN ON RADIO: What's your altitude as of right now?
Just passed 25,000 feet. Copy that.
I'm in the desert to put my body to the test
in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
First I face a freefall from 30,000 feet -
the highest jump I've ever done.
Down on the desert floor temperatures soar into the hundreds,
but up here, it's mind-numbingly cold.
OK, we're down to -33 already. It's colder than I expected.
We've still got a lot of climbing to do.
OK, we have about 10 minutes to altitude. 10 minutes to altitude.
The atmospheric pressure as we climb is getting so low
that without any air supply, I'd be unconscious within 20 seconds.
I have to breathe 100% oxygen
to avoid getting nitrogen bubbles in my bloodstream, which could be fatal.
Last time I was up at 30,000 feet it was on the summit of Everest.
Jumping at this altitude
is a technique used by special forces for covert insertions.
Mimicking the flight path of commercial jets
is an effective concealment
and deploys troops fast without detection.
It's known as 'high-altitude, low-opening',
or 'HALO'.
OK, T-minus two. Two minutes to jump.
The temperature has plummeted to -40.
Exit the plane without my goggles and my eyes would freeze instantly.
Down on the desert floor, it's over 100.
I'm about to put myself through a temperature change
of 140 degrees in less than five minutes.
I'm wired up so that my team can measure my body stats on my descent.
OK, let's go.
In six seconds, I hit terminal velocity.
It's impossible to fall any faster.
Whoa!
And because the air is thinner at this altitude,
I'm falling at just under 200 miles an hour.
We're in HALO free fall! That's amazing.
OK, alti check.
26,000 feet and falling fast.
HALO works because of several factors -
high downward velocity,
and minimal metal and forward airspeed,
which all serve to defeat the radar...
Wow! That's amazing!
..making a soldier's entry virtually undetected.
6,000.Getting ready to deploy.
5,000. 4,500. I'm waving off, waving off.
And here we go.
As the chute deploys, my speed rapidly reduces to 22 miles an hour
and my body pulls 5 G's.
Whoo!
OK, just get my bearings.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Already now I can feel the heat radiating from the desert floor.
OK, OK, coming in to 1,000 foot, the downward leg,
then we're gonna turn into the wind for the final approach.
OK, want a nice firm flare for landing.
And I'm on the ground. Whoo!
Good job.
The temperature down here is almost 102 degrees.
It's time to get this flight gear off and get going.
I need to rendezvous with the ground crew at my next location.
Ohh.
On the ground and alive.
That's always a good start after a HALO jump.
Wow! What a...what a buzz, though.
Just very, very cold hands.
And that's something I don't often say
in the heat of the day in the middle of a desert.
The Mojave is one of the hottest, most arid places on earth...
..but we're gonna take it to another level
and make conditions as bad as they can get
to show you how to survive when Mother Nature gets nasty.
MAN ON RADIO: Foxtrot, 97,000, prepare for landing.
When it gets rough out here,
just keeping yourself alive will become your main goal.
I'm gonna put myself in the direct path
of one of the most fearsome features of the desert
and one that all travellers dread - the sandstorm.
Sandstorms are one of nature's most unpredictable and violent phenomena.
They can be miles wide and miles high
and can travel at 120 miles an hour.
The ground crew make their way to a vast empty plain.
Open expanses like this
are ideal breeding grounds for sandstorms
as winds can whip up unobstructed across the desert floor.
We're gonna use four massive wind machines
to basically generate our own sandstorm
and show what a terrifying place it can be to be trapped inside.
This is gonna be an adventure.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO)
MAN ON RADIO: He's running fine and dandy.
I know how tough deserts can be to survive in at the best of times
and I've been caught on the edge of a sandstorm before
and they can be terrifying.
A powerful sandstorm can move millions of tons of sand at a time,
carrying it for hundreds of miles.
They occur when convection currents created by the intense heat
whip across the desert's surface,
causing sand and dust to become airborne.
They can last for days,
covering everything in their path in a fine layer of suffocating dust.
There's only a light breeze here, but not for long.
We're about to create our own perfect storm.
I mean, these are seriously industrial wind machines.
You know, 240 horsepower, drive out winds up to 100 miles an hour
and basically create a massive hurricane-force sandstorm
heading straight for me.
Are there things I'm nervous about? Yeah, for sure.
You know, I'm about to get sandblasted
by a hurricane-force sandstorm
and I guess I'm concerned about just getting completely shredded.
Also, it's super-easy to suffocate in those things
when you're just getting that amount of sand blasted over you.
But also my eyes. You know, I've had quite a lot of sun and wind damage.
The last time I saw the eye surgeon,
he basically said, "Change your job
"and keep out of the wind and keep out of the sun,"
so I'm kind of hoping maybe he's not gonna watch this one.
But it'll be good.
We'll get in there, do it and we'll get out, you know?
But there's no doubt that sandstorms are an intimidating thing
and that's something you need to take super seriously.
Remember - three clear repeated signals from me, that means stop it.
That means I'm getting killed in there.
MAN: Copy that. Right, give me five.
I'm gonna show you that with just some basic knowledge,
you can survive this.
Just stick close to me when it hits us.
Yeah, we're set. MAN ON RADIO: OK, start the engines.
(ENGINE REVS)
The fans fire up and within seconds,
a choking dust-filled cloud starts to form.
That's a sight that every desert traveller prays he'll never see -
a sandstorm coming right towards you.
But what you can't do is out-run it.
These things can be miles wide, travelling at 100 miles an hour.
So you've got to stop, think clearly and act fast.
The biggest danger is suffocation and blindness.
If you're ever unlucky enough to find yourself in this situation
try not to panic.
Cover your airways as best you can.
Cotton fabrics like a T-shirt will act as a basic filter.
It won't be perfect,
but if it's all you've got, it's better than nothing.
OK, come on. Let's get into it. Let's go.
Ohh!
The grit-filled cloud is propelled towards me at hurricane-force speeds.
What you don't want to do in this sort of situation
is try and run through it.
These things can last for hours
and you'll just end up getting lost and exhausted.
You've just got to get your back to the wind,
hunker down and protect your airway.
You're way better off being down here.
You're gonna get the biggest sand particles lower down.
Higher up is the fine stuff
and it's the fine stuff that's gonna make you suffocate.
Stay low.
Wind speeds as powerful as this brings with it windborne debris
and with visibility reduced to almost zero,
you're in real danger of being hit.
Finding some sort of shelter is gonna make a huge difference
to your ability to endure a sandstorm.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) Let's go.
A rocky outcrop would make an ideal place to hole up,
but if that isn't possible,
then you've got to adapt to whatever you can find to your advantage,
even the wreckage from an old car.
It may not look pretty, but it will be effective.
Instantly it's better out of the wind
and out of that sandblasting.
And check this out.
That's reading 99 miles an hour,
but down here it's down to 37.
That is a massive difference and just this could save your life.
Then you've just got to sit and wait it out.
This is a battle
between your endurance and the wild,
but the reality is
if it keeps going and keeps going,
the desert's gonna win.
I'm putting myself through the temperature extremes
of the Mojave Desert.
We've gone from -40 degrees up in the sky
to over 100 on the desert floor.
We've set up one of the most violent and unpredictable phenomena -
the sandstorm -
to show that with even the most basic materials to hand, you can survive.
There must be nothing more terrifying
than being caught in a storm like this.
These things can keep blowing for days.
Being under here is definitely gonna extend your survival time,
but the reality is if it keeps going, the desert's gonna win.
Eventually even the most violent sandstorm will blow itself out
or simply move on over you.
The only thing you can do is make sure you survive until that happens.
(COUGHS) That's why I hate sand.
(SPITS AND GAGS)
God, that would be terrifying, being in that hour after hour,
but, you know, that's what can happen with sandstorms -
these things can go on for days.
It's all about protecting your airways.
If you lose a few layers of skin and it hurts for a while,
that's one thing,
but at least you're alive.
Oh, man. Cup of tea.
Now I'm gonna show you how to survive a catastrophic event
which claims on average over 100 American lives every year.
We're gonna re-create
one of the desert's most lethal weapons in its arsenal -
the flash flood -
and show you what can happen
if you pitch your camp in the wrong place.
One danger you don't expect in the desert is water,
but that's why flash floods can be so lethal.
You know, you can have beautiful, clear skies like this,
no sign of rain,
but you still get hit by one.
You know, you're gonna have a storm 50 miles away
and the first you're gonna know about a flash flood
is hearing that roar of like a jet engine,
and then, bam, get hit by the water.
You might look at a riverbed like this
and think it's not a bad place to set up camp -
there's some shade from the sun, it's cool, flat surface -
but you'd be dead wrong.
This is a riverbed for one reason - because water runs down here.
I've spent a lot of my life
picking camp sites away from riverbeds,
trying to avoid flash floods,
but this time I'm going to show you the devastating consequences
of making a bad decision.
OK, set this about here.
Desert flash floods are especially lethal.
Huge storms can dump massive amounts of rain in a few hours
and because the desert floor's baked rock-hard,
the deluge of water simply runs straight off it.
A rain storm in the high mesa
can send a wall of rock-strewn water
onto an unsuspecting camp with no warning.
(TRUCK HORN BLARES)
The team set about constructing our own flash flood.
They've called in three massive containers
which will be filled with over 24,000 gallons of water.
The plan is to open up the container doors
just upstream from where I will be camped.
Once the doors are released,
3,000 cubic feet of water
will be sent down the gully in a few seconds right on top of me.
You've gotta take flash floods seriously
and just 'cause you're in a desert
where you're not seeing water or even seeing rain
doesn't mean that flash floods are not a danger.
Only recently 16 people were killed in the United States
by one flash flood.
They reckon about six inches of water,
that's enough to take a man of their feet,
and two foot of water will move a whole SUV.
There's an awful lot more than two foot of water in here
and we've got three of them.
Don't underestimate flash floods.
OK, guys, this is set, ready to go.
80% of flash floods occur later in the evening
just when you're likely to be asleep and in your camp.
Nick and Ross, you're my emergency backup for this, alright?
The big danger for me is when that water gets released,
little rocks like this getting thrown very fast down here.
You get hit by that, you're in trouble, alright?
So, Nick, let's have you here. Ross, further down.
If I start to really tumble and go, stop it, alright?
OK.
I'll just set this camera going as well.
MAN ON RADIO: Stand by.
MAN 2 ON RADIO: Bear, how you doing there? You good?
Yeah, happy.
Well, sort of, when you're about to be hit by a flash flood.
Just curl up in a ball and wait for the impact.
I'm not sure whether
it's worse knowing when it's gonna come or not.
OK, guys, I'm set.
Container one.
As each door is opened,
it dumps more and more water down the narrow gully.
Container two.
Container three.
With all three released,
90 tonnes of water surge towards my tent.
(WATER ROARS)
The force of the water instantly rips out the tent pegs
and launches me and the tent down the riverbed.
In seconds, the tent is swept 100 feet down the gully.
Only then can the safety team jump in.
Bear? You alright, Bear?
OK, I'm good.
I'm good.
I'm OK, but that was closer than I would have wanted.
It did hit with a huge amount of force.
You know, I've had a few close calls before with white water
and it's given me a healthy respect for the power of it.
I've actually got a friend who had to fish out from a river
the bodies of a mother and her two kids
and they had been hit by a big flash flood in their SUV
and the vehicle had actually been taken 30 miles downstream.
Choose your overnight spot carefully.
Always have an escape route planned
and learn to recognise the signs of where water has flowed.
Pitch your camp up out of a riverbed and never in it,
even if it's bone-dry.
Kind of a sober reminder, isn't it - don't camp in riverbeds.
Now I'm gonna get up close and personal
with one of the Mojave's real heavyweights - the rattlesnake -
to experience firsthand its deadly strike.
See that? Wham! Like lightning.
I'm used to taking on the toughest environments,
but this time my team are here
to make sure that I face nature at her very worst.
The most deadly animal in this desert is the rattlesnake
and we're on our way to find out just what makes them so deadly.
We're heading straight for prime rattlesnake country
and we're bringing with us some highly specialised equipment.
You only have to ask the people out here on the land
how seriously they take the threat of rattlesnakes.
The reason they're so deadly
is the speed at which they can inject their venom.
Their strike is faster than the human eye.
(RATTLING)
The western diamondback is a really aggressive animal
and becomes angered quickly.
Their trademark rattle is a warning to others
that they're about to strike or if they feel threatened.
Normally the crew are used to working with these pretty small cameras,
but this time we've got this specialist one.
The reason for that is we want to try and record
the speed that a rattlesnake strikes at.
It's unbelievably fast.
You know, the time from the strike to bite and then recoil
can be under half a second
and that's faster than the human eye can see
so this is gonna help us.
Before I start showing you just how fast these snakes can strike,
just gonna stick these snake boots on
and also these chaps.
If I've learnt anything over the years
it's a healthy respect...for snakes.
OK, we're set.
(RATTLES)
OK, we've got a western diamondback rattlesnake here.
And these guys kill more people in the US than any other snakes.
You hear that rattle and that's just telling me to back away,
he's mad.
But they'll inject a haemotoxic venom
that will literally turn your muscles into soup.
(RATTLES) But look.
Watch how fast his strike is against my boot here.
Strikes often occur
when unsuspecting hikers step on a rattlesnake
or disturb it in a clump of vegetation.
See that? Wham! Like lightning.
If I hadn't got snake boots on,
I'd now have a ticking time bomb to the grave
unless I got medical help very fast.
Filmed at 1,500 frames a second,
you can see that once the snake has made the decision to strike,
the head rears, the fangs are unsheathed
and even before striking my boot,
those fangs are delivering their lethal dose of venom.
If that strike had hit flesh, I'd now be in big trouble.
The sensation is said to be like
two hot hypodermic needles puncturing the skin,
instantly followed by excruciating pain
and spontaneous bleeding from where the fangs have penetrated.
And though my reactions are fast, they're no match for this rattler.
From decision made and back again,
the whole process takes just under half a second,
but in that time,
the brain has just received
the message that you're in danger
and it's another full second
before you can react.
Without the right protection, it would be too late.
OK, I need you guys to stand back a bit
and we're gonna release him and let him go back to the desert.
But don't let this stop you enjoying the desert.
Just use caution if you're out hiking in back country
and keep to the trails.
Wear a good pair of boots and trousers
and scan the ground just ahead of you.
If you do come across a rattlesnake,
try to keep a safe distance and leave it well alone.
Most bites occur when they're being handled or harassed.
Rattlesnakes are not the only venomous creatures in the Mojave.
And one of the deadliest can strike with no warning.
Just 'cause they're small, don't underestimate them.
These are the ones to watch out for.
I'm in the vast arid expanse of the Mojave Desert.
I've shown you how even with the fastest reactions,
you cannot outrun a rattlesnake.
But these are not the only animals you'll be sharing the desert with.
Nightfall brings new challenges for the survivor.
You're gonna have to think smart
to outwit the desert's most opportunistic scavenger - the coyote.
You know, really anywhere around here will do.
Just want to keep your food away from your camp and off the ground
and just because you're sleeping in the desert
doesn't mean that other animals and predators are.
Out here, you're getting loads of coyotes
and they're scavengers and they're smart
and they've got a good sense of smell
so if you've got a surplus of food they're gonna sniff it out.
So look.
Something simple like this, three sticks into a tripod,
and then you can hang any surplus food up out of the way.
I've got two infra-red motion-sensor cameras here.
What I'm gonna do is set these up
and see if anything's gonna try and come and get this.
OK, let's leave that. That's set. Come on.
You should aim to keep your rations
at least 50 feet from where you're sleeping.
It may seem a hassle,
but there are bigger predators out there than the coyote
like the mountain lion.
The last thing you want to do is attract them to your camp.
I reckon out of all of the environments
the desert's probably my favourite one to spend the night out in.
You know, it's not pouring down with rain. That's pretty unlikely.
It's nice and cool.
You also get these amazing clear skies at night.
But what you've also got to understand -
if you're gonna sleep out in the desert
you're gonna share your camp site with a load of critters.
And if you don't believe me, you can take the torch...
It's not only got the white light. It's also got this UV black light.
I can almost guarantee you, use that to look around -
we're gonna find a load of things.
What this UV black light does
is reflect the keratin in the exoskeleton of any scorpions.
They really glow up. You'll see them.
There we go. You see that glowing?
That's a desert hairy scorpion.
That's one of the most common scorpions in these deserts.
Gonna put some gloves on.
They're not gonna give you a deadly sting,
but if you're at all susceptible to stings and stuff like that as I am -
had it before in Mexico, a bee sting -
you've got a real danger of going into anaphylactic shock
so it's worth just wearing your gloves.
And look.
You can just see the way his exoskeleton shines out there.
You know, it really glows up bright.
And that's the stinger on the end there - tip of his tail.
But the really nasty scorpions
are actually the smaller ones, the bark scorpions,
and there are just loads and loads of those around.
Come on. Let's go and find some of those.
Oh, look. That's a bark scorpion.
It's probably a third of the size of that desert hairy one,
but this guy's way more potent.
If you get stung by one of these guys,
you're gonna have 72 hours of just excruciating pain,
kind of like being tasered.
Scientists today still don't really understand
how such a small stinger and a small amount of venom can be that potent.
Just 'cause they're small, don't underestimate them.
These are the ones to watch out for.
And what are we? 15, 20 foot from the camp and we're seeing these.
Look. Here's another one here. Look.
But it is a reality.
If you're gonna sleep out here, you're gonna be near scorpions
and they're gonna like nice warm places,
little crevices they can get under,
whether that's your body or a roll mat.
And the key is to stay near your fire.
Scorpions aren't gonna like fire, and that's your protection.
I'm enduring the searing summer heat of the Mojave Desert.
I've taken on a lethal flash flood
and shown that no matter where you may camp,
you'll never be alone.
Now I want to see if the camera traps I set up last night
have picked up any activity around my food stash.
So I've got the footage back from these motion-sensor cameras.
Let's have a look at this.
It's been triggered a few times. Let's watch this one.
Actually, look, there you go. Visitors.
That's a coyote having a sniff around.
He can smell the food, but he can't reach it.
Actually, hang on. He's having a pee on my stick as well.
(CHUCKLES)
You know, the thing is these coyotes, they're smart scavengers
and as a survivor your job is to outsmart them,
which in this case has worked well.
We've still got the food.
All the animals I've encountered are adapted to their environment.
Out here in searing temperatures we are not, but we're smarter.
The deadliest threat to you in the desert
isn't a rattler or a bark scorpion,
it's the lack of water
and knowing how to find it will save your life.
Every hour out here is punishing.
Using state-of-the-art telemetry,
I'm gonna measure my vital signs as I go on the search for water.
OK, this is about four pints of water here,
but in the desert in the heat of the day,
just walking - not running, not working that hard -
you're gonna burn up at least that.
So I'm gonna go out for about an hour, see what water I can find
and we'll see if we can make up the difference.
My body's core temperature
is regulated by a set of mechanisms that fire into action
the moment you have to operate in extreme conditions.
Desert survival is so tough.
It's just a constant battle
between trying to source as much water as you're losing out here.
By producing sweat,
my body is able to cool my skin temperature through evaporation.
My heart beats faster and sends blood to the extremities
to regulate my core temperature.
You know, even though it's so hot and we're walking around,
I'm not really sweating that much
'cause as soon as I sweat, this wind just dries it.
So then what happens - your body sweats some more
and that's why you start to lose so much fluids.
Gonna dig a still here, get a shovel in.
I'll make just a simple solar still.
What I'm gonna do is line the bottom of this with plastic.
Also you've got to bear in mind
that you use up a certain amount of energy to dig that pit.
It also requires that you have
at least something that can improvise as plastic sheeting,
whether it's a jacket or whatever.
I'm just gonna pee into this.
If I collect the pee in the bottom like this, cover it with plastic,
that's gonna get hot in there, the pee's gonna evaporate
and that water then is gonna be drinkable.
Just weight this plastic down with some sand
and then we'll just put a few stones in the middle
so as the pee evaporates, it's gonna drip down into the cup.
OK, see what else we can find.
You can improvise a solar still
from discarded plastic or even your jacket.
Let's get up into those canyons.
Rocky gullies will give you your best chance of finding water,
which will have collected in run-off pools
or been protected from evaporation under the shade of rocks.
Actually, look.
It's probably quite a good place to find water down here.
Natural funnel for all the rainwater down the rock to collect down here.
And actually under here's gonna be the most shade
and water's gonna last the longest.
Let's have a good dig down under this.
The sand traps rain run-off
and because it's always in the shade, it doesn't evaporate as quickly.
Yeah, see - all of this is really damp sand.
The challenge, though,
is always extracting the water out of the sand.
OK, just gather all this up.
And then just twist it.
There we go. Getting some drips out of the bottom of that now.
You know, it's not much, but it's something.
Even a few drops of sandy water is precious out here.
Knowing where to find it
is something you can only learn with experience and patience.
Once you've attuned yourself,
you can head straight for places
that give you the best chance of finding water.
OK, let's keep moving on.
Now I'm heading back to the solar still I made
to see if I can collect any more water there.
Yeah, you can see that evaporation taking place
on the underside of the plastic here.
OK, probably about half an inch of water in there.
Really, it's not much,
but the good thing about stills is that once you've dug them once,
you can keep reusing them
and as long as you've got enough plastic
you can actually then dig multiple stills
and that's how you start to get enough water
to have at least a chance at surviving out here.
OK, let's get back. Let's see how much we've got here.
My core temperature has risen to just below 101 degrees.
If I dehydrate further,
my body's ability to sweat will reduce.
After that, it's a chain reaction.
My core temperature will rise fast into the danger zone
and if it goes above 104 it could be fatal.
So between all the techniques I've used to collect water...
..this is how much I've managed to gather.
OK, so you can see there how much I've collected.
And bear in mind I had to work a bit for that, had to be ingenious,
and that's how much I've ended up with.
But that's how much I used up -
probably twice the amount I managed to gather -
and that is why desert survival is so hard.
The stark truth is that your survival in the desert
is dominated by the constant search for water.
Knowing where to find it can prolong your survival.
Your priority every single day
is to find as much as you can and get yourself back to safety.
I'm showing you how to survive
the furnace-like heat of the Mojave Desert.
I've endured the hell of a man-made sandstorm
and shown that when it comes to water,
you're always gonna be fighting a losing battle.
Sooner or later in the wild,
you're gonna come across big natural obstacles,
whether it's rivers, waterfalls or cliffs,
and your survival might well depend on your ability to get across them.
We're now heading to some of the most formidable climbing
in all of America.
This massive sandstone range was formed millions of years ago.
As sediment lithified
and tons of mud and minerals compacted over millennia,
the ancient ocean floor turned to forest and then to desert,
giving the rocks their distinctive banding.
The presence of water and animals
has attracted man to these mountains for thousands of years.
Today, it's a magnet for climbers and trekkers.
But in this sort of environment, without the right preparation,
it's all too easy to get into trouble fast.
All of this is actually some of the most spectacular climbing.
When you start getting amongst it, it can be intimidating.
It's that whole thing of rubbing noses with the rock face.
When you get close to it, you start to pick out lines,
like even this sort of seam running up here is climbable.
OK, let's get prepped.
The climb I'm gonna undertake is an almost sheer face.
It should only be attempted by experienced climbers.
OK. Let's set up a way of trying to climb up this.
The Mojave is not a place for the faint-hearted.
Every year, people come out here unprepared for the severe conditions.
If you get stranded, dehydration and heatstroke will follow.
It's early morning
and the temperature is around 100 degrees.
As I climb and the sun rises, that temperature will rocket.
Worse still, these red rocks reflect heat back out.
It can be as much as 10 degrees hotter on the face.
Alright, we're gonna put a heart monitor on you today.
The team will be collecting data remotely
through a device attached to my chest
which will record my heart rate, skin temperature
and how many calories
I'm burning every minute.
Heat and exhaustion
are the main factors to consider
when taking on a climb like this in the Mojave,
and keeping your energy levels high
and making sure you're hydrated is essential.
OK, that's set.
If you're solo climbing,
the points of protection you place in the seam are your lifeline.
You're not attached to any safety line above,
but remember, if you do come away from the face,
you'll fall twice the distance -
first to your last anchor
and then the same distance again from that point, if the anchor holds.
Certainly getting a bit steeper up here.
The seam has run out now. It's just me and the rock face.
Half way through the climb, I now have two challenges -
finding suitable cracks to place my protection...
OK, that's good.
..and dealing with the muscle fatigue that is building in my arms and legs.
Get a lot of lactic acid build-up when you're climbing
just 'cause your forearm muscle's always working hard.
But actually good climbing
is about using your legs rather than your arm power.
It's always a good idea when you can as well
to keep your arms below your shoulder height.
What happens when you start climbing with your hands always up here
is that the blood's always draining out of it
and you're gonna get that lactic build-up...
..lactic acid build-up faster.
The further I climb, the more my muscles become fatigued.
It's a condition where the muscles' performance is reduced.
My body rapidly starts to burn through calories,
and I can feel the pain start to rise in my arms and legs.
Resting on the climb is essential.
OK. That protection in...
Arm burn.
OK, we're almost up this now.
Sometimes I just wish I was one of these people who...
..never minded heights.
You're on a high, exposed rock face.
It's probably 300 or 400 foot down to the valley bottom there.
And you just need to get it right always.
If you're surviving in the wild,
you're constantly faced with stark choices,
and they don't come much bigger than this.
Are you gonna go round an obstacle or over it?
And those are decisions only you can make.
OK, that's the top.
Heart rate's still high,
but now it's not from fear.
Now it's just from elation. Phew!
Good climb.
Let's finish this.
Deserts can be such dangerous places,
and if you come unprepared,
they will spit you out.
The Mojave has been
an unforgiving test for me,
but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Wahoo!
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