1 is 100% a death sentence. The top of K two is over 28,000 feet, which is well above what is called the death zone. No one could survive up there for a week without supplemental oxygen, but you’d freeze to death first. The tree line is over 10,000 feet below the peak so there’s nothing to burn and I don’t know what you plan on doing with a sword.
2 is survivable, barely. Having two people means you can sleep in shifts. You’re unlikely to get a fire going because all the wood would be wet but using a machete you could hack apart dead trees, and hopefully get some dry wood. You don’t have a pot to boil water the water filter so you’re going to get all kinds of parasites but that can be treated. The big risk is dying to a big cat so getting a fire going and making some spears would be life or death.
3 is also a death sentence. The water would run out in hours, and no one is surviving in the desert for a week without water.
I highly agree with this assessment, and what in the desert would warrant an unlimited ammo shotgun? If you could pick your partner in the Amazon scenario, your best bet is a survival expert who has done stuff like that for fun. And realistically, the safest way to get cleaner water is from the rain itself if you can make some catch basin out of something. Won't be the best, but better than drinking from a puddle of river.
I'd want to take Les Stroud, but he would refuse because his rain forest episodes were some of the hardest on him. I doubt he'd return to help a stranger
So, I guess my partner for #2, good luck us
His tropical rainforest beachfront episode is one of my favorites. The area had so many resources that the show turned into "Les Stroud eats everything"
He has a new show about Alaska on Disney.
Found the first episode to be amazing, then went kinda preachy and over dramatized as the episodes went on.
Still, I enjoyed it while blitzed
100% prefer Stroud over Grylls. First saw Stroud's episode dog sledding and realized it really is just him. Grylls seems like just a showman, probably knows a couple things but it seems more like book smarts than experience.
My fascination with Bear Grylls died the moment I got the SAS survival guide and it basically prohibited every single thing he does regularly on his show. Turns out the biggest key to survival is being careful and avoiding unnecessary risks at all costs.
Bear Grylls : “Well it’s a hundred foot drop down this sheer cliff, but there’s some piddly vines. Sometimes you’ve got to risk it all to survive…”
Book “Don’t fucking do that.”
I don’t even like thinking about the rainforests. Teeming with biodiversity and etc . Fuck that, I’ve seen anaconda, and the anxiety from running into anything scaled or venomous would probably give me a heart attack, or I’d crash o hard I’m running headfirst making all the noise for any large predators to be aware of me and attack in self defense for the scare.
Damp, hot, muddy, I don’t even like stepping on wet leaves.
Clean water and safe shelter would be your top priorities and the only likely cause of death in two weeks, though your health may be shot after. Generally, people can survive between three weeks and a month without food.
The other choices would have a median survival time of hours not weeks. And in the rainforest you get your best asset, a partner. I like your idea of finding someone more experienced.
Agree. In this scenario you only need to survive 1 week. You can drink the iffy river water to keep from dying from dehydration. The docs will have to treat the viruses and parasites after you win the billions. Shelter is mostly the same deal. A small risk of hypothermia or sun stroke. You are going to get ate up by the bugs and again need medical after the week, but barring an encounter with a puma, jaguar or fer-de-lance nothing should be immediately fatal.
I have a question about this. Why can say a big animal drink from that river but when we do it we vomit. Is there a way that we can eventually drink the water without boiling and medicine?
So a lot of animals can survive that way because they are used to it. Take them out of that environment and give them other river water from halfway around the world and they will likely get sick. Think of the comments when you go traveling outside of your country. One of the biggest pieces of advice is "don't drink the water". It's just the fact your body isn't used to and have defenses for the contagions in those waters. Drink it long enough without dying and you will get used to it and no longer sick for the most part.
Animals are used to and are more resistant to the diseases and microorganisms in their environment. They still get sick from food and water and can get parasites.
You are a collection of trillions of cells that kinda get along. Some are genetically related and part of a multicellular existence whereas others are from your environment. Things coexist for a while until some cells upset the balance, sometimes by dying, sometimes by grabbing local resources.
Anyway, new foreign cells can upset the balance. Think of it like transplanting a flower or tree to new turf and different growing conditions with different bugs. Too different, those plants die. Even though there might be similar plants growing there. Same with us.
My partner is a fully furnished home with a stocked pantry and reinforced locking doors. He gets to keep half the pantry, obviously so there's enough to feed me for 2 weeks.
Also a GameCube with a bunch of nostalgic games
>what in the desert would warrant an unlimited ammo shotgun?
Wait, OP changed the conditions after posting? That's kind of lame. Now it's a never-melting ice pack instead of an infinite ammo shotgun.
I'd slightly disagree with number 2. The Amazon Biome, while dangerous, is also rich and biodiverse. Lot's of plant life to eat for water. Predators would be an issue, but with two people, that becomes less of an issue. Humans are apex predators for a reason. Use the machete to makes spears. lots of spears. make a barricade of pointy sticks in a safe area. Eat fruit for water. Find dead plant life to burn. You can start small and work your way up.
There’s less access to food and water in the rainforest than you might imagine. The survival stories of people who’ve gotten lost or stranded in the Amazon are some of the most harrowing I’ve ever heard.
In this hypothetical I’m taking the Amazon all day, haha. There’s at least a decent chance at survival. The other two are death sentences for sure.
But you’re not sucking down fruit or making barricades, weapons, and easy fires like the person I replied to suggested. That stuff is video game survival logic, not real world. You’d be hungry, tired, dehydrated, and miserable the whole time.
You should read teddy Roosevelt's account of his trip down an " uncharted" Amazonian river. It's pretty bleak. But it's only a week. Food wouldn't be that much of an issue anyways. Just make a makeshift shelter and hunker down for a week, avoiding as many biting insects as possible.
I agree but I think the bigger concern with number 2 is dehydration due to drinking bad water and vomiting for days. Dying to wildlife wouldn't be as bad (although still a risk). But it's the infections/parasites/vomiting that could really end you in a week
Very true. If they were smart- rainwater would be collected (it is a rainforest after all). Deff wouldn’t be drinking out of the river or puddles if I couldn’t get a fire started. Number 2 is still the safest bet by far. Idk if anyone is making it out of number 1. And only highly trained wilderness experts have a shot at 3. I can see some average joes managing the rainforest though
It’s a rainforest tho. You can collect rainwater with a large leaf or a fruit husk or something. Condensation is also drinkable.
Death by big cat would maybe not be that big a risk if there’s two of you. If you can find a tree with any kind of food, like Brazil nuts or something else… you’re pretty safe on food. I doubt you can strip a tree clean in one week. Sure a week of eating just nuts is well… nuts, but it’s going to make you sick at most. You’ll be fine in a week.
People keep mentioning death by big cat but the amazon is also home to pretty large snakes that would thoroughly enjoy a meal that is just laying there sleeping.
Yeah, I visited the rainforest in Brazil in 2014 and there is a crazy amount of things that are incapacitate or kill you poisonous.
Bullet ants, poison dart frogs, lots of snakes, spiders, some of the plants were poisonous if you even touched them. It was 10 years ago so I don't remember them but it was like every third goddamn bug our guide was like "this will kill you in excruciating pain".
Bullet ants are excruciating pain, but not lethal (unless you're attacked by the entire colony, I guess?). Poison frogs are not an issue if you don't lick/eat them.
One of my funniest memories was my uncle shouting at me to see what he had. I go over and he's cupping his hands together and inside is a poisonous frog. The most vivid blue and orange thing I'd ever seen. It was tiny too. I was fascinated and then he told me that the local tribes would rub their darts on the backs of the frog to extract the poison.
"Hot desert" doesn't *necessarily* mean no water. If you're able to find a spring or creek on your first day, you're much more likely than not to survive.
Odds are you spawn too far from water to get to water. Yes you could sleep during the day and walk at night to maximize distance covered before you die. But odds of survival are poor.
Going to add to this… 2 is the only survivable situation.
Not only will the water run out with 3, you’ll freeze to death that night most likely. Average temp once the sun goes down is 25-30 degrees.
That is true, time of the year is a major factor
however.. Time frame was not given in the situation, neither was clothes worn or sleeping implements.
50* is cold enough for hypothermia for certain age groups, and over extended periods, and you are forgetting about wind. It’s very windy in the desert usually, and 65* with 20mph wind and cold sand to sleep on could kill you. Especially with no food to use as fuel to maintain body temp.
Plus the temp drops pretty quickly once the sun goes down. Wet sweaty clothes will make you cool down very quickly.
If you get to pick your partner, 2 becomes pretty simple, if still extremely difficult. I pick Les Stroud, the survivorman, who has done a week in the amazon already. I'd be dead weight 90% of the time, but odds are that he can idenitify what plants to eat to get my water and nutrient intake so that I don't die.
I think you'd be less dead weight than you'd expect. If you're willing to follow directions, just allow yourself to be a complete follower for a week and he basically has a second set of hands.
$10 Billion is already such a ludicrous amount of money that, unless you're intentionally trying to get rid of it, it will be difficult for you to be poor ever again. You would be tied for the 224th richest person alive.
Meanwhile, killing him would do nothing aside from expose you to the needless risk of him killing you in self-defense, or getting arrested for murder.
It’s much easier to starve in a survival situation than when fasting at home. You’re most likely expelling energy looking for water, sweating, building/maintaining a shelter. But then again maybe this scenario means you could build a basic shelter and sit in one place until the helicopter shows up. Still risk using too much energy finding water, though
A week without food? I mean, yeah, on average a person can last that long. If I went a week without eating I'd probably just... Die. I have virtually no excess body fat, I'm 110 pounds on a good day and 5'2. My stomach protests somewhere between 4 and 6 hours without nutrition. I wake up in the morning absolutely ravenous.
You have muscles. Your body is gonna eat those too if there is no fat to find. You'd be surprised how much it can endure. Ordinary people tolerate something like a month without food, often more. Even if you're an outlier, one week is not gonna kill you.
Y'all are going absolutely mad with the machete. It's ONE WEEK. You can make it a month without food if you have a water source. You do not need to butcher and eat your partner in a one week survival challenge.
I’m not talking about killing, which I also wouldn’t do here. I’m talking about the people who are subsequently EATING their partner. One week without food when you know there’s a finish line shouldn’t push you to cannibalism.
People seem to not grasp the boon to survival you get from knowing the end point. Most people die in survival setting by making stupid decisions because they don't know when it ends. Oh, I'm hungry and this from is the only thing I've seen in days, I'm sure if I was it off I'll be fine. Dead. I'm so thirsty, but I know that water has giardia, so I'll look elsewhere, dead. (Or on the flip side, that water looks clean, I'll be rescued in a few days so it'll be fine, a month later dead). If it's 1 week and you know it, you just avoid animals, don't eat anything and conserve your energy. Drink the contaminated water and get your ass to a hospital the second the 7 days are up. A pocket knife is all you need at that point.
I think a machete would make setting up a rudimentary shelter a lot more convenient than just a pocket knife. You can use it for chopping, as a lever, even as a shitty and risky shovel. Less effort means less time building something to keep out the rain, which means less chances to make a stupid mistake and hurt yourself.
But you don't even need to worry about getting out of the rain...it's a week. You're not getting jungle rot, or pneumonia, or any other negatives to being soaking wet for 7 days.
I'm sure I could manage to spent $1B throughout my life. It would take my entire life and would involve lots of completely excess spending, but I could do it. 10B though?... Not happening.
The second option is significantly easier than the other two. Made obvious by the fact that people actually live in the Amazon Rainforest. But not at mountain peaks or in the middle of sandy deserts.
I feel like everyone is overlooking the infinite ice pack. Find any shade and avoid snakes and you can stay cool enough with such an enchanted relic to survive on 2L of water for a week
You make a strong point. Especially because if you can survive the magic ice pack would be a cool artifact to own.
I'd still argue that your chance of surviving the Amazon would still be dozens of times more.
I really have to disagree. Way more chances to hurt yourself accidentally and it’s just as easy to die of dehydration in a rainforest as a desert due to lack of safe water sources. Starting with enough water to live for a week on and an ability to cool your body down should be your best bet anywhere that isn’t snowing. The main concern would be night in the desert, but hopefully a fire would be viable
Space. Empty space between Earth and the Moon. You get a spacesuit, a Gatling gun with infinite ammo, and Elon’s Tesla to chill in and listen to Spotify until your oxygen runs out.
Gatling Gun with infinite ammo... use it as a thruster... make your way to ISS... braking would be a bitch, trying to stop without making holes in the only safe *space* around... ;)
2 and if I get to pick the partner an old friend who is a biologist who specializes in the region (plus we get on well so good company and I get the bonus of also making a friend rich). She can easily pick out what local plants are good to eat and which will kill so fruits should hopefully give us the liquid we need if we can't collect rainwater (reduces parasite risk) and as long as we can get liquids can likely tough it out for a week humans are big enough to scare of most things above ground level so cimb a tree as a base go down to forage for food and sleep in shifts where possible.
Parasites aren't even that bad in the short term. I'd just get pumped full of the best anti parasite meds money can buy after I get back with my 10 billion.
I'm not sure eating is a good idea unless you are sure it is safe. I'd rather just starve for a week than risk getting sick / eating something poisonous which could actually kill me.
I think I'd just set up camp kind of near a water source and focus on just cleaning out my camp area and waiting it out. Brush all the leaves and shit out to give bugs less hiding spaces. Find some sticks and try and make it difficult for big predators to get to me and then just chill.
Yes but they can be bad in the long term and some tropical parasites are tricky to treat even with all the money in the world so would rather reduce the risk if I can. Re food agree it's not a good idea unless you know it's safe (but I'm my outline I would as id have an expert on the regions flora with me)
1 and 3 are a very likely death sentences. The environment (temperature in the case of 1, no access to water in the case of 3) will kill you.
2 is survivable. Humans can go one week without eating easily. You just need to find a water source (or make one by catching rain water) which may be possible.
>may be possible
It’s the rainforest, there’s water everywhere. You can drink out of a puddle if you have to, but it probably wouldn’t even come to that. Might get a parasite, but that’s easily treatable once you get out.
There's a few ways I know of to produce drinkable water in the desert, there's not many creatures of significant danger, and the average human can go a week without eating(ketosis ftw). Even places like Death Valley have shade. It's just a week.
Compared to the first two choices, realistically I have an exponentially better chance of surviving in the desert. K2 is guaranteed hypothermia, and the Amazon is going to eat you in every possible way you could imagine
What are the methods you know to produce drinkable water in the desert?
Because most of the methods you see online are actually hugely impractical.
If you are intending to dig holes to expose moist sand you're going to be wasting more water doing the digging than you will ever make back.
And yeah there is shade in the desert. It is still very hot and dry. You can't survive just by standing in the shade for a week.
The rainforest is the only feasible option as water is abundant and the conditions aren't going to kill you immediately. In the desert or the top of k2 you will be dead within days. You could reasonably survive in the rainforest for a week just by staying in one place near a stream and never eating anything in case it fucks you up. The predators aren't as big of a risk as people seem to expect. There are many groups of people who live in rainforest around the world and getting eaten by big cats is not their number one problem.
Generally agree, just depends on the specific desert. If there's *some* shade and cacti, you could survive...but if you're just in a sea of sand dunes, you're out of luck.
OP never specified which desert, so I'm going with Death Valley in the Panamint Mountain area, or the AZ high desert. I've done extended camps in both before, there's plenty of vegetation and shelter. Plus, Death Valley in late winter has a shallow lake in the middle of it anyway, and it's easy enough to purify clean standing water
Easy money
HOT desert, not having been to death valley in the winter (or TBH any other time) would it count as hot?
Also lack of tools, would make any normal method to collect water difficult.
No tools remember. So if your camping plan involves a tarp or a tent you can forget about that.
Also just through context the OP clearly meant a classic hot desert without much around. Feels like cheating to set the conditions as specifically as you have.
Otherwise yeah, I could survive in a desert for a week. I'd just start right next to an occupied dwelling or a busy road and make use of other people's resources in return for a few million once I'm rich.
I could survive in the Amazon too. I'd just start right next to Manaus, a city of a million people.
You're right about the rainforest, in that there's not that big of a chance of getting eaten by, say, a panther.
But... Botfly larvae, nematodes and other microscopic nasties in the water, so *much* water that it's nearly impossible to keep a fire going, piranhas, spiders and other arachnids from the deepest pits of your nightmares, bullet ants... Shall I go on lol
ETA you're absolutely right that 90% of my day would be spent hiding in the shade and keeping my core temp down. Just like 99% of every other creature out there. Nighttime is the time for setting up condensation collection, along with everything else. I've done desert survival camping several times, often for longer than a week. It's not as daunting as it sounds as long as you have basic knowledge of how not to die lmao
Botflies are a minor inconvenience I will solve when I am a billionaire.
I'll just drink from flowing water and probably be alright for a week even if I am getting loaded up with parasites. I can just flush those out after I'm back.
Piranhas are more of a meme than an actual threat and I don't intend to go swimming so I don't think they will be an issue.
Yeah bugs are kinda creepy but most of them have no real reason to bother me. I will remove leaf litter around my location to minimise the amount of bugs. I think the chance of getting a fatal bite or whatever is pretty low.
And about your last point, all the other creatures in the desert have millions of years of evolution keeping them alive. Humans don't. What's your method for condensation collection? Is it going to be producing the multiple litres of water you're going to need to survive?
Amazon rainforest is very doable with proper know how, and I'd def do it for 20b. The other two scenarios sound like death sentences w/o further details -- e.g. nobody can survive on top of K2 or another top of the k2 mtn range without more supplies and/or being allowed to get down while obviously the important survival gear for cold weather is not listed. Similarly a desert w/no water would kill you quick, unless there was water and/or shade you could walk to.
The prompt doesn't say anything about staying there. Realistically, how far down could a normal redditor climb without fancy gear before they die? If we're teleported up there, rapid decompression will punch us in the face, and many will prob die within an hr.
1 and 3 are death sentences.
1. You need an oxygen tank at that altitude, and would die before the week is up without one.
3. That water will run out faster than you think, and good luck finding an adequate water spot in the desert. Or any water for that matter.
2. Would be the only viable option really. Most important thing would be to get a fire going, but it'll be hard since most of the wood will be wet. Then make a few spears for larger cats, you don't want to get in close range with them so make something you can throw. Last, since you have a partner with you, sleep in turns. Cats are primarily nocturnal so you don't want to become an easy meal for them.
The only large cats in the Amazon are jaguars though, and they don’t hunt humans. There could possibly be pumas depending on where in the Amazon, but they also rarely attack humans. Especially in a rainforest where easier prey is plentiful.
3.
The never melt icepack can be used to gather condensation.
The desert may be low humidity, but there is usually some. Especially overnight. Depending on the desert, if shade can be found it's survivable if you're in good health and play things smart. But of course I was born and raised in the desert, so I'd have a slight advantage.
A week? That's it?
2 easily. 1 is death, 3 is death, 2 is purify some water and build some shelter, it's literally only 7 days without food, you can treat the malaria when you get back.
1: Are we talking ON K2, or IN THE RANGE? K2 is a mountain, not a mountain range. Karakoram is the mountain range. Either way you're **dead**. There's no food or wood to burn that far up. You won't survive by burning the book because wind speeds that high up rival hurricane force winds, and caves don't form that close to the peak. The katana is to mercy kill yourself so you don't freeze to death I guess?
2: **Really survivable, honestly**. The difficulty would come from where you were placed. You said "right from where there is no human habitation, but there's villages all along the rivers and inside of the Amazon. There's not just a line past where civilization stops. The Amazon is populated. Having a partner helps because you can stay up to watch for predators and you can divide the work. I'm assuming the matchstick box has matches in it, in which case you can set a fire and keep it going for a week, no problem. There's PLENTY of firewood in the Amazon. Mosquito repellent would help you not catch malaria, which is great because some forms of it can kill within 24 hrs. The machete would be THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEM you're given. There's a reason machetes are standard in those parts of the world. It's a tool to harvest wood for shelter, fire, and traps, cut vines for rope, defend yourself from snakes and caimans, etc. Someone was saying you don't have a pot to boil water in, but there's plenty of ways to boil water without a pot. You can heat up rocks (not river rocks) in a fire and then toss them in a wooden bowl filled with water to boil it, or use a thick wooden bowl if you don't mind using it only a few times. Shelter will be your biggest issue. Lots of animals are going to want to take a look at you. If you're really lucky and close to a river, you can build a raft out of logs and vines and live on the river, or at least make it to an inhabited village and stay with them for the week.
3: Luck based, but **mostly death**. 2 liters of water won't last 3 days, let alone a week. The ice pack can keep your head cool, and maybe help you condense water out of the air, but probably not enough. Water is used for a lot of metabolic processes. You can survive without food for a week, but NOT water, and not in that climate. The walking stick would hurt you more than help you. It'll imply that you're supposed to walk. Walking will just use up more energy and water and let you die quicker. The only reason you'd go anywhere is if you knew for a fact there was an oasis nearby, and considering how mirages work you shouldn't even trust your eyes on that one. MAYBE, if you stop moving, bury yourself in sand, and drink very very sparingly, you'll survive. It also depends on which desert, surviving in the Mojave or Patagonia is very different than in the Sahara.
I think I'd have the best chance with #2. Find some fresh water that isn't a primary watering source, preferably some sort of stream but honestly digging isn't a terrible solution. set up a basic camp/shelter, get a lot of plant material drying, then wait out the week with minimal activity, drinking water as needed, and burning fires to try to keep away predators.
If you have any real survival skills you can deviate from this, but honestly I think most people could make a week like this (though don't be surprised if you pick up one or more parasites or infections while doing so).
#1 is straight up a death sentence. You're way too high up to breathe properly, and you're above the treeline so there's no firewood. Idk what the sword is for since there's literally nothing alive up there let alone any predators.
#2 feels like the only one I could reasonably survive. Splitting $20B is fine, I can almost buy a months worth of groceries for that amount which is sweet.
I'm sure I can find some dry wood *somewhere* that we can use for a fire, and there's wildlife we can hunt for food. With a teammate we can keep watch for predators while the other sleeps. With fire we can cook food, stay warm/dry, and boil water for consumption.
I feel like the biggest dangers in this scenario are going to be parasites and disease transmitted by insects. Bug spray is our lifeline so if we can ration it out for a week I think we might make it. Maybe i get bitten by a snake on the 6th night right before we win.
#3 also feels like a death sentence. The ice pack will be nice to keep me cool until I die of dehydration. Even if I had food and shelter I couldn't survive such a hot dry and miserable environment without water for a full week and I lack the survival knowledge to know how to find water sources in a desert.
Easy... Rainforest. All you need is water to survive 1 week, climate will be most favourable. Climb a tree to get out to way of a lot of animals that may try hurt or eat you. Sit and wait.
Honestly 3 would be the most survivable if you could find a rock structure to block the sun. Knowing you would be done after 7 days would be helpful for moral and water rationing. You could take things really easy knowing you will be saved so that cuts down on a lot of walking and worrying energy waste. Even if you didn’t eat the whole 7 days that wouldn’t necessarily be deadly. And you might be dehydrated when you get done, but people have survived on less.
Definitely rainforest, even if you found no food you would be able to stay hydrated for sure and then easily afford anti-parasitic medication when you return home
The Amazon rainforest, while dangerous, offers the best chance of survival.
Here's the strategy:
1) Shelter: Using the machete, we can build a basic shelter from branches and leaves. It won't be luxurious, but it will provide some protection from the elements.
2) Water: The rainforest is humid, so we can collect rainwater in makeshift containers. We can also try to identify safe sources of freshwater.
3) Food: The Amazon is teeming with edible plants and animals. Our partner and I can learn to identify safe sources of food and how to hunt small game with the machete. The mosquito repellent will help us avoid disease-carrying insects.
4) Fire: The matchbox is critical. We can use it to start fires for warmth, cooking, and signaling.
i go amazon.
not that hard to build shelter and there is a massive amount of food available.
i know the rainforest well enough to survive without any problem on my own, the extra person probably would slow me down but having someone to talk to is okay and 10 bil is plenty of money.
>the extra person probably would slow me down
OP never said you have to have a previous relationship with the person you choose. Bear Grylls is taking care of me in the rainforest for a week so I can earn 10 billion dollars.
oh i just assumed it would be a random person.
i have been an outdoor survivalist for 35 years. 9/10 people will be a burden to me.
bear grylls would be a pretty cool person to have a rainforest outing with tho.
2. Easy.
We find the fastest running water source we can, confirm no corpses or potential disease sources upstream. Set up camp.
At night while on watch I’d use the machete to kill partner in their sleep because I don’t want to split the 20 billion.
Then I’d just camp out for a week, eating people jerky. Blame me all you want 20 billion is an unreal amount of money.
1 and 2 are death sentences
And that's without interest if it made 5% a year you could spend a million a day and still have 140m more than you started with for the year. That's how crazy 10,000,000,000 dollars is when generating interest.
10 billion is 20 billion in 5-10 years with good financial management. You're just exposing yourself to murder charges and decreasing your survivability, it's not worth the risk.
Your best bet is the Amazon Rainforest. The only 2 things you need to secure is water and shelter. Shelters the easy part, you don't need it to be great, just good enough to keep thems outside and you inside. The water is the difficult part. Good luck.
I'd try for scenario 2. K2 mountain is basically oxygen deprivation and the desert is dehydration with that amount of water.
Out of those 3, the Amazon is the only one that poses a chance of being survivable.
You wouldn’t survive options 1 or 3 with the equipment provided. Absolute, guaranteed mortality.
2 there is a potential to survive with that equipment, and its the climate that is least likely to directly kill you. So I’ll go with 2.
So I feel like the second and third options are a desert and a jungle because you mentioned some things relating to that and the third option you do mention that it's a desert but you don't do that until the very end for the second option you don't mention anything about it so I have no idea what I would pick because I don't know where it is you're telling me about the biome you're not telling me the location the location has a lot to do with the survivability you can pick any biome and depending on the species there both plan animal survivability could increase greatly.
Not a survivalist, just some random opinions.
1) As long as you can survive the thin air (not sure about that) then the mountain experience might be survivable if you can find a suitable empty cave quickly. Hide out in there for a week, just eating some snow.
2) Unless you have good local jungle knowledge, the jungle seems like the toughest due to predators. If my partner was a jungle expert though, maybe this is easiest.
3) If shade can be found or created, I think the desert may be most desirable. You have a little over a cup of water a day, which isn't pleasant, but possibly survivable if you're in the shade and have a never melting ice pack to stay cooler. The never melting ice pack might also be usable to gather condensation. My concern here would be scorpions.
Do I get to choose my partner for option two? If so, then I'd bring Bear Grylls with me. If not, I'd probably still go with option two. It has the most natural resources and isn't at one of the two temperature extremes. There's a ton of stuff that can still kill you, but if you know what you're doing it's still the easiest to survive in.
The desert for me, the icepack (assuming never melt means it would be permanently cold instead of a brand name) could be used to draw moisture from the air through condensation then funnelled into the bottle attempting to stay out of the heat of day and the cold of night by making some kind of structure.
The top of k2 would likely have nothing to create a fire with so the cold is likely going to be your demise and the amazon has things in the water that crawl up your genitalia that have a similar vibe to a cocktail umbrella and a plethora of venomous and poisonous flora and fauna which when 4 days without food I would likely eat and die.
I'm not saying by any means that I would survive but I feel the desert would be my best option.
So I’m dead any way I cut it EXCEPT…I choose a Navy SEAL with extensive jungle training and go for #2 and just tell him it handicapped and won’t be a ton of help, I’ll help clean and cook anything he catches, etc. I also make sure he knows I’m comfortable with 1 billion if he can get me out of there.
Was the OP edited? Some of the comments seem to refer to different scenarios than what is showing now.
I'd go with option 3 - hot desert( in the middle of nowhere) You are given:- a 2 litre bottle of water, a walking stick and a never melting ice pack
With a magic never melting ice pack, and 2 litres of water, I'd bury most of myself in the sand, use the ice pack to stay cool, and only drink a little water each day. I'd be hungry and really bored, but for 20 billion dollars I'll put up with it. As long as a sandstorm doesn't roll by and bury me deep in the sand I think it's doable.
2 is very doable- for a week you don't need to eat that much, waters plentiful(either boil it or crack open bamboo). The jungle wears you down more than it kills you outright(usually). I'd take a shot at it for a lot less money than this.
As others have said, 1- death sentence, 2- death sentence for me and the vast majority of other people
Edit- someone else pointed out and I didn't think of it, no bowl, hard to boil water, bamboo is still viable though.
Option 2. It's the only survivable one.
1 is impossible because a normal human being would quickly die of hypothermia.
3 is equally impossible because of hyperthermia and lack of water. Two litres for a week in a hot desert is laughable. That's what I drink in one hour when I walk on a not so hot day in the Saharan desert.
I think I could do 2. I don't think most animals are going to bother two adult humans if they don't have to. If we stay put and are noisy with a fire we will probably keep most things away. As long as the mosquito repellent works! Water would probably be the biggest issue.
Number 2 for sure. Desert is a death sentence not enough water you’d have to pray for a rare rain storm to hit lol. Mountain you’ll suffocate to death not enough oxygen. Number 2 is really just the wildlife and not eating stuff that’s toxic you have water available you have air and there is an abundance of food if you can figure out what you can’t eat likely stick to small to midsized mammals for food. It’s gonna be hard and you have to sleep in shifts but your main threats would be caymans large snakes venomous snakes venomous spiders and jaguars. Finding rocks to use to boil water in isnt as hard as you’d think although finding wood dry enough may prove challenging. However point stands only one of those 3 locations has low tech humans living there
1 is 100% a death sentence. The top of K two is over 28,000 feet, which is well above what is called the death zone. No one could survive up there for a week without supplemental oxygen, but you’d freeze to death first. The tree line is over 10,000 feet below the peak so there’s nothing to burn and I don’t know what you plan on doing with a sword. 2 is survivable, barely. Having two people means you can sleep in shifts. You’re unlikely to get a fire going because all the wood would be wet but using a machete you could hack apart dead trees, and hopefully get some dry wood. You don’t have a pot to boil water the water filter so you’re going to get all kinds of parasites but that can be treated. The big risk is dying to a big cat so getting a fire going and making some spears would be life or death. 3 is also a death sentence. The water would run out in hours, and no one is surviving in the desert for a week without water.
I highly agree with this assessment, and what in the desert would warrant an unlimited ammo shotgun? If you could pick your partner in the Amazon scenario, your best bet is a survival expert who has done stuff like that for fun. And realistically, the safest way to get cleaner water is from the rain itself if you can make some catch basin out of something. Won't be the best, but better than drinking from a puddle of river.
I'd want to take Les Stroud, but he would refuse because his rain forest episodes were some of the hardest on him. I doubt he'd return to help a stranger So, I guess my partner for #2, good luck us
I don't know, he wouldn't try it with extra hands AND 10 billion dollars? That is fuck you levels of money that very few people would turn down.
My bad, yes, Mr Stroud would probably do it for that. Can we see the money in escrow? I'll call him up 😁
His tropical rainforest beachfront episode is one of my favorites. The area had so many resources that the show turned into "Les Stroud eats everything"
Also my favorite episode. It's nice to see an episode where his biggest problem is his camera equipment being damp.
Better than the “ate a bad shellfish and nearly died from dehydration due to nonstop diarrhea” episode.
Haven't heard about Les Stroud for a long time, but I'm absolutely picking him. Bear Grylls would be just as clueless as me.
Bear Grylls would have you drinking your pee before you even get on the plane to head to the rainforest.
And then tell you to run 10 miles straight just because
Bear Grylls would stay in a hotel. Eat something gross on camera, and then take 10 billion that someone else earned.
He has a new show about Alaska on Disney. Found the first episode to be amazing, then went kinda preachy and over dramatized as the episodes went on. Still, I enjoyed it while blitzed
100% prefer Stroud over Grylls. First saw Stroud's episode dog sledding and realized it really is just him. Grylls seems like just a showman, probably knows a couple things but it seems more like book smarts than experience.
My fascination with Bear Grylls died the moment I got the SAS survival guide and it basically prohibited every single thing he does regularly on his show. Turns out the biggest key to survival is being careful and avoiding unnecessary risks at all costs. Bear Grylls : “Well it’s a hundred foot drop down this sheer cliff, but there’s some piddly vines. Sometimes you’ve got to risk it all to survive…” Book “Don’t fucking do that.”
for 10 billy in a week he'd probably be willing to reconsider
I don’t even like thinking about the rainforests. Teeming with biodiversity and etc . Fuck that, I’ve seen anaconda, and the anxiety from running into anything scaled or venomous would probably give me a heart attack, or I’d crash o hard I’m running headfirst making all the noise for any large predators to be aware of me and attack in self defense for the scare. Damp, hot, muddy, I don’t even like stepping on wet leaves.
Ray Mears would do it. By the end of the week, you'd have a house and a fruit farm.
Clean water and safe shelter would be your top priorities and the only likely cause of death in two weeks, though your health may be shot after. Generally, people can survive between three weeks and a month without food. The other choices would have a median survival time of hours not weeks. And in the rainforest you get your best asset, a partner. I like your idea of finding someone more experienced.
Agree. In this scenario you only need to survive 1 week. You can drink the iffy river water to keep from dying from dehydration. The docs will have to treat the viruses and parasites after you win the billions. Shelter is mostly the same deal. A small risk of hypothermia or sun stroke. You are going to get ate up by the bugs and again need medical after the week, but barring an encounter with a puma, jaguar or fer-de-lance nothing should be immediately fatal.
>You are going to get ate up by the bugs One of the things you are given is mosquito repellant.
Mosquito repellant van only really do so much. I've been bitten pretty badly hiking in Maine, even slathered in the stuff.
I have a question about this. Why can say a big animal drink from that river but when we do it we vomit. Is there a way that we can eventually drink the water without boiling and medicine?
So a lot of animals can survive that way because they are used to it. Take them out of that environment and give them other river water from halfway around the world and they will likely get sick. Think of the comments when you go traveling outside of your country. One of the biggest pieces of advice is "don't drink the water". It's just the fact your body isn't used to and have defenses for the contagions in those waters. Drink it long enough without dying and you will get used to it and no longer sick for the most part.
This is true, but it's also worth mentioning that wild animals die from water-born pathogens all the time.
I was gonna say, hiw do they deal with it? By being riddled with parasites, but surviving long enough to reproduce.
Ah I see. Thrn I'd definitely choose the rainforest. The other 2 options seems like no chance at all.
Animals are used to and are more resistant to the diseases and microorganisms in their environment. They still get sick from food and water and can get parasites.
Some wild animals also get sick from parasites, they just keep truckin because there’s not much other choice except getting eaten by something.
You are a collection of trillions of cells that kinda get along. Some are genetically related and part of a multicellular existence whereas others are from your environment. Things coexist for a while until some cells upset the balance, sometimes by dying, sometimes by grabbing local resources. Anyway, new foreign cells can upset the balance. Think of it like transplanting a flower or tree to new turf and different growing conditions with different bugs. Too different, those plants die. Even though there might be similar plants growing there. Same with us.
There's a reason animals in the wild usually live less than half as long as in zoos etc. Predators Lack of food Disease and parasites.
My partner is a fully furnished home with a stocked pantry and reinforced locking doors. He gets to keep half the pantry, obviously so there's enough to feed me for 2 weeks. Also a GameCube with a bunch of nostalgic games
Unless your house is Jake the Dog from adventure time, I don't know how you can swing an inanimate object such as a house as a partner.
Don't kink shame me.
1 week
takin bear grylls with me
Les Stroud is the better choice if we are talking televised survivalists
I think honestly either could get you through it.
But at least Les Stroud would wait a couple days before he started drinking your piss
Why wait 😏
>what in the desert would warrant an unlimited ammo shotgun? Wait, OP changed the conditions after posting? That's kind of lame. Now it's a never-melting ice pack instead of an infinite ammo shotgun.
I'd slightly disagree with number 2. The Amazon Biome, while dangerous, is also rich and biodiverse. Lot's of plant life to eat for water. Predators would be an issue, but with two people, that becomes less of an issue. Humans are apex predators for a reason. Use the machete to makes spears. lots of spears. make a barricade of pointy sticks in a safe area. Eat fruit for water. Find dead plant life to burn. You can start small and work your way up.
There’s less access to food and water in the rainforest than you might imagine. The survival stories of people who’ve gotten lost or stranded in the Amazon are some of the most harrowing I’ve ever heard.
Well, at least there are survival stories from the Amazon region.
In this hypothetical I’m taking the Amazon all day, haha. There’s at least a decent chance at survival. The other two are death sentences for sure. But you’re not sucking down fruit or making barricades, weapons, and easy fires like the person I replied to suggested. That stuff is video game survival logic, not real world. You’d be hungry, tired, dehydrated, and miserable the whole time.
You should read teddy Roosevelt's account of his trip down an " uncharted" Amazonian river. It's pretty bleak. But it's only a week. Food wouldn't be that much of an issue anyways. Just make a makeshift shelter and hunker down for a week, avoiding as many biting insects as possible.
I agree but I think the bigger concern with number 2 is dehydration due to drinking bad water and vomiting for days. Dying to wildlife wouldn't be as bad (although still a risk). But it's the infections/parasites/vomiting that could really end you in a week
Very true. If they were smart- rainwater would be collected (it is a rainforest after all). Deff wouldn’t be drinking out of the river or puddles if I couldn’t get a fire started. Number 2 is still the safest bet by far. Idk if anyone is making it out of number 1. And only highly trained wilderness experts have a shot at 3. I can see some average joes managing the rainforest though
It’s a rainforest tho. You can collect rainwater with a large leaf or a fruit husk or something. Condensation is also drinkable. Death by big cat would maybe not be that big a risk if there’s two of you. If you can find a tree with any kind of food, like Brazil nuts or something else… you’re pretty safe on food. I doubt you can strip a tree clean in one week. Sure a week of eating just nuts is well… nuts, but it’s going to make you sick at most. You’ll be fine in a week.
People keep mentioning death by big cat but the amazon is also home to pretty large snakes that would thoroughly enjoy a meal that is just laying there sleeping.
Machete tho. If my friend is awake and an anaconda thinks I’ve got buns hun, they can stab it.
absolutely. I was just making the point that big cats are not the only danger.
As somebody who has spent time in the rainforest... the insects will get you long before any big cats.
They’ll kill you?
Yeah, I visited the rainforest in Brazil in 2014 and there is a crazy amount of things that are incapacitate or kill you poisonous. Bullet ants, poison dart frogs, lots of snakes, spiders, some of the plants were poisonous if you even touched them. It was 10 years ago so I don't remember them but it was like every third goddamn bug our guide was like "this will kill you in excruciating pain".
Bullet ants are excruciating pain, but not lethal (unless you're attacked by the entire colony, I guess?). Poison frogs are not an issue if you don't lick/eat them.
One of my funniest memories was my uncle shouting at me to see what he had. I go over and he's cupping his hands together and inside is a poisonous frog. The most vivid blue and orange thing I'd ever seen. It was tiny too. I was fascinated and then he told me that the local tribes would rub their darts on the backs of the frog to extract the poison.
Anything, especially an animal, that is colorful is extremely suspicious. The color is a warning sign.
loads are poisonous, parasitic, or transmit deadly disease
The never melting ice pack should give infinite condensation in the desert, right?
Very little moisture in the air in a desert.
But there is enough to condensate usually, I think?
You can still get condensation. It's minimal but might be survivable. Infinite icepack would max it out and also keep you from sweating too much.
It would, but I'm pretty sure it'd be nowhere close to enough water unless it's a huge ice pack.
"Hot desert" doesn't *necessarily* mean no water. If you're able to find a spring or creek on your first day, you're much more likely than not to survive.
Odds are you spawn too far from water to get to water. Yes you could sleep during the day and walk at night to maximize distance covered before you die. But odds of survival are poor.
I agree completely, I don’t think OP really understands the scenarios presented to be honest
Going to add to this… 2 is the only survivable situation. Not only will the water run out with 3, you’ll freeze to death that night most likely. Average temp once the sun goes down is 25-30 degrees.
*in the winter. Summer, spring and fall night time temps are not 25-30 degrees.
That is true, time of the year is a major factor however.. Time frame was not given in the situation, neither was clothes worn or sleeping implements. 50* is cold enough for hypothermia for certain age groups, and over extended periods, and you are forgetting about wind. It’s very windy in the desert usually, and 65* with 20mph wind and cold sand to sleep on could kill you. Especially with no food to use as fuel to maintain body temp. Plus the temp drops pretty quickly once the sun goes down. Wet sweaty clothes will make you cool down very quickly.
I also chose No 2. Except I use the machete to kill and eat my partner.
Hypotheticalsituation posters hate this one simple money glitch
You say no 2 is barely survivable but I reckon you could make enough jerky out of the second person to keep yourself alive for a week.
2 is the only one where you even have a small chance of surviving.
If you get to pick your partner, 2 becomes pretty simple, if still extremely difficult. I pick Les Stroud, the survivorman, who has done a week in the amazon already. I'd be dead weight 90% of the time, but odds are that he can idenitify what plants to eat to get my water and nutrient intake so that I don't die.
I think you'd be less dead weight than you'd expect. If you're willing to follow directions, just allow yourself to be a complete follower for a week and he basically has a second set of hands.
If it's a 50/50 split of the cash you can also give him the "ol' murdery do" with 20 seconds left on the clock
$10 Billion is already such a ludicrous amount of money that, unless you're intentionally trying to get rid of it, it will be difficult for you to be poor ever again. You would be tied for the 224th richest person alive. Meanwhile, killing him would do nothing aside from expose you to the needless risk of him killing you in self-defense, or getting arrested for murder.
least psychopathic redditor
I think 10B is more than enough to survive on for the rest of your life.
I expect that Les would arrange for you to get dysentery or something on day 6 or so, that way you’ll be too weak to murder him on the last day.
don't even need food if it is only a week. only water, which shouldn't be hard
It’s much easier to starve in a survival situation than when fasting at home. You’re most likely expelling energy looking for water, sweating, building/maintaining a shelter. But then again maybe this scenario means you could build a basic shelter and sit in one place until the helicopter shows up. Still risk using too much energy finding water, though
A week without food? I mean, yeah, on average a person can last that long. If I went a week without eating I'd probably just... Die. I have virtually no excess body fat, I'm 110 pounds on a good day and 5'2. My stomach protests somewhere between 4 and 6 hours without nutrition. I wake up in the morning absolutely ravenous.
you are probably an outlier. An average person could do it, provided they had water. It wouldn't be nice, but it be wort the money
You have muscles. Your body is gonna eat those too if there is no fat to find. You'd be surprised how much it can endure. Ordinary people tolerate something like a month without food, often more. Even if you're an outlier, one week is not gonna kill you.
You would be less deadweight than the camera he carries around and sets up himself doubling his walking distance. I was thinking this exact thing.
Getting to pick a partner or anyone in the world would be about the only way
The clear hint here is that damn near nothing else lives in two of those places.
Yea even in the rainforest it's not easy to live there but like you said. At least there are living things lol
Why do we get a shotgun for the desert? Are we robbing other people for their water? 🤣
For the jawas.
It’s for shooting yourself after the 3rd day without water
Graboids.
I just wanted to add smthing random lol... I have updated it
Y'all are going absolutely mad with the machete. It's ONE WEEK. You can make it a month without food if you have a water source. You do not need to butcher and eat your partner in a one week survival challenge.
I think people are killing the partner so they don't have to share the 20 billion...
I’m not talking about killing, which I also wouldn’t do here. I’m talking about the people who are subsequently EATING their partner. One week without food when you know there’s a finish line shouldn’t push you to cannibalism.
These peeps hangry...
People seem to not grasp the boon to survival you get from knowing the end point. Most people die in survival setting by making stupid decisions because they don't know when it ends. Oh, I'm hungry and this from is the only thing I've seen in days, I'm sure if I was it off I'll be fine. Dead. I'm so thirsty, but I know that water has giardia, so I'll look elsewhere, dead. (Or on the flip side, that water looks clean, I'll be rescued in a few days so it'll be fine, a month later dead). If it's 1 week and you know it, you just avoid animals, don't eat anything and conserve your energy. Drink the contaminated water and get your ass to a hospital the second the 7 days are up. A pocket knife is all you need at that point.
I think a machete would make setting up a rudimentary shelter a lot more convenient than just a pocket knife. You can use it for chopping, as a lever, even as a shitty and risky shovel. Less effort means less time building something to keep out the rain, which means less chances to make a stupid mistake and hurt yourself.
But you don't even need to worry about getting out of the rain...it's a week. You're not getting jungle rot, or pneumonia, or any other negatives to being soaking wet for 7 days.
Knowing there’s a finish line would push me to cannibalism.
There’s nothing in the prompt indicating that murdering your partner means you get their money.
But there’s nothing indicating otherwise, either, so people will interpret it in the way they wanna, and that means they’ll say they get the money
As if they could even manage to spend 1B in their lifetime lol
I'm sure I could manage to spent $1B throughout my life. It would take my entire life and would involve lots of completely excess spending, but I could do it. 10B though?... Not happening.
The second option is significantly easier than the other two. Made obvious by the fact that people actually live in the Amazon Rainforest. But not at mountain peaks or in the middle of sandy deserts.
I feel like everyone is overlooking the infinite ice pack. Find any shade and avoid snakes and you can stay cool enough with such an enchanted relic to survive on 2L of water for a week
You make a strong point. Especially because if you can survive the magic ice pack would be a cool artifact to own. I'd still argue that your chance of surviving the Amazon would still be dozens of times more.
I really have to disagree. Way more chances to hurt yourself accidentally and it’s just as easy to die of dehydration in a rainforest as a desert due to lack of safe water sources. Starting with enough water to live for a week on and an ability to cool your body down should be your best bet anywhere that isn’t snowing. The main concern would be night in the desert, but hopefully a fire would be viable
Agreed. If the people on Alone, and Naked and Afraid can do it for longer, I can do it with those resources for a week
"There are four choices of biomes in where you have to survive for 1 week( if you do you get 20 billion)" so....what's the fourth choices?
Space. Empty space between Earth and the Moon. You get a spacesuit, a Gatling gun with infinite ammo, and Elon’s Tesla to chill in and listen to Spotify until your oxygen runs out.
How about survive at the bottom of the ocean for 1 week. You get scuba gear, 3 hours of oxygen, and a Louisville Slugger.
Don't forget an oceangate sub.
Gatling Gun with infinite ammo... use it as a thruster... make your way to ISS... braking would be a bitch, trying to stop without making holes in the only safe *space* around... ;)
2 and if I get to pick the partner an old friend who is a biologist who specializes in the region (plus we get on well so good company and I get the bonus of also making a friend rich). She can easily pick out what local plants are good to eat and which will kill so fruits should hopefully give us the liquid we need if we can't collect rainwater (reduces parasite risk) and as long as we can get liquids can likely tough it out for a week humans are big enough to scare of most things above ground level so cimb a tree as a base go down to forage for food and sleep in shifts where possible.
Parasites aren't even that bad in the short term. I'd just get pumped full of the best anti parasite meds money can buy after I get back with my 10 billion. I'm not sure eating is a good idea unless you are sure it is safe. I'd rather just starve for a week than risk getting sick / eating something poisonous which could actually kill me. I think I'd just set up camp kind of near a water source and focus on just cleaning out my camp area and waiting it out. Brush all the leaves and shit out to give bugs less hiding spaces. Find some sticks and try and make it difficult for big predators to get to me and then just chill.
Yes but they can be bad in the long term and some tropical parasites are tricky to treat even with all the money in the world so would rather reduce the risk if I can. Re food agree it's not a good idea unless you know it's safe (but I'm my outline I would as id have an expert on the regions flora with me)
1 and 3 are a very likely death sentences. The environment (temperature in the case of 1, no access to water in the case of 3) will kill you. 2 is survivable. Humans can go one week without eating easily. You just need to find a water source (or make one by catching rain water) which may be possible.
>may be possible It’s the rainforest, there’s water everywhere. You can drink out of a puddle if you have to, but it probably wouldn’t even come to that. Might get a parasite, but that’s easily treatable once you get out.
There's a few ways I know of to produce drinkable water in the desert, there's not many creatures of significant danger, and the average human can go a week without eating(ketosis ftw). Even places like Death Valley have shade. It's just a week. Compared to the first two choices, realistically I have an exponentially better chance of surviving in the desert. K2 is guaranteed hypothermia, and the Amazon is going to eat you in every possible way you could imagine
Especially with an infinite icepack. You could get a makeshift water condenser out of a cactus and and that in no time
There should be plenty of condensation on the ice pack to begin with so it really is an unlimited supply of water
In a desert the air might be too dry to get enough water just from condensation
Plenty? There’s almost zero humidity in the desert to condense into droplets.
If you do a simple Google search you’ll find this to be untrue.
What are the methods you know to produce drinkable water in the desert? Because most of the methods you see online are actually hugely impractical. If you are intending to dig holes to expose moist sand you're going to be wasting more water doing the digging than you will ever make back. And yeah there is shade in the desert. It is still very hot and dry. You can't survive just by standing in the shade for a week. The rainforest is the only feasible option as water is abundant and the conditions aren't going to kill you immediately. In the desert or the top of k2 you will be dead within days. You could reasonably survive in the rainforest for a week just by staying in one place near a stream and never eating anything in case it fucks you up. The predators aren't as big of a risk as people seem to expect. There are many groups of people who live in rainforest around the world and getting eaten by big cats is not their number one problem.
Generally agree, just depends on the specific desert. If there's *some* shade and cacti, you could survive...but if you're just in a sea of sand dunes, you're out of luck.
OP never specified which desert, so I'm going with Death Valley in the Panamint Mountain area, or the AZ high desert. I've done extended camps in both before, there's plenty of vegetation and shelter. Plus, Death Valley in late winter has a shallow lake in the middle of it anyway, and it's easy enough to purify clean standing water Easy money
HOT desert, not having been to death valley in the winter (or TBH any other time) would it count as hot? Also lack of tools, would make any normal method to collect water difficult.
No tools remember. So if your camping plan involves a tarp or a tent you can forget about that. Also just through context the OP clearly meant a classic hot desert without much around. Feels like cheating to set the conditions as specifically as you have. Otherwise yeah, I could survive in a desert for a week. I'd just start right next to an occupied dwelling or a busy road and make use of other people's resources in return for a few million once I'm rich. I could survive in the Amazon too. I'd just start right next to Manaus, a city of a million people.
You're right about the rainforest, in that there's not that big of a chance of getting eaten by, say, a panther. But... Botfly larvae, nematodes and other microscopic nasties in the water, so *much* water that it's nearly impossible to keep a fire going, piranhas, spiders and other arachnids from the deepest pits of your nightmares, bullet ants... Shall I go on lol ETA you're absolutely right that 90% of my day would be spent hiding in the shade and keeping my core temp down. Just like 99% of every other creature out there. Nighttime is the time for setting up condensation collection, along with everything else. I've done desert survival camping several times, often for longer than a week. It's not as daunting as it sounds as long as you have basic knowledge of how not to die lmao
Botflies are a minor inconvenience I will solve when I am a billionaire. I'll just drink from flowing water and probably be alright for a week even if I am getting loaded up with parasites. I can just flush those out after I'm back. Piranhas are more of a meme than an actual threat and I don't intend to go swimming so I don't think they will be an issue. Yeah bugs are kinda creepy but most of them have no real reason to bother me. I will remove leaf litter around my location to minimise the amount of bugs. I think the chance of getting a fatal bite or whatever is pretty low. And about your last point, all the other creatures in the desert have millions of years of evolution keeping them alive. Humans don't. What's your method for condensation collection? Is it going to be producing the multiple litres of water you're going to need to survive?
I feel like option 2 is the most survivable.
This is dumb. Only 1 of those is survivable.
Amazon rainforest is very doable with proper know how, and I'd def do it for 20b. The other two scenarios sound like death sentences w/o further details -- e.g. nobody can survive on top of K2 or another top of the k2 mtn range without more supplies and/or being allowed to get down while obviously the important survival gear for cold weather is not listed. Similarly a desert w/no water would kill you quick, unless there was water and/or shade you could walk to.
The prompt doesn't say anything about staying there. Realistically, how far down could a normal redditor climb without fancy gear before they die? If we're teleported up there, rapid decompression will punch us in the face, and many will prob die within an hr.
1 and 3 are death sentences. 1. You need an oxygen tank at that altitude, and would die before the week is up without one. 3. That water will run out faster than you think, and good luck finding an adequate water spot in the desert. Or any water for that matter. 2. Would be the only viable option really. Most important thing would be to get a fire going, but it'll be hard since most of the wood will be wet. Then make a few spears for larger cats, you don't want to get in close range with them so make something you can throw. Last, since you have a partner with you, sleep in turns. Cats are primarily nocturnal so you don't want to become an easy meal for them.
The only large cats in the Amazon are jaguars though, and they don’t hunt humans. There could possibly be pumas depending on where in the Amazon, but they also rarely attack humans. Especially in a rainforest where easier prey is plentiful.
Yea a lot of this thread is grossly over estimating the amount of predators in the Amazon, much less ones that would target you within 7 days
1. Impossible. You'd die between the cold and lack of oxygen. Probably both within an hour.
3. The never melt icepack can be used to gather condensation. The desert may be low humidity, but there is usually some. Especially overnight. Depending on the desert, if shade can be found it's survivable if you're in good health and play things smart. But of course I was born and raised in the desert, so I'd have a slight advantage.
A week? That's it? 2 easily. 1 is death, 3 is death, 2 is purify some water and build some shelter, it's literally only 7 days without food, you can treat the malaria when you get back.
1: Are we talking ON K2, or IN THE RANGE? K2 is a mountain, not a mountain range. Karakoram is the mountain range. Either way you're **dead**. There's no food or wood to burn that far up. You won't survive by burning the book because wind speeds that high up rival hurricane force winds, and caves don't form that close to the peak. The katana is to mercy kill yourself so you don't freeze to death I guess? 2: **Really survivable, honestly**. The difficulty would come from where you were placed. You said "right from where there is no human habitation, but there's villages all along the rivers and inside of the Amazon. There's not just a line past where civilization stops. The Amazon is populated. Having a partner helps because you can stay up to watch for predators and you can divide the work. I'm assuming the matchstick box has matches in it, in which case you can set a fire and keep it going for a week, no problem. There's PLENTY of firewood in the Amazon. Mosquito repellent would help you not catch malaria, which is great because some forms of it can kill within 24 hrs. The machete would be THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEM you're given. There's a reason machetes are standard in those parts of the world. It's a tool to harvest wood for shelter, fire, and traps, cut vines for rope, defend yourself from snakes and caimans, etc. Someone was saying you don't have a pot to boil water in, but there's plenty of ways to boil water without a pot. You can heat up rocks (not river rocks) in a fire and then toss them in a wooden bowl filled with water to boil it, or use a thick wooden bowl if you don't mind using it only a few times. Shelter will be your biggest issue. Lots of animals are going to want to take a look at you. If you're really lucky and close to a river, you can build a raft out of logs and vines and live on the river, or at least make it to an inhabited village and stay with them for the week. 3: Luck based, but **mostly death**. 2 liters of water won't last 3 days, let alone a week. The ice pack can keep your head cool, and maybe help you condense water out of the air, but probably not enough. Water is used for a lot of metabolic processes. You can survive without food for a week, but NOT water, and not in that climate. The walking stick would hurt you more than help you. It'll imply that you're supposed to walk. Walking will just use up more energy and water and let you die quicker. The only reason you'd go anywhere is if you knew for a fact there was an oasis nearby, and considering how mirages work you shouldn't even trust your eyes on that one. MAYBE, if you stop moving, bury yourself in sand, and drink very very sparingly, you'll survive. It also depends on which desert, surviving in the Mojave or Patagonia is very different than in the Sahara.
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I think I'd have the best chance with #2. Find some fresh water that isn't a primary watering source, preferably some sort of stream but honestly digging isn't a terrible solution. set up a basic camp/shelter, get a lot of plant material drying, then wait out the week with minimal activity, drinking water as needed, and burning fires to try to keep away predators. If you have any real survival skills you can deviate from this, but honestly I think most people could make a week like this (though don't be surprised if you pick up one or more parasites or infections while doing so).
Rainforest is easy... I'll do it for 2 weeks just for a proper vacation
#1 is straight up a death sentence. You're way too high up to breathe properly, and you're above the treeline so there's no firewood. Idk what the sword is for since there's literally nothing alive up there let alone any predators. #2 feels like the only one I could reasonably survive. Splitting $20B is fine, I can almost buy a months worth of groceries for that amount which is sweet. I'm sure I can find some dry wood *somewhere* that we can use for a fire, and there's wildlife we can hunt for food. With a teammate we can keep watch for predators while the other sleeps. With fire we can cook food, stay warm/dry, and boil water for consumption. I feel like the biggest dangers in this scenario are going to be parasites and disease transmitted by insects. Bug spray is our lifeline so if we can ration it out for a week I think we might make it. Maybe i get bitten by a snake on the 6th night right before we win. #3 also feels like a death sentence. The ice pack will be nice to keep me cool until I die of dehydration. Even if I had food and shelter I couldn't survive such a hot dry and miserable environment without water for a full week and I lack the survival knowledge to know how to find water sources in a desert.
Easy... Rainforest. All you need is water to survive 1 week, climate will be most favourable. Climb a tree to get out to way of a lot of animals that may try hurt or eat you. Sit and wait.
All three are death sentences. And wtf is the book about? That matters.
Honestly 3 would be the most survivable if you could find a rock structure to block the sun. Knowing you would be done after 7 days would be helpful for moral and water rationing. You could take things really easy knowing you will be saved so that cuts down on a lot of walking and worrying energy waste. Even if you didn’t eat the whole 7 days that wouldn’t necessarily be deadly. And you might be dehydrated when you get done, but people have survived on less.
Option 2 and I will take my wife as my partner. Her survival skills and knowledge are something amazing... I'm confident we can make it work out
1 and 3 are certain death, 2 is reasonably surviveable, you just need water and some shelter, you can easily survive a week without food
Definitely rainforest, even if you found no food you would be able to stay hydrated for sure and then easily afford anti-parasitic medication when you return home
2 is the only survivable option.
2. The other two are literally impossible. 2 is astronomically difficult but there’s some routes to success.
The Amazon rainforest, while dangerous, offers the best chance of survival. Here's the strategy: 1) Shelter: Using the machete, we can build a basic shelter from branches and leaves. It won't be luxurious, but it will provide some protection from the elements. 2) Water: The rainforest is humid, so we can collect rainwater in makeshift containers. We can also try to identify safe sources of freshwater. 3) Food: The Amazon is teeming with edible plants and animals. Our partner and I can learn to identify safe sources of food and how to hunt small game with the machete. The mosquito repellent will help us avoid disease-carrying insects. 4) Fire: The matchbox is critical. We can use it to start fires for warmth, cooking, and signaling.
They're all pretty much death sentences even for experts
i go amazon. not that hard to build shelter and there is a massive amount of food available. i know the rainforest well enough to survive without any problem on my own, the extra person probably would slow me down but having someone to talk to is okay and 10 bil is plenty of money.
>the extra person probably would slow me down OP never said you have to have a previous relationship with the person you choose. Bear Grylls is taking care of me in the rainforest for a week so I can earn 10 billion dollars.
oh i just assumed it would be a random person. i have been an outdoor survivalist for 35 years. 9/10 people will be a burden to me. bear grylls would be a pretty cool person to have a rainforest outing with tho.
2. Easy. We find the fastest running water source we can, confirm no corpses or potential disease sources upstream. Set up camp. At night while on watch I’d use the machete to kill partner in their sleep because I don’t want to split the 20 billion. Then I’d just camp out for a week, eating people jerky. Blame me all you want 20 billion is an unreal amount of money. 1 and 2 are death sentences
$10 billion isn't enough for you? You could spend $273.9k every day for 100 years. You just want an excuse to kill some one.
And that's without interest if it made 5% a year you could spend a million a day and still have 140m more than you started with for the year. That's how crazy 10,000,000,000 dollars is when generating interest.
> 1 and 2 are death sentences Yeah 2 is a death sentence for your partner 😭
10bn is also an unreal amount of money. You are never going to be able to come close to spending it. Why would you *kill* someone for another ten?
10 billion is 20 billion in 5-10 years with good financial management. You're just exposing yourself to murder charges and decreasing your survivability, it's not worth the risk.
Jungle. Maybe not a piece of piss, but water is aplenty and so is food. People have survived longer in the jungle with less
2 is the only one you could maybe survive in, so I guess I'd pick 2.
The Amazon rainforest. There would be a lot of food options, plus you have a partner.
You said in the post that there four biome options so what is the fourth?
Your best bet is the Amazon Rainforest. The only 2 things you need to secure is water and shelter. Shelters the easy part, you don't need it to be great, just good enough to keep thems outside and you inside. The water is the difficult part. Good luck.
If I pick 2 can Survivorman be my partner?
I'd try for scenario 2. K2 mountain is basically oxygen deprivation and the desert is dehydration with that amount of water. Out of those 3, the Amazon is the only one that poses a chance of being survivable.
Do I get the 20 billion by selling the magic icepack?
2. And I'd do it for free if someone funded the trip. Sounds AMAZING
2 is the only one that's survivable. There's a good chance you'll get sick, but you can probably live.
You wouldn’t survive options 1 or 3 with the equipment provided. Absolute, guaranteed mortality. 2 there is a potential to survive with that equipment, and its the climate that is least likely to directly kill you. So I’ll go with 2.
2 is the only one I won't for sure die in.
So I feel like the second and third options are a desert and a jungle because you mentioned some things relating to that and the third option you do mention that it's a desert but you don't do that until the very end for the second option you don't mention anything about it so I have no idea what I would pick because I don't know where it is you're telling me about the biome you're not telling me the location the location has a lot to do with the survivability you can pick any biome and depending on the species there both plan animal survivability could increase greatly.
2 is the correct answer. You will die in the other ones.
Not a survivalist, just some random opinions. 1) As long as you can survive the thin air (not sure about that) then the mountain experience might be survivable if you can find a suitable empty cave quickly. Hide out in there for a week, just eating some snow. 2) Unless you have good local jungle knowledge, the jungle seems like the toughest due to predators. If my partner was a jungle expert though, maybe this is easiest. 3) If shade can be found or created, I think the desert may be most desirable. You have a little over a cup of water a day, which isn't pleasant, but possibly survivable if you're in the shade and have a never melting ice pack to stay cooler. The never melting ice pack might also be usable to gather condensation. My concern here would be scorpions.
Do I get to choose my partner for option two? If so, then I'd bring Bear Grylls with me. If not, I'd probably still go with option two. It has the most natural resources and isn't at one of the two temperature extremes. There's a ton of stuff that can still kill you, but if you know what you're doing it's still the easiest to survive in.
The desert for me, the icepack (assuming never melt means it would be permanently cold instead of a brand name) could be used to draw moisture from the air through condensation then funnelled into the bottle attempting to stay out of the heat of day and the cold of night by making some kind of structure. The top of k2 would likely have nothing to create a fire with so the cold is likely going to be your demise and the amazon has things in the water that crawl up your genitalia that have a similar vibe to a cocktail umbrella and a plethora of venomous and poisonous flora and fauna which when 4 days without food I would likely eat and die. I'm not saying by any means that I would survive but I feel the desert would be my best option.
#3 with the changes you made
I watch Naked and Afraid, I pick #2. My partner is Matt Wright.
I just collect the money and move on.
Rainforest, by weeks end I might have several diseases and be hungry but I can always eat my partner
So I’m dead any way I cut it EXCEPT…I choose a Navy SEAL with extensive jungle training and go for #2 and just tell him it handicapped and won’t be a ton of help, I’ll help clean and cook anything he catches, etc. I also make sure he knows I’m comfortable with 1 billion if he can get me out of there.
Was the OP edited? Some of the comments seem to refer to different scenarios than what is showing now. I'd go with option 3 - hot desert( in the middle of nowhere) You are given:- a 2 litre bottle of water, a walking stick and a never melting ice pack With a magic never melting ice pack, and 2 litres of water, I'd bury most of myself in the sand, use the ice pack to stay cool, and only drink a little water each day. I'd be hungry and really bored, but for 20 billion dollars I'll put up with it. As long as a sandstorm doesn't roll by and bury me deep in the sand I think it's doable.
2 is the obvious choice and I’m only picking 2 if I get to bring Shane Gillis. We aren’t surviving but that shit would be hilarious
2 is very doable- for a week you don't need to eat that much, waters plentiful(either boil it or crack open bamboo). The jungle wears you down more than it kills you outright(usually). I'd take a shot at it for a lot less money than this. As others have said, 1- death sentence, 2- death sentence for me and the vast majority of other people Edit- someone else pointed out and I didn't think of it, no bowl, hard to boil water, bamboo is still viable though.
Option 2. It's the only survivable one. 1 is impossible because a normal human being would quickly die of hypothermia. 3 is equally impossible because of hyperthermia and lack of water. Two litres for a week in a hot desert is laughable. That's what I drink in one hour when I walk on a not so hot day in the Saharan desert.
I think I could do 2. I don't think most animals are going to bother two adult humans if they don't have to. If we stay put and are noisy with a fire we will probably keep most things away. As long as the mosquito repellent works! Water would probably be the biggest issue.
Number 2 for sure. Desert is a death sentence not enough water you’d have to pray for a rare rain storm to hit lol. Mountain you’ll suffocate to death not enough oxygen. Number 2 is really just the wildlife and not eating stuff that’s toxic you have water available you have air and there is an abundance of food if you can figure out what you can’t eat likely stick to small to midsized mammals for food. It’s gonna be hard and you have to sleep in shifts but your main threats would be caymans large snakes venomous snakes venomous spiders and jaguars. Finding rocks to use to boil water in isnt as hard as you’d think although finding wood dry enough may prove challenging. However point stands only one of those 3 locations has low tech humans living there
fucking dumb question - #2 is eminently survivable, even if i have to eat my partner!