"Dear Ms. ( M.xxxxxxx)
We thank you very much for your email regarding "Ice Dogs."
Rest assured, none of Benedict Allen's plight in the Arctic was
fabricated. What he experienced was harrowing, and it was real.
I grant you that the dogs appear to have been found at the base of a
prominent hill. The dogs, however, had moved in the night, so that
particular formation would not have helped Allen in his initial efforts
to locate the team. Even if he had purposefully left the dogs at the
base of a ridge (which he did not), Allen would have been in a fix: He
was surrounded by several prominent pressure ridges and because of
gusty, snowy weather conditions (not "clear skies," unfortunately) upon
separation would have been unable to discern one from the other.
Allen reports that when he was about 200 paces from the dogs, a gust of
wind blew snow in his eyes and disoriented him. Another gust wiped out
his tracks. He marked his spot and then began arcing around looking for
tracks. He started to become anxious, tired and terribly thirsty, making
his situation only worse. Eventually, he decided to hunker down for the
night.
The next morning, Allen says he "smelled this smell, and I began going
towards it and it was the smell of raw walrus and it was the breath of
ten dogs effectively. And these dogs had waited for me." The relief you
see in the film is profound--and again quite genuine.
We here at National Geographic value the input of viewers such as
yourself immeasurably. Concerns like yours have helped us shape and
uphold our standards over the years. We hope this note helps restore
your faith in us.
Kindest regards,
CL Stroud
National Geographic"
gee, and since when can you smell frozen walrus meat...to those of you lost, like Benedick Allen was - see my entry #154 Ice Dogs.
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