Indigenous Ability

Alexander I [Aleksandr Pavlovich 1777-1825], was a beloved Russian monarch. At the suggestion of his grandmother Catherine the Great…] “…he was taught from his early childhood to sleep, lightly covered, with the windows wide open, and a mattress of morocco leather stuffed with hay. He became almost immune to weather, and enjoyed ‘extraordinary health and vitality.’” -Will & Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization , Vol. 11, page, 677. [ The Age of Napoleon ] Keep in mind, this open-window robustification was in Russia. [For an in-depth historical, cultural, and scientific examination of building cold tolerance and robustification see Cold Tolerance: Warriors,Explorers, the Science by Mark Hatmaker also on this blog.]

“[I suffered] a succession of shivering fits which I was quite unable to stop and which took possession of my body until I thought my back would break, such was the strain placed upon it.” That is Apsley Cherry-Garrard writing in his fascinating book The Worst Journey in the World [1922] which is his first-hand account of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Antarctica expedition. The Terra Nova Expedition , so named because of the vessel they travelled in, was ostensibly an endeavor for science but, at its heart, it was for man vs. the elements glory in an age of Great Explorers. Cherry-Garrard’s account is compelling, tragic, and, in more than a few sections, of high pragmatic instructional value. We can learn far more from the wise moves and, in many cases, the mistakes of actual men and women living in the raw than from all the theories and suppositions on the planet put together. Cherry-Garrard’s tale of enduring the hazards of cold weather is not particular to h...