http://maxdoesct.blogspot.com/

Furthermore, those of us who have NEVER even met this person have any right to try to judge or characterize him, all of this seems to be in the same ilk as those who fawn over celebrities, trying to determine what ailment or condition they are suffering from–please give it a rest.

It also seems that people are very quick to judge Chris, for all his blunders–WITHOUT ever looking at their own hubris and subsequent mistakes in the backcountry, which should be the real starting point of any discussion of this movie/book. Every experienced backcountry person starts a greenhorn and every greenhorn makes stupid mistakes, AND hopefully lives to learn from it.

Though I now live in New Zealand, I am originally from Oregon, and having lived along the Pacific Crest Trail for 8 years, worked in the backcountry (firefighting, hazardous fuel reduction, trail restoration, etc.), backpacked/tramped in the backcountry for several years now, have a fair amount of whitewater rafting experience over the years (including Grade 4+ and 5), spent a lot of time outdoors (including in the San Juan Islands, B.C., Cascade Mountains, Inside Passage, tropics in Australia and Fiji, Southern Alps of NZ, etc.), fully trained in CPR, First Aid and 2-way radio communication, etc.–Despite all of this, I have been washed down a river due to misjudging its shallow swiftness, been lost by myself (over the years) multiple times in the ‘bush,’ and been unable to truly help a workmate having (first attack) anaphylactic shock from yellow jacket stings (she took a turn for the better before her airways shut, after spewing the Benadryl pills and after the helicopter was unable to find a place to land due the terrain).
–The point being, what happened to Chris can happen to anyone and has; whether he was mentally ill or not is beside the point–we all make mistakes (in the backcountry) and this should really be an opportunity to reflect on our own AND learn.

[On another note, I would like to ask people to stop thinking of Alaska as some benchmark for ruggedness or the "Last Frontier." The 'Frontier' is a myth created by Anglo-Saxon men in their ignorance of the fact that every 'pioneer' did not aimlessly launch themselves into the wilderness, they survived with the help of the indigenous peoples who lived there or explorers/trappers/whalers/sealers (if they were non-local-indigenous persons) who had learned from the indigenous peoples and then passed this on to the 'pioneers.' I think this myth is in part responsible why people (such as Chris) forego common sense and learning local knowledge of the particular backcountry they are visiting.]

Thanks for reading!

It really depresses me, this “in-the-know” elitism and etnocentrism Alaskans have about their “hardiness” as a people. This need to brag about how they wouldn’t do anything so stupid as venturing into the wilderness unprepared. I dont think McCandless wanted to go to uncharted (to him) territory with safety blankets such as maps and compasses. He wasnt a hunter or explorer, no. He knew there were no blank spots anywhere anymore. In his mind, the only way the experience would be real, is if he approached it the way his heroes might have approached it decades back.

He wanted to be one with the harsh, unforgiving elements in order to search for himself. Much has been said about how stupid he was not to have the sense to bring a map, or he would have found a tram a fourth of a mile from where he was. But how would that have squared with what he was doing? It would have spoiled his wilderness experience knowing there was an escape valve of a tram within reach. He wanted to be untethered, unreachable. He wanted to do it on his own terms and rules. Was he right? From our own standpoint, no. Because he died. But that’s a very shallow worldview. I think Chris found what he was looking for. And he was very fortunate to have done so. How many of us can say that?