He Saved Himself from Death in the Arctic- with His Own Poop

Danish explorer Peter Freuchen led a life full of adventure and diverse accomplishments. As a young man, he became enamored with the Arctic and built the Thule Trading Station in Greenland, among other adventures. He traveled to South Africa and Siberia. He was editor-in-chief of a Danish magazine. He ran a movie studio. He worked with the Danish resistance in World War II, was arrested by the Nazis, and escaped from them. He was friends with European royalty. And he won the top prize on the American TV game show The $64,000 Question.  

But there was one incident Freuchen wrote about that people remember more than any other, although Freuchen himself treated the incident as just another in a long line of adventures. In 1912, he left a dogsled expedition in Greenland to pick up supplies and got lost. As night fell, he dug a trench to sleep in and pulled his sled over the top as a roof. Snow fell and drifted heavily over his shelter, and Freuchen woke up buried under ice. He worked for hours, possibly days, to free himself. Freuchen finally hit upon the right tool when he fashioned an ice chisel out of his own excrement. He lost his beard, some skin, and several toes from his ordeal, but he managed to live to write about it and go on many other adventures. Read the story of how all that was accomplished at Mel magazine. -via Digg


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