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>Makes him seem a little less stupid. If he would have brought a map or done a little more preparation he could have taken the hand operated tram 8/10ths of a

• frankzinger 12y ago
  Here is a quote from the book to reiterate my point ('Roman' is Roman Dial, of which more can be found out here: https://www.travelalaska.com/Experience%20Alaska/Alaska%20Locals/Roman%20Dial.aspx https://www.travelalaska.com/Experience%20Alaska/Alaska%20Lo...): I bring up McCandless's hubris and the dumb mistakes he made-the two or three readily avoidable blunders that ended up costing him his life. "Sure, he screwed up," Roman answers, "but I admire what he was trying to do. Living completely off the land like that, month after month, is incredibly difficult. I've never done it. And I'd bet you that very few, if any, of the people who call McCandless incompetent have ever done it either, not for more than a week or two. Living in the interior bush for an extended period, subsisting on nothing except what you hunt and gather-most people have no idea how hard that actually is. And McCandless almost pulled it off. "I guess I just can't help identifying with the guy," Roman allows as he pokes the coals with a stick. "I hate to admit it, but not so many years ago it could easily have been me in the same kind of predicament. When I first started coming to Alaska, I think I was probably a lot like McCandless: just as green, just as eager. And I'm sure there are plenty of other Alaskans who had a lot in common with McCandless when they first got here, too, including many of his critics. Which is maybe why they're so hard on him. Maybe McCandless reminds them a little too much of their former selves."