Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Survival in the Icicle Fief

You and your fellow readers are on your way to visit the Ice Queen in the Icicle Fief. Unfortunately, your small light aircraft crashes and your group, wearing business clothing, is stranded on a forested mountain in appalling winter weather (snow covered, sub-freezing conditions), anything between 50 and 200 miles from civilisation (you are not sure of your whereabouts, and radio contact was lost one hour before you crashed, so the search operation has no precise idea of your location either). The plane is about to burst into flames and you have a few moments to gather some items. Aside from the clothes you are wearing which does not include coats, you have no other items. It is possible that you may be within mobile phone signal range, but unlikely.

Your aim is to survive as a group until rescued. From the following list choose just ten items that you would take from the plane, after which it and everything inside is destroyed by fire.

Splitting or only taking part of items is not permitted.

Pack of 6 boxes x 50 matches.
Roll of polythene sheeting 3m x 2m
1 crate of beer (12 litres in total)
1 bottle of brandy
1 crate of bottled spring water (twelve litres in total)
Small toolbox containing hammer, screwdriver set, adjustable wrench, hacksaw and large pen-knife.
Box of distress signal flares.
Small basic first-aid kit containing plasters, bandages, antiseptic ointment, small pair of scissors and pain-killer tablets.
Tri-band mobile phone with infrared port and battery half-charged.
Clockwork transistor radio.
Gallon container full of fresh water.
Box of 36 x 50gm chocolate bars.
Shovel.
Short hand-held axe.
Hand-gun with magazine of 20 rounds.
20m of 200kg nylon rope.
Box of 24 x 20gm bags of peanuts.
Bag of 10 mixed daily newspapers.
Box of tissues.
Bag of 20 fresh apples.
Electronic calculator.
Laptop computer with infrared port, modem, unknown software and data, and unknown battery life.
Inflatable 4-person life-raft.
Compass.
Large full Aerosol can of insect killer spray.
Small half-full aerosol can of air freshener spray.
Notebook and pencil.
Box of size 8 women's promotional pink 'Barbie' branded fleece-lined track-suits (quantity is half of each team/group size).
Gift hamper containing half-bottle champagne, large tin of luxury biscuits, box of 6 mince pies, 50gm tin of caviar without a ring-pull, a 300gm tin of ham without a ring-pull, and a 500gm christmas pudding.
Travelling games compendium containing chess, backgammon and draughts.
Sewing kit.
Whistle.
Torch with a set of spare batteries.
Box of 50 night-light 6hr candles.
Bag of 6 large blankets.



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