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Bear Grylls is best known for his survival series, Man vs. Wild, or Born Survivor in the United Kingdom. Grylls was born on June 7, 1974 in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. When Grylls was the age of four his family moved to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. At an early age Bear learned to climb and sail with his father, politician Sir Michael Grylls. As a teenager Bear learned to skydive and earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate. In 1993 Bear joined the Indian Army for 3 years, and in 1996 was injured in a parachute accident jumping free-fall from 16,000 feet. It took 12 months of rehabilitation to overcome three crushed vertebrae so he could go on to pursue his dream of climbing Mount Everest. Achieving his goal of climbing Mount Everest in 1998 at the age of 23, Grylls wrote a best seller, The Kid Who Climbed Everest. This was the first of many books describing his adventures to include a series of children’s adventure survival books. Married in 2000 to his wife Shara did not slow him down when it came to new adventures. He and Shara now have three children, Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry. In 2000 he took a team and circumnavigated the UK on a jet ski. In 2002 Bear Grylls graduated with a degree in Hispanic studies from Birkbeck, University of London. During his studies he learned to speak Spanish and French in addition to his native English. In 2003 Bear and four others crossed the North Atlantic in an open inflatable boat. Following that adventure in 2005 Grylls lead a team to para motor, or powered para glider, over Angel Falls in Venezuela. This was followed by holding a dinner party in a hot-air balloon at 25,000 feet in full mess dress and oxygen masks. Bear Grylls chronicled his adventures on several television shows in the UK and Australia. Among these include Born Survivor, Man vs. Wild and Ultimate Survival. These shows originally aired in 2007 and 2008. While leading a team of four to climb the remote peaks of Antarctica, Grylls broke his shoulder and had to be medically evacuated. In 2010 having recovered from his injuries, he led a team of five on and ice-breaking rigid-inflatable boat trough 2,500 miles of the ice strewn Northwest Passage. In addition to charity work, Grylls is a motivational speaker and has a outdoor survival clothing line, Craghoppers. In addition Gerber knives are producing a line of knives and survival equipment in his name. Gerber knives history began in 1910, when Joseph Gerber was deciding on a Christmas present for his clients in his advertising agency in Portland Oregon. Joseph presented 25 sets of handcrafted kitchen knives to his clients. They were very well received and the catalog company Abercrombie & Fitch contacted him in 1939 to make similar knives to sell in their catalog. Joseph Gerber saw an opportunity and asked his sons, Ham and Pete, to help him begin Gerber Hand-Made Blades in 1939. In 1966 the company relocated to Tigard, Oregon and started making the legendary Gerber Mark II fighting knife the most popular knife during the Vietnam War. Many famous designers have designed knives for Gerber and he sought out these designers from men who had experienced a need for fighting or survival knives. Two employees, Al Mar and Pete Kershaw left Gerber and started their own knife companies. When Gerber took on the manufacture of the Bear Grylls line, they knew they had to produce sharp durable blades that can handle tough survival tasks. Also a survival knife had to be easy to handle as well as flexible in the tasks it can perform. The Gerber Survival Series ultimate knife epitomizes this design. This knife has a versatile 4.75 inch drop-point blade and a serrated edge to cut rope and other fibrous materials. The blade is a full tang design for durability and is made of stainless steel for excellent edge retention. With a comfortable rubberized grip, textured to prevent slippage, the handle has two holes to allow it to be fastened to a stick to make a spear. This knife comes with a sheath and lanyard and includes an emergency whistle, sharpener and fire starter. Gerber has created a whole line of the Survival Series to include knives, sharpeners, flashlights, machetes, Parang and multi-tools. Each of these survival tools come with Bear’s Priorities of Survival pocket guide. Doug Harper is the owner of SharperSafety.com.
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