Artificial handholds used to crawl out of frozen lake

From BearWiki

Claim: Artificial handholds were dug in the ice for Bear to use when he crawled out of the lake

In the European Alps, Bear jumps into a frozen lake to demonstrate how to get yourself out.[1]. In this demonstration, he used two ridiculously convenient holes located just inside his reach to remove himself.

The first image shows Bear just as he is jumping into the lake. The holes he will use later to pull himself out are faintly visible near the “D” in Discovery. This image shows that the surface of the ice he is standing on is reasonably solid. The handholds are not where he was walking, and he leaves no visible footprints where he jumped.

The second image shows Bear using the handholds to leverage himself out of the water. He still exhibited great difficulty getting out, and it is very unlikely he could have done it on his own without this remarkable advantage.

[edit] Analysis

Support: This entire scene is completely, overtly staged. He starts a fire BEFORE he gets into the water. He has hand holds dug in the ice to facilitate his exit. None of these extras would a viewer have in this kind of emergency. It makes the whole process look amazingly easy when in fact it's a tremendously risky scenario. It would have been much more valuable to have him dig his own holds or realistically struggle to get out. It would also have been valuable to have him gather wood and start a fire AFTER he got out.

Oppose: The hand holds could have easily been dug in the time he spends explaining the dangers of falling in the ice, and he does struggle even with those hand holds to help him. Also if he were for some reason unable to make a fire he would have died. Keep in mind that making a fire can fail for a number of reasons no matter how developed your survival skills are, and there is no reason for him to risk his life so carelessly, especially since there are plenty of episodes in this series that teach you how to make a fire.

Support: That doesn't change the fact that if someone fell into the ice water by accident, this demonstration in no way helps explain how to get out if you suddenly fell in. I don't imagine people dig handholds conveniently near where they fall in.

Support: You're dead on. Read what an arctic explorer who fell through the ice has to say.[2] The main observations? "There were two problems when I fell in the water," Tina says. "1. There were no holds to grab when I tried to get out. 2. The thin edge of the ice kept breaking off under my weight." She escaped with her life not by doing what Bear does (relying on conveniently dug handholds), but by grabbing her ski pole, swimming to a thicker section of ice, and using the sharp tip of the pole to get a grip on the surface. She had plenty of time, as do most people who fall in the water; wasting your energy trying to rush out with a poor strategy is a good way to get killed. She also has disdain for Bear's stripping advice.