Steven Callahan departs from El Hierro in the Canary Islands, in Napoleon Solo - a sloop he designed and built himself. He's bound for Antigua as part of the Mini Transat 6.50 single-handed sailing race from Penzance, England. One night a ferocious storm severely damages his boat. He escapes the sinking vessel in an inflatable life-raft, nicknamed Ducky, with a meagre supply of food and water. For 76 days he is adrift in the Atlantic Ocean at the mercy of the currents and winds. During his ordeal he is battered by the elements, attacked by sharks and plagued by constant punctures to his raft. It's an epic story where one man's will to survive is put to the ultimate test.

A group of five teenaged scouts and three adult guides hike into the Grand Canyon during a heat wave. As their water runs out and the older members collapse in exhaustion, three of the teenagers must set out on their own to reach the Colorado River.

A helicopter rescue crew fight for their lives.

Twenty five year old nurse Linda Forney and her pet dog Cocoa Gin set off to explore one of the seven natural wonders of the world - the Grand Canyon. On route to a native Indian village she takes a wrong turn and ends up lost, alone and with no food or water. Totally disoriented Linda hikes deeper into the maze of sub-canyons that make up the Grand Canyon. With temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and surrounded by exotic and dangerous wild animals, Linda finds herself in a real fight for survival. After weeks of little water, dehydration and starvation start bring her close to death. Then she finds herself trapped in a canyon, with no way out.

British hiker Matt Briggs spends ten days stranded in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island following a crippling fall on a solo trek. With no sign of rescue and his supplies running low, Matt and his canine companion 'Little Dog' must fight horrendous injuries and brutal terrain to save their own lives.

Divorcee Mathew McGough is taking his five-year-old daughter Shannon for an overnight camping trip to Wallaroo Rocks, deep in the Western Australian Outback. It's Mathew's last chance to spend time with his daughter before he packs up and moves to South Australia to start a new life, so he's keen to make it a trip to remember. When Mathew takes a wrong turn it triggers a sequence of disastrous events that puts both their lives in serious danger. After 8 days in the outback Mathew is on the verge of death and confronted with an excruciating dilemma - kill his young daughter, or leave her to face a painful death alongside him, in one of the world's most hostile environments.

In January 1999, Jamie Andrew and his friend Jamie Fisher are trapped on a ledge in the French Alps when a surprise snowstorm blows in.

50 year-old Australian mountaineer Lincoln Hall attempted to climb Everest in 1984 but didn't reach the summit. Now, 22 years later, he has a second chance. Despite his age, Lincoln fulfils his lifelong dream, but on the descent is struck by a deadly form of altitude sickness known as a cerebral oedema. Unable to climb and suffering from hypothermia, Lincoln is left for dead at 28,000ft. His survival is nothing short of a miracle.

Five young guys from Bozeman, Montana have got together for a back-country ski trip to celebrate New Year 2005. Sam Kavanagh, Blake Morstad, Jason Thompson, Chris Maki and Matt Schuyler have grown up together. They're close friends and expert skiers. On the final day of their trip they accidentally trigger a huge avalanche. One of the gang is killed and another is left critically injured. Miles from safety, a dream adventure turns into a living hell.

Just three months into a new relationship, Roger Sargeant, his new girlfriend Shelly and her two young daughters Tiffany (9) and Michaela (5) are on a day trip in the Arizona desert. Things go badly wrong when they get lost and are then forced to abandon their car. In a desperate bid to walk out they become separated. Over two hellish days and nights, Roger and Shelly's family, independently battle to escape soaring summer heat, dehydration, hostile terrain, rattlesnakes and prowling gangs of people smugglers.

Amateur photographer Jordan Nicurity is exploring a beautiful cove on Hornby Island in British Columbia when he falls 20ft from a cliff, shattering his pelvis and rupturing internal organs. Crippled by injury Jordan faces a life and death struggle only miles from where he lives. For 4 days his will to survive is put to the ultimate test.

A couple go on a tour of the San Jacinto Mountains, only to find themselves stranded and alone for 4 days fighting for their lives.

Two divers get stranded in the Pacific Ocean when their boat has to leave them. As they believe help is not coming they make a decision to swim for shore miles away or die trying.

In 2003, David Hunt and his 11-year-old daughter Leia, set off on a snowmobiling adventure in the Quebec back country. Disaster strikes when David's snowmobile hits a snow drift and crash lands into a ravine. Stranded miles from safety with a badly broken leg in sub zero temperatures; David's only chance of survival rests with his daughter Leia. It's the greatest test of her young life and one she can't afford to fail.

Five boat safari goers find themselves stranded in the hippo and crocodile-infested Zambezi River when their watercraft sinks due to a mad hippo. Three get stranded on a submerged sand flat in the middle of the river and the other barely makes it to the shore. None of them are protected from Africa's deadly wildlife.

On the final leg of an amazing two year sailing voyage, the Silverwood Family hit some stormy weather 180 miles west of Bora Bora in the South Pacific. It's no big deal, until a broken mast pin and a submerged rocky reef suddenly turns their adventure into a potentially deadly one. As the mast snaps, it falls on dad John, severing his leg. It's up to teenage son Ben, to become the man and help to save his family. He gets the family off the sinking boat, but as they spend a terrifying night on a reef in the middle of the ocean, will rescue get to them before Ben's father dies of blood loss?

Trainee pilot Justin Kirkbride takes two friends, Tommy and Larry, on a sightseeing tour of the Rocky Mountains, but crashes on a steep, snowy mountainside. Larry breaks his leg, while best friend Tommy is knocked unconscious. Only Justin escapes unscathed. He decides to hike 45 miles down the treacherous mountainside in search of help. As darkness falls he picks up a cell signal and manages to summon a rescue helicopter. He joins the rescue pilots in the search for his two missing friends, but their crash site is hidden by thick pine forest. The search is about to be called off when disaster strikes again - the rescue helicopter clips a tree and smashes into the mountainside. Can Kirkbride escape with his life for the second time in 24 hours? And will his passengers now succumb to their injuries during the freezing night?

Skipper Steve Conway, safety officer Roger Stone and four student sailors are competing in a 4 day, 600 mile yacht race from Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. But in the dead of night and just 60 miles in, their 38ft yacht, Cynthia Rose, springs a leak and capsizes. What began as a fun-trip has just turned into the men's worst nightmare. Roger and two students are trapped inside the capsized boat, whilst Steve and the other two students have been thrown overboard into freezing shark infested waters. Only five of the six men survive.

Experienced climbers Rachel Kelsey and Jeremy Colenso are in the Swiss Alps descending the Piz Badille Mountain when they are caught up in a terrifying electrical storm. Anchored onto the mountain with their metal climbing equipment, Rachel and Jeremy have become human lightning conductors. They have a heart-stopping dilemma - risk it all climbing down through the storm or spend the night on the mountain, where temperatures dip to -20.

Lifelong friends Joseph Rangel and Lorenzo Madrid, both in their 50s, sign up for a five-day sport fishing trip in the Sea of Cortez. On their final day of fishing the two Americans and their Mexican guide Pepe are shipwrecked on a remote and hostile desert island. With no sign of a rescue mission and little in the way of food or water the three men are in dire straights. Their only hope of survival is to embark on an epic 12 day journey to the northern tip of the Island where they hope to attract the attention of passing fishermen. But the extreme heat and unforgiving landscape exacts the ultimate toll ... not all of them make it out alive.

Running through the majestic splendour of the Grand Canyon the Colorado River offers construction contractor David Whittlesey with just the kind of challenge he craves. He embarks on a 3 week, 280 mile white-water rafting expedition, opting to tackle some of America's most gruelling rapids on his own. Just days away from completing his journey David's raft capsizes, gets stuck and he loses all of his life-saving supplies. As he attempts to scale a cliff face, which is his only way out, he falls and injuries himself. He is trapped, alone and knows that hypothermia could kill him before anyone even knows where he is or that his life is in danger.

Mountaineer Jim Davidson and best-friend Mike Price embark on a mountaineering expedition to conquer the snow-shrouded summit of Mount Rainier in Washington State. On the descent disaster strikes when, without warning, Jim plunges into an 80 foot crevasse, pulling Mike down with him. Having survived the fall and an avalanche of snow Jim discovers that partner Mike has not been so lucky. To save his own life, Jim has to figure out a way to scale the sheer frozen walls, injured, without the right gear or a climbing partner. Can Jim overcome his grief and find the courage and skill to attempt the toughest climb of his life?

Ken gets lost alone on a trip to Mayan ruins.

Two brothers go on a hike in Utah's Canyons. They expect the trip will take no more than 8 hours, but when freezing temperatures come, one brother breaks his leg and the other has to find help... and fast.

Charlie Hench has set himself a big challenge before he turns the big 50 - to fulfil his dream of a late-summer solo hike through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But he underestimates the challenge ahead. Charlie is at 9,000 feet when an early snowstorm suddenly blows in. The amateur hiker is soon out of his depth, lost in the snow-covered landscape. A missed step on the treacherous boulders and he's crashes over the side of the mountain. Only a ledge, the size of a car bonnet, saves him from falling 500 feet to his death. Charlie is trapped and badly injured, with a shattered wrist and fractured spine. He's alone and there's no way up or down. He knows no-one will even know he's missing for days, but will he survive trapped on the exposed on the side of a cliff?