This is a very important question to answer, as it is vital to exploring why he was unprepared or what he could have done instead. Probably the most obvious example is when he starved to death on the rough bank of a river that he died thinking he could not cross. Unable to cross the river, Chris was forced to try to survive on the local wildlife and vegetation. It turned out to be a losing battle and he couldn't hold it together long enough to find a way across. How does Chris's inability to cross a river relate to his supposed lack of preparation? Chris did not have a map (Krakauer, 129), easily considered one of, if not the most important tools for venturing into the outdoors. If Chris had taken a map, he would have known that the place where he otherwise would have died was less than a mile from a railroad crossing. “If he had known [about the river crossing], crossing the Teklanika to safety would have been a trivial matter. However, since he did not have a topographical map, he had no way of conceiving that salvation was so close at this location..