“For a man who is lost, the three greatest dangers in order of importance, are Fear, Cold, and Hunger. He may endure extreme hunger for a week, and extreme cold for a day, but extreme fear may undo him an hour. There is no way of guarding against this greatest danger except by assuring him that he is fortified against the other two.” Ernest Thompson Seton
Modern Wilderness Survival
Length: 2 Days
Day 1: Start 10:00am
Day 2: End 3:00pm
Cost: $295.00/person
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Survival is simple, just keep taking one breath after another. Our bodies simultaneously combine dozens of finely tuned processes to ensure that each breath is not your last. The challenge occurs when we stress our bodies through injury, heat, cold, psychological distress, dehydration or inadequate nutrition. At Mammut Bushcraft, we approach the question of wilderness survival from the perspective of knowledge. Understand our bodies requirements, how to care for our physical and psychological requirements, and finally, know how to safely plan an excursion into wilderness playground of your choice.
Hydration + Thermoregulation + Sleep = Survival
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That simple equation forms the basis of all forms of survival. And when you join us on Mammut Bushcraft’s Modern Wilderness Survival course you will learn proven methods for ensuring that you can meet the essential requirements for a modern wilderness survival situation.
Sheltercraft: Creating shelter in wilderness starts with understanding and evaluating the stresses that the environment will place upon your body. Selecting your primary shelter component, clothing that will provide adequate insulation, protection from the elements, and necessary flexibility to accommodate the range of temperatures that you are likely to encounter. After the immediate shelter of clothing, we will explore utilizing natural materials to provide shade, warmth, protection and psychological comfort. Do you carry a tarp that is lightweight? Easily deployed? Protective against wind, water and snow? Can your tarp shelter work effectively with fire to capture its warmth?
Firecraft: In our northern forests this ability to quickly and effectively create fires is essential to surviving an unexpected emergency. We will explore and develop our skillsets with matches, lighters, natural and artificial tinders, ferro rods and more. Knowing how to select fuels from the forests, and then create fires for warming, cooking, drying clothing, augmenting shelters and signalling for help are fundamental skills that will be covered.
Water: Practice locating and purifying water in the landscape. Discuss the advantages of filters, chemicals and processing methods that will provide you with the essential knowledge and confidence to avoid dehydration.
Sleep: Without sleep we lose our capacity to make intelligent decisions that are likely to improve our likelihood of survival. By combining effective fire and shelter technologies, our goal is to create an environment where restful sleep is possible, and our brain functions are optimized.
Toolcraft: While not essential to survival, the ability to choose, carry and use tools effectively should be considered. Selection, care and techniques of use will be covered for common and tools of the forest traveler. Environment and ecology dependent, course content could cover knives, multitools, axes and saws. Emphasis will be upon selection of appropriate tools and their safe utilization.
Survival Psychology: As suggested in the opening statement by Seton, our mind is formidable opponent or aid to survival. How will you respond? How can you increase your chances of survival through the power of the mind? How can you ease the concerns of your companions, your children? Without capturing the power of our minds, survival may not be possible.
Signaling: A survival episode is successful if you stay alive, but going home is sometimes nice too. This portion of the course will focus on risk assessment and mitigation, signalling via fire, light and 21st century technologies. How to create visibility through shape, contrast, movement, smoke and signals.
A final note on our Philosophy at Mammut Bushcraft. We teach many skills across our courses, from fine craftsmanship to primitive and indigenous technologies. But survival is simple, keep breathing, wake up for another fantastic day. And on our Modern Wilderness Survival course we emphasize knowledge about our bodies requirements, our own limitations, and sharing of simple no non-sense skills and techniques to provide students with the essential skills and knowledge to help them survive a wilderness emergency.