Wilderness Survival Training
Wilderness survival training isn’t just for those people who are expecting Armageddon or who have applied to Bear Grylls to spend weeks on an island drinking their own urine! It’s not designed to tackle that kind of episode and speaking frankly - if that’s you’re thing you’re probably past learning anything that will actually be of use in a life threatening situation.
Let’s take a look for a moment at reality. Let’s dispel the myths and focus on what really counts. Put simply, survival is about confronting those unexpected situations that can cost you your life, staying alive and the getting rescued to return to normal life. It’s about pre-empting and choosing the right gear to carry; knowing how to use it and choosing to do the right thing at the right time. Above all else though, survival is about knowing your own limits, knowing what is an acceptable risk and being able to balance the outcome - should it be unfavourable. That is why people choose adventure holidays, go off-piste skiing, choose to visit difficult-to-reach places and to travel this planet in lonely places. We like to test ourselves and we like to push boundaries BUT we should also value our lives and take sensible precautions.
Attending survival courses is great fun BUT should give you a sensible grounding in what can go wrong and what can be done about it. Mostly though, it should cover sensible planning and preparation to allow you to have an adventure safely, rather than a life threatening epic.
The number of clients we have taught over the years, who have quoted survival manuals, books and even tv programmes as sources of FACT which have in some cases been superseded by documented academic research is concerning. The Hollywood effect further has a lot to answer for with CGI and camera angles or even stop motion photography used to make the impossible possible or their use of drama and simply “Incorrect techniques” in order to tell the story.
It wasn't so long ago that the only people being exposed to many of these risks were proper explorers, whereas nowadays, everywhere is more accessible and everyone thinks they are Sir Ranulph Fiennes. For those who wander far and wide, get the right information and get trained for your environment. Understand the risk, the threat and the ways in which you can mitigate those risks to make what you do as safe as it needs to be - manage the risk. Getting trained and educated should be obvious to stay safe in a dangerous world.
