Blog

Search-And-Rescue: What Do They Carry?

On December 27, 2012 / Equipment, News / Comments Off

I spent a week last Spring in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. These mountains are some of the most beautiful, and welcoming, that I have ever seen. But as one gazes upon its rolling peaks, it is wise to remember the adage, Looks can be deceiving. After all, this is the home of Mount Washington, famous for its dangerously erratic weather, which for 76 years, until 2010, held the record for the fastest wind gust ever recorded on the Earth’s surface. During all seasons of the year, outdoors people, from novice to experienced, are routinely needing to be rescued from its various peaks and slopes. Just for the short period that I was there, there were at least three major search and rescues, and a few minor ones. Sometimes the endings are happy, many times they are not. In this part of the country, search and rescues are conducted […]

What are the Traits of a Survivor?

On December 22, 2012 / General, Reading / Comments Off

If anyone is looking for a last minute Christmas gift, then I have terrific recommendation. One of the best all time books on the subject of survival is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why? by Laurence Gonzales. First published in 2004, Gonzales seeks to answer a classic question that has puzzled many of us for so long: Why does survival seem so unpredictable? For example, why does only one out of a group of five in a lifeboat survive while the rest die? Or, why does an experienced hunter die overnight, while, in worse conditions, a toddler survives many days? Using a combination of physiological and psychological analysis, plus true-life case studies, Gonzales weaves a deceptively simple, yet powerful, explanation: Equipment, training, and experience, though helpful in a survival situation, are not decisive … It is what is in your brain and heart that counts. One reason that Gonzales’ book is […]

The End of the World? Not!

On December 20, 2012 / General, News / Comments Off

Unless you tend, like me, to be oblivious of popular culture, then you all know that the end of the world will be tomorrow, Friday, December 21, 2012. That is just a few, short hours from now. If, though, you are also like me, you are already making plans for this weekend. In particular, I will be spending Sunday afternoon hiking with my friends, Edie and Celeste, who have invited me out as a guest with their Meet Up group. Afterwards, the three of us, then, will quite likely head over to Mad Mex in Shadyside for a margarita or two … or three. This so-called Mayan Doomsday Prophecy has been a staple of discussion for about ten years now, probably since just after the humdrum conclusion of Y2K (which I find almost hard to recall now). Since then it has become a fixture of fear-mongering websites and blogs, books, even […]

Hunter Survives 3 Weeks without Food

On December 17, 2012 / News / Comments Off

As I regularly explain to clients during our wilderness survival courses, a lack of food in a survival situation is not necessarily a big deal. In fact, in such situations, food is a detriment as it is a stressor on the body. This is one reason why you’ll often hear survival instructors talk about the Rule of 3s — That is, one can go 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter in harsh conditions, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. The following news account, then, helps to underscore my point: Police in Manitoba ended their investigation today surrounding the events that caused a man to become lost and stranded in the wilderness for three weeks while hunting. Other than an apple, which he ate on Day One, he had no other food and lost 40 pounds. So, this story helps to illustrate why, of the Seven Survival […]

Update – Lexi DeForest

On December 16, 2012 / General, News / Comments Off

Do you remember Lexi DeForest? In case you don’t, she is the Colorado State University student who in late August made a video of herself while she laid waiting (painfully) for a Search and Rescue team in a remote section of Wyoming after severely breaking her ankle. For more information about what happened, please read our original post. Anyway, about a month after her accident, Lexi posted another video. In it, she provides more information about what caused her to fall and the effort involved afterwards to rescue her. Like the first one, this video offers us all many great lessons — Chief of which is the power of positive mental attitude. Happily, Lexi appears to be doing amazingly well. Check it out for yourself:

The Survival Knife: Which One for You?

On December 7, 2012 / Equipment / Comments Off

For anyone who spends time in the outdoors, arguably, one of the most important items to consider having with you is a knife. It can certainly be handy as an all-around tool, but, more to the point, it plays a vital role in your survival pack. After all, preparation is a key component to best responding to an acute emergency situation and a knife can help you more easily do 1,001 things. So, spending a little time considering which knife can best serve your personal tastes, your chosen outdoor activity, your potential needs, while not burning a hole in your wallet, can pay off huge dividends. Let me, then, offer you a few thoughts which you might find helpful to get your started. A survival knife isn’t just used for cutting. In a survival situation, you will most likely also be using your knife to pry, pound, chop, dig, scrap, […]

Equipment Review: The BioLite “CampStove”

On November 18, 2012 / Equipment / Comments Off

I came across a product about six months ago that I thought might be very useful in the backcountry, but, since I was busy with other projects, I filed it away with the genuine intent of reexamining it later when I had some more time. However, after watching repeated news updates about the sufferings of residents in the metropolitan New York City region following Superstorm Sandy a few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to pull out that file and take another look. The product is the CampStove by BioLite. Initially, my problem was needing to recharge my iPhone while on extended courses or outings. I am not an active technology user, especially in the woods, but I have found that a smartphone can be a terrific safety and teaching device. Before I even venture out, alone or with a group, I use various applications to check such things as […]

Are You Prepared for a “Day Hike”?

On November 15, 2012 / General / Comments Off

While a terrific bunch of folks from Venture Outdoors met in Frick Park with instructors from True North last weekend to learn the basics of dealing with wilderness emergencies, a man in Orgeon started out on a day-hike. Unlike the VO group, however, this lone hiker apparently wasn’t as concerned about the possibility of unforeseen dangers, or being prepared for them. At one point, to stay warm, he actually lit his hat and backpack on fire! Earlier in the day, the hiker had set out along a trail (apparently with no map) near the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon that he once followed seven years earlier. Dressed only in jeans, a cotton tee-shirt, and a windbreaker jacket, he realized by 5:00 pm that he was lost. Not knowing the time of sunset, he was surprised by the onset of darkness and he had no flashlight. At 5:40 pm he contacted […]

Wilderness Survival 101

On November 11, 2012 / Adventures / Comments Off

Yesterday was splendid. Not only was it the most beautiful Autumn day so far this year, with the sun finally bursting out in the late morning, helping temperatures to settle in the low 60s, but a terrific bunch of people gathered at the Frick Environmental Center to share their enthusiasm for learning the fundamentals of wilderness survival. The group, all members of Venture Outdoors, took part in True North’s Wilderness Survival 101. The primary focus of WS101 is to offer a one-day introduction to the basics of wilderness survival. It is a great way for folks to begin learning about survival philosophy, skills, and what is involved. It is particularly nice too for those folks who aren’t quite ready for an overnight, or who are just getting involved in the outdoors and want to learn about gear and local resources. Either way, beginner or advanced, we always talk about the […]

Improvisation: The Lifeblood of Survival

On November 8, 2012 / General / Comments Off

This past summer on an EMS call, a paramedic taught me a simple, but important, lesson. We needed to move a patient from her bed to our stretcher, which we had momentarily left in the foyer, for transport to the hospital. However, since her bedroom was so tightly packed with furniture, and hallway access to it was also too tight and limited, we weren’t able to bring the stretcher the rest of the way to her bedside. I assumed, then, I would need to make a run to the ambulance to grab another piece of equipment that is specifically engineered to be used in such instances. However, the medic simply asked me to grab a sheet off the stretcher. A sheet? What good, I thought, could a sheet possibly do us now? When I handed it to him, he unfolded the sheet next to her, and gently helped her slide […]