Advanced Wilderness Survival

When conditions deteriorate and others look for direction — will you be ready to respond and lead?

Advanced Wilderness Survival is designed for those who want more than basic competence. This immersive, multi-day experience develops the confidence, resilience, and leadership required to manage complex wilderness emergencies — not just for yourself, but for others depending on you.

Rather than waiting passively for rescue, you’ll train to take proactive control: stabilizing situations, protecting your group, expediting recovery within the critical 72-hour window, and making disciplined decisions under stress.

Built on the same modern survival framework taught in U.S. military programs, this course goes deep into applied fieldcraft. You’ll refine advanced shelter systems, firecraft in extreme conditions, water procurement and purification, tool improvisation, first aid and prevention strategies, and land navigation using map and compass. Through demanding hands-on projects and realistic challenges, you’ll strengthen risk assessment, resource management, and the ability to adapt when plans fail.

While no formal prerequisite is required, this course is best suited for those ready to push beyond the fundamentals — whether you’ve completed our earlier programs or bring meaningful outdoor experience of your own. Participants range from motivated beginners seeking serious capability to experienced outdoorsmen who want to eliminate blind spots in their training.

You’ll be guided by seasoned instructors who regularly train military personnel and bring that same disciplined, high-standard approach to a supportive learning environment. The result is rigorous skill development delivered with clarity, professionalism, and purpose.

Highlights

You’ll get the best of military survival training with just a little of the hardship!

• You can bring plenty of food and snacks, and you’re welcome to bring your stove, but you’ll also be encouraged to cook over open coals.
• You can pack a sleeping bag, yet each night you’ll rest in a shelter you’ve built yourself. Instead of using a sleeping pad, you’ll learn to improvise ground padding from natural materials.
• The best way to learn is by doing — and this course ensures you put your new skills and knowledge into real-world practice.

Related

The physical difficulty of this course is Moderate to Strenuous. This course involves some hiking while wearing a backpack (to carry your food and gear), walking, and other activities over short to moderate distances at a steady pace over varying terrain that may include off-trail sections, rough spots, unexpected obstacles, and low to steep inclines and declines. This course is conducted in varying weather conditions, including hot, cold, humid, rain, wind, and snow, or a mixed combination. This course is suited for those in good physical condition and ready for an active day.

This course is run as four day sessions with three overnights. It begins at 9:00 a.m. on Day I and concludes by 12:00 p.m. on Day IV.

Once you book a slot, then one of our staff will follow up personally with an email. It will include three short forms for you to complete and return to us. We will also send you the course information sheet, which will contain all of the details that you will need to prepare and arrive (like required and optional gear; exact rally point; general driving directions; and overnight recommendations).

This course is often run as a private one to better meet the specific needs and schedule of our clients. Please contact Erik to learn more (412.913.6000 or erik@exploretruenorth.com).

We typically reply to emails and telephone calls within 1-2 hours. Please note, however, that it may be as long as 24 hours if we are away teaching.

The minimum age for this course is 18 years.