Posts Tagged ‘FAWM’

The Most Dangerous (but Ignored) Wilderness Threat

The Most Dangerous (but Ignored) Wilderness Threat

If I were to ask you what kills more people in the backcountry than anything else, what would you guess? Based on talks that I have had with students in our various survival and medicine courses over the years, your answer might likely be some wild creature.  Topping the list of the usual suspects are bears, cougars, and snakes.  I certainly cannot blame them because deaths due to such attacks are featured most prominently in the news media, not to mention that they make a good plot thread in a screenplay.  After all, few movie trailers could be more dramatic and exciting than Leonardo DiCaprio fighting off a grizzly (even if it was computer-generated). But the simple (even if boring) fact of the matter is that what kills more people in the outdoors, either directly or as a significant contributing factor, isn’t wildlife (which is exceedingly rare), but rather an easily understood and […]

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Congratulations Survival Grads

Congratulations Survival Grads

True North is really proud to welcome our newest survival graduates who completed our Basic Wilderness Survival (BWS) course this weekend.  Some might think that this was some simple Spring camping trip, but, trust me, they’d be wrong … definitely wrong. After all, Winter would better describe the conditions!  This crew of four not only arrived bright and early at the trailhead, despite ample snow on the ground at Quebec Run Wild Area in the Laurel Highlands and the forecast upcoming overnight low temperature of 14 degrees, but they put their nervousness and physical discomfort aside to work hard all day, laughing and smiling throughout.  Even when they emerged from their tents the next morning with frost on their hats (where it had actually hit 12 degrees overnight) they continued to amply demonstrate positive mental attitude — the hallmark of the survivor — at its finest. We enjoyed a wonderfully diverse group who took our BWS […]

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WMS Approves our Courses

WMS Approves our Courses

True North is proud to announce that the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) has recently accepted our Basic Wilderness Navigation and Basic Wilderness Survival as approved courses in its Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) program.  This former, then, provides 6-credits of “Land Navigation” (05-15), while the latter provides 11.5-credits through a mix of core and elective components as part of the FAWM Survival, Field Craft & Equipment topic area. The FAWM is geared towards those professionals, like physicians, nurses, paramedics, and other related outdoor educators, in any recognized medical discipline or vocation, or who are a current student or resident of such a program.  The fundamental purpose of the Academy is the support the mission of the WMS to advance healthcare, research, and education related to wilderness medicine. This addition to our programming is just another in True North’s ongoing efforts to provide superior outdoors training at fair and reasonable prices that meets the demands of […]

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