Survival "Adventures" and the equipment taken

Donald

Donald

Joined
Jan 20, 1999
Messages
738
Ron, you have mentioned what you allow (or require) your students on a trip. For instance here:

How useful is relying on FISHING in a survival situation? http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000061.html

What categories of trips do you have and what items do you require and/or limit your students to carrying? How are they supposed to carry them?

I recall from your site and your comments, that you apparently have a range of trips, from Survival type to more or less deluxe camping. If this information is now on your site a mention of this would suffice. I do not mean to be repetitive.

I also know from your tapes and here, at least in part, what survival gear you recomend or discuss, but that may be different than what you require or allow. For instance, I imagine you would usually want a knife and a multitool or SAK, and you personally usually seem to have at least 3. You might require 1 and allow as many as a student might want to carry, or perhaps you have a limit.

What type of extra backup equipment do you also bring along for emergencies?

Greg, Jeff, and anyone else who teaches on such trips, what are your requirements and/or limits. (I am thinking of Greg now, and hope his surgery is going, or has gone, well....talk about a tough survival experience.
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)

Thank you.

 
Donald,

Thank you for your kind words. I survived.
Programs like Ron's and mine are similar in that students are required to bring a fair amount of gear for safety purposes. However a lot of this gear disappears as the trip goes on....:>)

In my program, exactly what you are left with by the time a solo experience happens is a mystery (knowlege is power and in this situation ...not knowing what you have until the last minute add some stress to the situation). Remember that one of my "five survival essentials" is Health and psychological stress falls under this category. The exercise is a very positive experience for all that have attended one of our programs.

Thanks again for your warm thoughts.

------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?

 
Donald,

Greg pretty much said it. We start out with a pretty complete list of gear that becomes restricted as we move through the skills. As an example. On night one they can use matches or a lighter to start a fire. On night two they can use a flashlight to start a fire, on three, flint and Steel and from then on friction is the trick. We TRY to follow descaling regimes but sometimes the emphasis shifts because of student interest, weather conditions or?

We run very few trips these days. Mostly our summers are filled with contract programs for agencies and the like or by private groups wanting training. Summers are also the best time for us to film our videos. This makes for very full schedules.

What we are trying to accomplish is a record or legacy of skills as complete as we can create. As a life work this has become more important to me than another trip.

You should know that we never have large groups. 12 folks is pretty much the limit. Greg also keeps his groups small and the student instructor ratio very high (lots of instructors to a few students).

If you are planning to take a trip... I strongly endorse Greg. I know the man and his work. He is a great guy and you should get to know him... in the field... not biblically
smile.gif


Ron



------------------
Learn Life Extension at:

http://www.survival.com ]
 
Ron,

thanks for the strong endorsement. It means a lot coming from you.

The maximum student size in our wilderness trips is 10 (winter) to 14 (summer). We always have 3 instructors. Myself and one other with very similar credentials and a third one who runs logistics and helps during the demonstration/performance stage.

Our open enrollment trips this year are:

January 20-23, 2000
July 22 - 28
August 10 - 13
August 19 - 25

We also provide trips for groups on mutually agreed upon dates(USCG Rescue Swimmers, Search and Rescue teams, AT and T, Microsoft, Danner boots, etc.)

We strongly encourage people to view Ron and Karen's video series and to read my book before attending. Thus everyone starts with a good foundation, ready to begin the most important part of the learning process....doing.

------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?

 
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