Why Take A Survival Course

Well, why should you? In this day and age of same day delivery, an app for everything and a society ever reliant on tech why would you want to take a course in what some would say are old fashioned, unnecessary or out of date skills?
 
Whilst it’s true that thankfully the majority of us are not going to find ourselves “cut off behind enemy lines”, crashing in the Andes and having to eat our dead teammates or marooned on a tropical island, a survival course can still teach us some truly useful skills, be great fun , introduce us to new avenues of adventure, new friends and we may even learn a bit about ourselves in the process.
 
If you’ve read our blog on adventure skill sets you will have read about the importance we place on the skills of navigation, medical and starting a fire. These core skills along with some others are the start to widening your scope of adventure and travel. It is such a confidence boost knowing you are confident in your location and direction, look after yourself and keep yourself warm and protected that suddenly heading away from the beaten path doesn’t seem so scary at all.
 
Indeed, the birth of our business on a trek to Everest Base Camp 11 years ago (quick plug to the previous weeks’ blog) would not have come about without these skills as we just bought maps, permits, flights and went for it – no local porters, guides and no assistance from an external trekking company. Some at the time of course questioned us on this but it was our confidence in our own outdoor skills that meant we knew we could cope with whatever the journey was to throw at us. Since then this has been our way. Throwing ourselves into adventure and when needed topping up skills and educating ourselves further over the years. We are always learning. So why not equip yourself with these skills so that you too can experience adventure in a little more self-reliant fashion.
 
Maybe you have an adventurous spirit but no friends that share this passion for straying from the beaten path, and by topping up your skills on a course of like-minded strangers, who knows where it could lead. The perfect opportunity to share stories, goals and contact details around the campfire and you could find your new adventure buddy.
 
Or maybe you would like to reset your frame of reference in a relatively safe environment. When things are tough having a challenge in our life to think back on can help – “ok, I’m wet, cold and tired but I’ve been wetter, colder and exhausted before and came out ok”. In this rather soft society that we live in, this is now more important than ever. Now don’t get us wrong survival courses shouldn’t be an ordeal but for some with no outdoor experience it may be their first night out and not a tent in sight. Their first outdoor cooked meal that isn’t a BBQ or their first time ever starting a campfire without the assistance of a ton of firelighters and the questionable use of flammable liquids.
 
So going on a survival course here in the U.K may be an adventure in and of itself, or it may be the start of new adventures and new travels, perhaps there is already an adventure you have in mind but you need that skillset to make it happen – remember knowledge weighs a lot less than carrying more equipment, used to offset missing skills.
 
If you’re interested, we are now taking bookings for both our basic and intermediate level survival courses in October and November this year with more dates for 2021 coming soon. What better a way than to emerge from 4 months in your house than a couple of nights in the outdoors. Check them out using the link below;