Winter Outdoor Survival

The past couple of weekends, students have been building skills to assist in the unfortunate event of being stranded in the mountains in the wintertime, a potentially deadly turn of events. However, the likelihood of disaster can be lessened dramatically if the person(s) is able to stay calm, keep clear thoughts, and do everything possible to assist in their own rescue and survival. The course is designed to teach students the basics of survival, but also to teach basic winter techniques to keep them out of the survival situation in the first place.

The highlight of the class is the weekend spent at the A.L. Mickelson Field Station where students are sent out Saturday morning into the woods, where they are left stranded until Sunday morning. The students are grades on the construction of a proper, efficient and effective shelter, fire building skills (the ability to start a fire with one match) and whether they stay out all night or not. This year was one of the few where every student was able to stay outside all night long.

Students are allowed to bring with them a sleeping bag/pad, tart, rope, matches, and light source. While it is encouraged to build snow shelters when there is enough snow on the ground, most students decide to construct a shelter from wood and tarps. Typically, the next morning, most students gain a full understanding of what worked and what did not, and the first comments about their shelters are the need for more snow and insulation. There is nothing like learning from first hand experience, especially when it can be in a controlled and safe environment. Below are some images of shelters and students during the two weekends in the field.

The first group had the hardest weekend for certain. It was snowing the entire weekend, high temps were in the low to mid 20's while the low was about -4 that night. The second weekend was a bit nicer, more like being stranded in spring as the high was near 50 and the low that night was barely at the freezing mark. However, I think all of the students were able to gain a good understanding of what is needed in the event they are truly stranded. The necessity of a good fire for warmth (some students took the challenge to go without sleeping bags to make a more realistic scenario and relied heavily on a quality fire) and the need to collect as much of the supplies needed while it was still light out.