Nobody heads out into the wilds expecting to be the recipient of a search and rescue operation. Most people don’t think it will ever happen to them. But you only need to Google ‘lost hiker’ or ‘missing hiker’ to get a sense of how many people for whom it becomes a reality. A famous case, recently popularised further by the film 127 Hours, is that of Aron Ralston who became trapped by his arm…
Without leaves to refer to, people often find it hard to identify deciduous trees in the winter. For those of us who have an interest in bushcraft or survival skills, we need to be able to identify resources all year round. Bark is an obvious feature to look at but in most cases, bark shows more variety and is harder to differentiate than the leaves of different species. Buds are often associated with spring, whereas they lie dormant all winter, waiting for…
Tracking is a passion of mine. One of the things I love doing, even when I’m out for a leisurely walk in the woods, is looking for tracks and sign left by animals. Even if you don’t see the animal, looking at the sign they have left behind can provide a fascinating insight…
Thermal Layers and Shell Clothing Clothing for winter in the northern wilderness must cope with a wide range of temperatures, from around freezing to -50oC (-58oF) or lower. Your clothing may also have to fend off serious wind-chill, when travelling by snow machine or skiing across barren terrain such as the Hardanger Vidda in Norway….
Winter camping in the northern forest can be an amazing experience. Also known as the boreal forest or the Taiga, the environment is simply beautiful. In many ways travel in the northern forest is easier in the winter than in the summer. The swamps and lakes are frozen and passable, as are the rivers which become your highways. There are no mosquitoes or other biting insects. The winter, however, brings its own specific complications and hazards…
Cold weather clothing makes winter activities and travel possible. Dressing correctly for cold weather makes you comfortable and is your primary defence against hypothermia and cold injuries. In addition to acquiring and wearing appropriate cold weather clothing, it is necessary to properly manage and care for your clothing. Managing your winter clothing is an…
Having been given a copy of John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman’s ‘SAS Survival Handbook’ when I was 13 years old, I spent a disproportionate amount of my mid-teens devising ingenious ways to cram more and more survival kit into a tobacco tin. At the weekend I’d go…
Friction fire-lighting is one of the defining skills of bushcraft. The ‘bow and drill’ or ‘bow-drill’ is the most widely applicable of the friction methods. Yet many people struggle with it, particularly while learning or during practice by themselves. Failure is OK when you are learning, while you are getting used to the posture…
In a crisis or emergency your thinking can become clouded. Stress, adrenaline and fear can all play a part in this. In the outdoors this may be compounded by tiredness, dehydration, low blood-sugar, being wet, cold or too hot. You may even be injured. When you are miles from help, you…
In the past our forebears used bushcraft in a way that allowed them to live very close to the land, much closer than you or I do today. These days many of us are heading to wild places equipped with a combination of bushcraft skills and modern equipment. In this way, we use our bushcraft…