Ok Chums, that’s our winter dates up online. To be perfectly honest our 2 and 3 day courses run on the Cairngorm Plateau are the most “full on” courses we run in this country and a great challenge. Where else could you join a course, climb to over 1000 metres and dig into the snow pack for the night?! A great experience as well as learning some life saving techniques ……such as the ice axe arrest. #type2fun #cairngorms #Fjallraven #winterskills #arctictraining #survival

We at giving away 2 places on our 3 day course this weekend 13th – 15th of October for £100 per person or £150 for both folk if you book in a pair……doesn’t happen often so get in amongst it! Call or email us for more details.

Andrew Wilson from Fitnique link to his business here came on our last exped skills course…..this is what he has to say about it;

I tend to overthink and prepare for every eventuality no matter how slim the occurrence of the event happening; I do this regardless of the adventure.  Initially I was looking into survival course.  After all, if you can survive by building your own shelter, making fire and sourcing food you need to pack very little; less overthinking perhaps.

This adventure, therefore, was to learn how to plan and focus on the necessities.  Undertaking this course both filled me with excitement and dread in equal measure.  After a conversation with Neal, owner of Back Country Survival, an expedition course appeared to be more suited to the outcomes I desired.  The excitement quota rose a little and dread subsided, a little!  I paid my money and committed.

This expedition course would be a three day, wild camping adventure in the Cairn Gorm National Park and take in the ‘4000s’, four of the highest peaks in the UK including Ben Macdui; second only to Ben Nevis.

Kit list downloaded and the fun began.  What did I already have and what could I reuse?  Researching required items that would see me through the weekend and last for years to come.  I’m of the opinion that if you buy cheap you buy twice.  There is a price point that makes both practical and financial sense and where I would get reuse in my Personal Training.  Having booked the course before my trip to Switzerland I knew many items would have two uses by the time the expedition course was finished.

Day 1 – Arrival at Alvie Estate

I get nervous, not sure why but I do, and was nervous pulling up to the car park.  Neal was already stood waiting and had seen me drive hither and thither around the estate, a great first impression, couldn’t even navigate to the right place meeting point!  Introductions done, we talked about my car and my mind started to settle.  I grabbed my kit out and joined the group.

Preparation

The first part was to review kit, rucksack packing essentials and optimum order for ease on the trail.  Map and compass navigation basics next and Naismith’s Rule on route planning and timings.  Finally weather forecasts and synaptic charts.  Then, most importantly, kettle on and a brew.  No adventure should start without one.

Then a quick tent pitching test… I took both a tent and a bivvy bag.  The latter because I wanted to experience the true outdoors and the former because… well I panicked!

As luck would have it Trevor didn’t have a tent so we agreed to use my tent and split the sheets and poles between us.  My panic was, therefore, amazing foresight!

We All checked and prepared and fed on our first experience of dehydrated food we loaded up the truck and headed off to the Cairn Gorm Ski Lodge car park.

The adventure begins

Orientation and map and compass work to understand and put into practice the briefing items.  A lot of what I had learned in scouts a short thirty years earlier was clawed from distant memory.  The practical teaching made perfect sense and made it easier to understand than I ever remember.  Maybe I’m older and pay more attention than I did in scouts!

Once oriented we started off on the tourist trail to the top of Cairn Gorm checking our position and bearing on the map, reading physical contours and landmarks, every one hundred metres or so.  This practice and frequency in the initial stages would pay dividends over the next couple of days.

After a quick stop at the Ptarmigan café, the last piece of real civilization we would see, we forged on up to the Cairn marking our first summit.  This felt good, even being passed by tourists wearing t-shirts and trainers.  Tourists went back down the way they came up, we headed over the top; quick bearing check and onward.

Stopover one – the real adventure

So much for sunny weather predicted by Mountain Weather information!  Our descent over the other side of Cairn Gorm continued into mist and rain.  The weather persisted as we made our way to the first overnight camp site.  It persisted while we pitched tents.

As the rain relented we explored our surroundings, a plateau on the back of Cairn Gorm at Coire Domhain.  We were visited by a herd of Reindeer who were particularly, and surprisingly, tame; the survival course, I imagine, may have eyed them up for dinner. 

Not us, rehydrated rations the dish for this evening in the rain.  The adventure was on.

When the rain relented again I made my move to the bivvy bag.  My sleep ‘system’ included an airbed, sleeping bag all enveloped in my Alpkit Hunka XL.  My head adorned by my midge net I asked myself ‘how bad can this be’.  The answer was provided by another swift downpour.  My response was to pull all draw cords and envelop myself completely inside.  A situation which only resulted in minor claustrophobia and, when I released myself, rewarded me with a starlit sky between showers.  I’m pretty convinced the reindeer had grazed through the site during the night; either that or some pretty uncanny snoring and grunting resembling them, not mine I hasten to add.

My sleep only interrupted by rain on the face and resealing and releasing process through the night.  At 6:45 I woke naturally feeling relatively cosy to the bright yet misty grey morning.  It was only then I realised I had left my boots outside the tent ‘porch’ during my hasty bed time transition; they were quite damp.

Stoves on, water boiled, dehydrated granola and strawberry.  Yum.  It was hot and welcome.

Day 2 – A big day ahead

Camp struck and packed back into our mobile homes the order of the day was more intensive navigation, pacing and timing, and individual challenges.  The repetitive checking and re-checking on day one had bedded in the basics.

Neal set us each a point on the map to navigate to.  Our task was to work out the time it would take and, if less that 500 metres, count our pacing, identify the relief of the land to arrive within a few meters.  Once we had arrived at the check point the others would then pin point on the map, based on the bearing time taken or metres covered, contours, features where the other was aiming for.

We repeated this process as we made our way to Ben Macdui, the second highest peak in the UK.  The navigation even more challenging as the mist reduced visibility to no more than fifty metres or so.  This made the practice of understanding the contours, checking timings and the near distance features ever important.

First big one

Slowly the cairn came into view and at 1309m the outlook was… misty!  It was time for a celebration, home made flapjack and some nuts to sate the appetite. 

Our breaks were relatively short and enthusiasm high to keep our adventure on track.  As a result we continued our descent down the rippling south side of Ben Macdui toward the foot of Carn a Mhaim.  As we descended the weather started to break, patches of blue appearing and the wind dropping.  In a sheltered spot above the valley floor we took a rest, checked feet, soothed and patched blisters.  Water was collected and boiled to make lunch.  A beautiful rehydrated chicken tikka for me and a cup of tea, more nuts and flapjack.

We left our packs to make the quick return trip along a knife edge ridge to the top of Carn a Mhaim.  Standing at 1037m this peak provided a view to the west of our next four 4000’s; the challenge, the beauty and the awe within which one stands absorbing that the land under our feet has been sculpted over millions of years.

Day 2 – Post Lunch

Swinging the pack on my back felt so heavy after the unloaded walk yet somewhat welcome.  We retraced our steps to Allt Clach nan Taillear, a steep tributary creek flowing fast from Ben Macdui.  The ground was wet, mossy, heather covered with no distinguishable path.  Our steps zig-zagging over the slippery ground in order to reach the base of the valley where the Taillear feeds the River Dee.

Neal had warned us of the magnitude of midges at our next checkpoint, Corrour Bothy, a frequent stopping point for hikers, climbers and adventurers.  He had also said we wouldn’t be stopping long due to their voracity.  To this point we had not been too bothered by these mini munching machines; that would all change from this point.

Frankly I have never seen so many.  Clouds moved in unison seeking out their prey.  In contrast to those pitching camp for the night our stop was, maybe, three to five minutes.  Favouring to move to our overnight stop on the shoulder between The Devil’s Point and Cairn Toul where the breeze would keep the midges at bay.  This section was a steep climb aside another tributary; when the wind dropped the clouds of carnivorous winged beasties emerged.  My energy kept up by the desire to not get eaten alive.  All part of the adventure I guess!

midge attack!

Finally, the plateau emerged and we looked for a suitable site.  It was incredibly still, little to no wind, humid, and the return of swarming clouds.  Clothes zipped up, midge nets on and a good dose of deet on exposed parts as we attempted to put our tents up.  This was a stop start affair, hands blackening as the blood suckers landed and died in the sticky defence barrier.  The wind would pick up a little and they would quickly disappear.

A decision was made to pause the perfecting of guy ropes and camp aesthetics and walk up The Devil’s Point.  As we started the ascent the wind increased and the removal of midge protection provided a clear view, fresh air and respite from being their dinner.  Taking fifteen minutes at the top to soak up the surroundings we supposed it was time to return.  We had to at some point and hoped the breeze was more constant at camp.

Thankfully the wind picked up and prevail for the evening so we could eat rather than being eaten.  I decided to share my tent, more concerned with being eaten than getting wet.  There was still one more day to go and it would have been unfair for the others to have to carry my kit and midge stripped skeleton the rest of the way!

We stood and chatted after dinner, global politics, local politics, work, plans.  The only missing a good pint.  Though we had the great idea to create dehydrated beer… I’m surprise no one has yet!!!

Day 3 – Final day 4 x 4000 to go

I slept well, warm, dry, cosy.  I awoke to this…

Everything felt good in the world.

Breakfast, porridge.  I have to say the dehydrated expedition food I had was really quite nice.  Tasty, high calories and hot.

We set off, early again but fresh, rested and refuelled.  Today we take in Cairn Toul, The Angels Peak, Carn na Criche and Braeriach.  To lock in navigation skils Neal set us a few additional challenges.  This would server to identify any outstanding questions or misunderstandings.

The weather was misty, windy but dry.  The climb boulder strewn and the drop to our right significant.  The latter a useful tool, however, enabling us to ‘handrail’ the edge whilst following our set bearing and check our timings.

Energy, whilst plenty expended, was high.  Our pace was quick and we were flowing.

The climb to Cairn Toul tricky over large boulders we handrailed around the top to The Angels Peak and Carn na Criche then dropped down to the Wells of Dee.  The Wells indistinguishable from the distinct pools on the map highlighting the importance of centring yourself in the landscape, features and physical contours and then identifying specifically where you are on the map.  Completing Braeriach done before lunch was a major milestone.  The weather showed promise of breaking and it would provide a 180-degree view of our adventure so far and yesterdays peaks.

We could then find shelter for food.

Day 3 – the final push

A long hike on well trod paths to the adventures end.  A relaxation of map reading notwithstanidng riosity and personal interest in where we were.

We headed further down, paths enhanced with steps by the local volunteers; presumably to make access easier, though I thought it made the going more difficult.  Pace, step, pace, step, no rhythm, no flow.

The path winding us down into Lairig Ghru, steep sides and more steps though unnavigable without them.  Deep into the dense green valley where the water ran freely and provided a fast-flowing refill point.  Steps up the other side to a path that was almost pavement like in construction.  Barren landscape with the odd pine trying to take hold and absorb any nutrients it could from the ground.

a reminder of the dangers

With the flow returning we made good speed until the path ended and we entered the jaws of Creag a Chalamain.  High cliffs on either side, overhanging in places.  The deposits of many years of rock fall in the valley, climbing obstacles and scrambling. 

A Coast Guard helicopter landed above us, training drills with mountain rescue underway.  It did a couple of loops, a slow hover and descent.  You’re glad the service exists and equally never want to see them up close because that means something bad has happened

Exiting Chalamain placed us back on the path, a flowing walk to the finish.  We made good time, ahead of schedule so gave ourselves a few minutes rather than waiting in the midge infested car park better to sit atop the last ridge with a view back to ski centre car park at the beginning of our journey.  Soaking up the sunshine and reflecting for a moment.

A short walk found us to the rendezvous, there was a little banter, some awe of our collective and individual achievements and relative quiet as we loaded the truck and drove back to the estate.

Physical versus mental

Inability to complete the adventure does not create my nerves and dread.  After all I train regularly and have done many long events.  My nerves and dread come from my inner voice casting doubt, telling me that I might have forgotten something, telling me that I might not be as good as I expected.  The latter the biggest challenge, the level of expectation I put on myself versus those defined by corporate or social constructs.  I want things to be right, perfect.  Tell myself that failure is not an option yet know that we learn from failure.  Instantly, I could find dozens of quotes and memes on the subject; I won’t, really not my style!

People talk about comfort zones.  I am not sure they exist.  The very definition of adventure is to undertake an unusual and exciting or daring experience.  Adventures can be big or small, minutes to months.  Our adventures through life define us as human beings, they shape us, create learning opportunities and shared experiences, new acquaintances and sometimes lifelong friends.  They help us grow and all of that is true of my Scottish Adventure.

At the beginning of this year BCS head instructor packed his bags for a trip to South Sudan as part of the United Nations Mission In South Sudan (UNMISS).  As an engineer he was there to deliver engineering by way of construction (vertical & horizontal) to the mission.  But this would be different, this would be a very austere environment so it was essential that he looked after himself.

I was fortunate enough to have some gadgets provided to me by our friends at Above & Beyond  and many thanks to Darren for assisting.  I received a parcel in the post with some Niteize  products, a solar charging panel by BioLite  and a Ultra UV Water Purifier by STERIPEN .  There were a few other useful bits such as Nite Ize gear ties and a Nite Ize BugLit LED micro flashlight.  More on these later.  I also packed a pair of Fjallraven Abisko lite trekking trousers, Greenland shirt, Barents Pro trousers and an Abisko Cool Shirt for wearing during down time.  I had a 35 litre Abisko daypack which would be used daily along with some of the brands brilliant gear bags.  This environment would surely test the G1000 material in a completely different way from the Swedish environment.  The Fjallraven gear was provided by our friends from Rosker and most importantly our main man Ross Bainbridge.

One of the initial jobs for us would be setting up our own base and providing our own potable water using our own systems.  The water was drawn direct from the River Nile which has every water borne disease in it known to man!  It was crucial that we got this right.  I was lucky enough to get some products from Sawyer and Water to Go which i distributed amongst the lads.

So the first couple of months was pretty much making ourselves as computable as possible whilst supplies arrived and one of our issues was power.  I was lucky that i had the Nite Ize Radiant 250 Lumen rechargeable head torch which i needed every night for the whole deployment!  I charged this up every day using the BioLite SolarPanel 5+ Plus.  The head torch has a simple indicator LED that showed green when there was enough charge in it or red when it was getting low.  It also switches itself off when the charge is very low.  I would hook it up using the supplied USB cable to the solar panel and leave it in the sun for several hours each day which would give me more than enough charge to ensure i could read etc once the lighting towers were switched off at night.  I really found this combination useful due to the readily available supply of the sun!

I had my Nite Ize Gear ties used for various tasks but mainly for connecting times around my accommodation with my micro lite firmly wrapped around a pole in my mosquito dome.  These i left in-situ as they were so useful they stayed for the next guy.  The Nite Ize Figure 9 Tent Line i utilised as a washing line as it could be tensioned and adjusted.  Unfortunately 5 months of solid sun and exposure to the elements saw the cord degrade but that to me is to be expected and acceptable.  A great item.  I know that the items were used in a more practical use than designed for but needs must and all that!

So over the months i was there i found that the Fjallraven gear was really good in the heat as well as during the really humid and sticky evenings.  The Greenland shirt was really good even though it is slightly heavier than the Abisko Cool but both kept me comfortable and cool as well as protecting me from the dreaded mosquitoes!  The trousers were the same and having been subjected to several months of field washing in chlorinated water there was no fading or deterioration and they now have a very comfortable softness to them.  I have used these items in Scotland in all seasons and it is amazing how versatile they are and usable in all environments!

The Abisko Hike 35 Backpack (cheers Svante) was absolutely abused over the time away with it being chucked in the back of trucks, thrown on to helicopters, planes and generally kicked about as well as worn and sucking up a load of sweat.  A great item that i have been using now for over a year and it has been used in all weathers.  A really great pack.

Water! – This became a real focus for me.

South Sudan is a land locked country but there is no shortage of water mainly because it has a long wet season as well as having large areas of swamplands.  The White Nile runs through the middle of the country so getting water should be relatively easy!

With a huge amount of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) living in Protection of Civilian (POC) camps within United Nation (UN) camps there is a massive requirement for clean water to not only survive but also to try and keep disease down.  Where I was located in Malakal I was only about 2km from the Nile and I watched daily as women from the POC camp left to collect firewood and water.  There were standpipes in the POC but with 50000 IDP in an area a little larger than 750m x 600m then the risk of disease is massive.  All sanitation is either Deep Trench Latrines (DLTs) or a squat at the side of the road!  Open sewers run throughout with children playing in the fluorescent green water.  Cholera and E.coli are rife and a lot of the IDPs succumb to these diseases.

The Nile has every water borne disease known to man in it in this area and it was imperative that we as UN troops had a sustainable, potable and safe water supply.  I was fortunate enough to receive some great products as mentioned to take out and use.  I will summarise them below:

Sawyer 4litre Bag2Bag Filter

Firstly many thanks to Tony Male at Sawyer Europe for assisting me.

This is a great item and is so simple that it packs away to nothing and would be great in any camp location on expeditions.  I filled this great bit of kit with pure raw Nile water so it inevitably had a lot of nasties in it.  The filter allows raw water to pass through a filter by gravity into another bag which can then be decanted via a tap in to a waterbottle, pot or cup.  Field tests showed that the water was safe to drink from the filtered bag which was coloured blue. from the dirty water bag which was coloured grey.

This bit of kit gets a thumbs up from me and was used daily whilst our own water treatment plant was being installed.  A great product in a nasty environment.

Sawyer Mini Filter

I dished a few of these out to the lads to use and in one of the locations where there was a raw sewerage leak in to the water borehole they pressed them in to action and all was well, however i digress.  I conducted the same test as above with the EHT and again great results.  The EHT’s were blown away by the filter and for the price and the quantity that can be filtered it is a winner every time and again is so small it is easy to pack away.  My only dislike is the squeeze bag that comes with it as it can be a faff to fill but overall it is a great item.

Water To Go

Firstly many thanks to Dave Shanks for assisting me.

Having used this product for the past 2 years nearly in the UK in all conditions I was fairly confident with its abilities.  I used this as my daily water bottle filling it up from various sources of dubious quality and i did not succumb to any ill effects.  I received similar thumbs up from other guys who had them dished out to them.

The one thing that it lacks is a cap to keep the ever present dust off of the mouthpiece but Dave at Water to Go has told me that he is working on a redesign.  Great stuff.

Millbank Bag

My final test was proper back to basics and it is one that is grass roots level simplicity.  The good old canvas Millbank bag.  I have used this endless times in many continents and i must admit that sometimes the old methods are the best.

I took raw Nile water and after allowing it to run through to the black line I collected a litre in my water bottle.  It took a while due to the close weave of the canvass.  I then took a filtered only sample and then added a water purification tablet to it.

STERIPEN

Using the remainder of the filtered water from the Milbank bag i used the steripen for the required time to treat this and again the field tests showed all clear.  However if i was to store this water for a long period the pathogenic organisms would recolonise.

Conclusion

Over the months i used all the items above at various times with some being used more than others.  I am now back in the UK and ready to hit the hills and different climates again and i will continue to use and abuse the products above until they either break or outlive me!

A great big thank you must go out to Darren at Above & Beyand, Ross at Rosker, Svante at Fjallraven, Tony Males at Sawyer eu, Dave Shanks at Water to Go for all the assistance, patience and understanding.

We’re offering 20% off all multi-day course bookings made in August, please contact us direct and quote AUG20% to get your discount.

All quite on the Blog front over the last month…..not down to laziness mind!  BCS have just finished a block of work for the BBC; Consulting, moving production crew around challenging terrain, as well as plenty of front of camera time.  We can’t disclose exactly what we were doing at this moment in time but we think you’ll be impressed with the finished product!

BCS pride ourselves on our courses and training that we run, however we are lucky enough to draw on a wide range of experience from individuals both civilian and military, having operated in some highly challenging parts of the globe.  Believe it or not (!) we don’t do it just for the money either, the best jobs are the “head scratchers” and the “you want to do what?”.  If you’ve got a type 2 fun project and need a bit of guidance or pointing in the right direction, or you need an experienced team working away in the background, be sure to bear us in mind.

A Chaga New Year

So its 2017 and with winter being held at arm’s length I took the opportunity this week to get out in the woods and collect some materials for later on in the year as I am about to depart for much more humid climes!

I am blessed that I am surrounded by coniferous and deciduous woods on the Moray coast and only a few minutes’ walk from my house is a nice handy birch wood interspersed with scots pine, and marshes.  My aim was to collect some birch bark from some windblown trees and anything naturally peeling.  I was not to be disappointed. Within minutes of entering the wood line I happened across a nice big old silver birch that was snapped at the top due to the winds but still living and it was covered in “Inonotus obliquus” growths or more commonly referred to as “Birch Chaga” or “True Tinder Fungus”.

Its appearance looks like a burnt section of wood that has erupted from the bark (as shown above) with hard black nodules that when you break them off uncovers a cork like substance in texture which is the best for tinder that will take a good spark to produce a really hot coal.  It must though be from a living tree to be usable and most importantly dry!  This can be achieved by simply putting a piece in your pocket to stay dry until required.  As you can see below there is always enough to last a long time once harvested.

Slice it up or keeping it in chunks it will take a spark from flint or from a firesteel and start to smoulder pretty much straight away.  A little bit of assistance by blowing on it and adding it to a tinder bundle you will not be disappointed.  It can also be used as a method of transporting an ember if you wish to move location.

Now some may ask why not just use a lighter to light your tinder?  Well as Brad mentioned earlier this month what if you have lost it, it has run out of fuel or you are injured?  A lighter on a chunk of this will produce a really hot coal that you can coax with a good tinder bundle with ease even in the rain.  There are lots of natural resources out there it is just a matter of knowing what works best for a survival situation as well as trying them in different environments which I would suggest that you try out before you are in the mire!

Birch Polypore/Razor strop fungus

Horseshoe Fungus

So as well as the Chaga you will also have loads of birch bark available but further searching will uncover “Birch polypore” (above left) or more commonly known as razor strop fungus which when dry will carry a coal very well as well as being used for emergency plaster or as its name says stropping your blade and of course “Fomes fomentarius” (above right) or more commonly known as good old horse’s hoof fungus which has a shammy like trama under the hard exterior which when sliced off will take a spark but works best when treated by boiling for twenty four hours then pounded.  This can also be scraped with your knife to produce a mass of fibre that will also take a spark.

So there you have it a very fortuitous venture in to the woods that also bagged me a 35 litre daysack full of dry marsh grass, honeysuckle and pine resin.  Happy hunting.

With a return to spring and the start of our summer courses beginning, we’ll be looking at some woodland and hillside skills over the next few months on the BCS Blog.

Fire lighting is a very important skill to prac tice and be efficient with, as it could well save your life in a survival situation. I got thinking, I can light a fire in the woods with an abundance of wood at my disposal but what if I got in a life-threatening situation somewhere and there is barely or even no wood at all. I am a very keen Mountaineer and Munro bagger and I spend a lot of my spare time up in the hills where the tree line usually disappears about 600m. So, I decided to practice lighting a fire with just one piece of wood. Despite the title of this article being ‘One log fire’, it doesn’t have to be a log, it can be any one piece of wood. An example of this could be using petrified wood when you are up above 600m where there is next to nothing at your disposal. The picture below shows a piece of pine that I used for my Tinder, Kindling and Fuel. If you were venturing up higher than the tree line you could easily grab a small log and put it in your daysack if you were planning on having a small fire in the evening.
For this task, you will only need a knife and a Fire Steel, the first thing you want to do is ensure the knife you are going to be using is sharp and in good working order. You then want to remove any bark from around the log, bark tends to hold moisture so removing it will make your life easier in the long run. Once the bark has been removed you want to find a decent Stick that can be used to baton the wood into the relative sizes needed. We still follow the size rule of Match stick, Pencil, Finger, Thumb and Wrist. This will obviously depend on the size of log used but the process of smaller pieces to larger should always be followed. As shown below, this is what your log will look like once you have finished the processing stages. I found that getting match stick thickness pieces from the log was tricky, so I opted to shave part of the log to get a decent pile of dry shavings to use as my tinder/ matchstick thickness sticks. The picture below right shows you the shavings rested on a platform which was also made from the original log. Some people will prefer using feather sticks to get the fire going and this will also work. You should go out and try both methods and see what works best for you.  The picture below left shows you a few feather sticks which could also be used.

Ensuring you have followed the 7 P’s before lighting your tinder will give you the optimal chance of being successful. For those who haven’t heard of the 7 P’s they are Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. This couldn’t be more true when it comes to fire lighting – LAZINESS KILLS. Once you are happy you have got all you need to get this fire going grab your Fire steel and ignite your Tinder.

As the picture below shows, I got the tinder ignited and used two of my platform pieces of wood to help me place the next stage of wood required for the fire to continued thriving. The raised platform helped me to not cancel out one of the key ingredients when playing with fire and that is OXYGEN. The process becomes a lot easier once you have the fire started it is just a case of following the thickness guide until you have a sustained fire.

NOTE; If you are on the hillside you can add pieces of dry heather to the fire to get a longer lasting fire. If you do plan on having a small campfire above 600m ensure the area you chose to light it on isn’t over dry heather or on top of Peat bogs as this could lead to some serious hill fires.

In Our second part of “the psychology of survival” we’ll be looking at Factors that play a big part in the mind of a survivor.

The first Factor we will look at is Fatigue. Fatigue can be experienced in its minor form in day to day life but can be rectified by a good night’s sleep. A lack of sleep has different consequences from fatigue and should not be considered the same. Fatigue is a complex physiological and psychological process which is not yet fully understood. Irritability is a common symptom of fatigue. It is also said that fatigue is insidious and its effects rapid. A practical example of fatigue comes from the mountaineer Mo Anthoine where he says making a cup of tea at twenty-five thousand feet can be a two-hour job: you must get out your warm sleeping bag in the dark, in horrible conditions, chip off ice and put it into the pot with your bare hands. It’s all so much effort that you say, ‘sod it, I won’t bother.’ And it’s easy to say, ‘sod it’ to all the hundred and one little jobs that you must do on a trip – basic things, like keeping your sleeping bag dry. But if you don’t do them you start to go downhill both physically and mentally.

Sleep is the next topic of discussion. Sleep is very important in a survival situation and there are different stages of sleep which all have their importance to keep a survivor psychologically strong. Sleep occurs in a cycle of stages – the first three stages are Non-REM while the final stage is REM.

REM is an acronym of rapid eye movement.

Stage 1 – lasts 5 – 10mins – this is the initial stage of sleep where a person closes their eyes and starts to lose awareness of their surroundings but can still be easily be woken up.

Stage 2 – this is the start of true sleep. It is still a light sleep however your heart rate slows and body temperature drops as your body prepares itself for deep sleep.

Stages 3 – Deep sleep stage. It is much more difficult to be woken during this stage and if you woke up you would feel very disorientated. During this stage the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle and strengthens the immune system. Not many people realise all the work that their body does during sleep – it is a common cliché but it is very important to have a good night’s sleep. REM sleep (also known as paradoxical sleep)- occurs 90 minutes after you fall asleep and typically lasts 10 minutes – the term REM comes from the random eye movements that occur during this stage. It is the deepest stage to be in however it also the stage where your brain is most active thus causing vivid dreaming. It is also characterised by inability to move muscle to prevent the sleeper from acting out their dreams. Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon that occurs whereby an individual awakens during REM sleep to find that they are temporarily paralysed – they cannot move, speak or open their eyes. This can either occur when the body is either transitioning from REM sleep to NREM (when a person is waking up) or vice versa and a person is falling asleep.   The body is said to possess at least two biological clocks (sleep/waking and body temperature) and that difficulty arises when these are thrown out of phase. Sleep deprivation is a favorite tool for interrogators around the world as it has a quick onset of paranoia, hallucinations and loss of personal control.

Hypothermia is also a very serious thing to consider during a survival situation. The cold can kill and it can kill quick. It is crucial that you try and maintain your core body temperature which is between 36-38 degrees. Hypothermia is the term given to the condition which arises when the amount of body heat being lost to the environment exceeds that being produced within the body. Hypothermia can become a problem due to different factors including not having adequate thermal insulation for the body, insufficient food or both. The most common way hypothermia sets in is by accidental exposure, like falling through a frozen loch etc. The body has different ways of trying to deal with cold exposure. Peripheral Vasoconstriction is when blood vessels in the limbs and skin begin to close which reduces blood flow and heat loss thus protecting your vital core temperature. Piloerection is when the hair on your body stands up and it is trying to trap air close to the skin which helps to reduce heat loss. Shivering is another way the body will try and warm itself up but not all people are prone to shivering. Fatter people are less likely to shiver than thinner people as the degree of shivering depends on body fluid and fat. Cold can cause some bad reaction in the potential survivor, these include impaired consciousness, anxiety, low morale, impaired memory, lack of self-control and even paranoia. In extreme situations people will even undress in the later stages of hypothermia and this is known as paradoxical undressing.

Hyperthermia is the term given to heat illness which arises when the body is unable to dissipate the excess heat it has generated. The body can increase its core temperature by internal metabolism, the environment you are in and ingesting hot food and drink. Sweating is the way the body loses unwanted heat. Sweat is a dilute solution of salt which the body converts to vapor to reduce body heat.  Sweat doesn’t work to cool the body until it has evaporated and even this process costs the body precious calories – it takes approximately 580 calories to evaporate 1 cubic meter of sweat. Hyperthermia can range from uncomfortable to fatal and heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be potential symptoms, both of which are facets to the same process. A key contributor to heat exhaustion is dehydration which is when the peripheral blood vessels expand to increase heat loss. Symptoms from this include headaches, nausea and vomiting. Heat stroke is an illness that is put into the same serious category as a heart attack and should be treated as such. Symptoms include gross impairment in mental performance, general confusion and headaches.

Hunger in short time survival is more of a distraction than a serious threat to life. During the period of impact and initial stages of recoil following a disaster the victim will be found to have lost their appetite. In an example, Steven Callahan who survived 76 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean said he only started to fantasize of food and drink after his fifth day in the life raft. Psychologically, victims will show apathy, depression, irritability, emotional instability and impairment in concentration and memory.  During hunger the body uses up glucose in your blood first, once this is depleted it then converts the glycogen stored in the liver to glucose. Hormones are released which cause protein amino acids and the glycerol from fats to be converted into glucose in the liver by glycogenesis. Stored fats begin to break down by liptosis to increase circulating fatty acids, promoting ketogenisis and releasing the glycerol for conversion to glucose. Bone marrow will eventually be used following the above process, dispensable organs will degrade to their minimum level of function diverting reserves to all the vital organs like the Brain, Heart and Kidneys. Once these main organs start to diminish death is not far away.

Thirst is something that you need to think about quickly in a survival situation. The body water requirement depends on a whole range of things. You need access to water to make sure the body’s water balance is kept constant. The body weight is made up of around 70% of water (around 45 litres) and reduction of this will lead to dehydration.  Water can be taken in by the body through drinking and eating – some fruits have up to 95% water in them. There have been examples of survivors from the Juno Ship wreck in 1795 that claimed they were saved from dehydration by wrapping themselves in sea water soaked blankets. One survivor said that the pores of his skin absorbed the water and left the salt and that several other people reported feeling refreshed once doing the same. So, we touched on water getting in to the body so how does it get out. There are a few ways the body loses water – sweat, breathing are examples and exhaled breath is always full of moisture and on average you lose around ½ a litre a day from this.  Urinating causes an average loss of a quarter to a half litre a day. Also, you have a continual loss of water through diffusion. You can lose up to around 350ml of water through diffusion when you are sleeping for about 8 hours, that is the same as a can of coke.  Some potential survivors who feel sick will find it very hard to drink but need to try their best to even take a few mouthfuls of water. A mouthful of water every 15-20 minutes can help massively. There have been reports of people suffering from severe dehydration to the extent that they will drink the fluid from a compass bezel and even drink the fluid from their own blisters.

Thank you for reading this article and I hope it has been of some use to you. Survival Training courses are defiantly a good step to take for giving yourself that extra chance at surviving a possible disaster. Knowledge expels fear as we have all heard before and this is particularly true when survival is concerned, there are numerus examples of peoples training kicking in at the right time to save their own or someone else’s life.  Training is important but it is also very important to understand what your body is going through so you can cope with the stresses of a potentially life threatening situation. This article barely scrapes the surface of survival psychology and I urge you if you are a working outdoors or in hostile environments take the time to understand the psychological effects that could possibly effect you or your clients if the unspeakable was to happen.

Here at BCS we are serious about our Survival courses. As the only Survival company in the UK experienced and qualified to take our clients into the most remote regions in the British isles, you can be sure to learn a whole load whilst having a first rate experience. The Cairngorms is probably the only region in Britain where you are almost always assured snow, and we know where to find it!

The three day winter skills course covers all the basics you need to stay safe in a cold climate.  Last weekends course saw our clients out in 80 mile an hour winds with a wind chill factor of some -30.  We also take our teams above 1000 metres and stay in a snow hole for an overnight.  Contrary to popular belief a Snow hole is one of the safest and warmest winter shelters you can live in……if you know what you’re doing!  But it’s not all about having fun!  The 3 day winter course also covers the following;

• Safe route choice and planning stages
• Weather prediction and Avalanche awareness
• Map reading and GPS
• Emergency shelters
• Ice Axe and Crampon use
• Ice Axe arrest techniques

The final 3 day course this year will be running on the 10th – 12th of March and we have two places left to fill, which are going for £180 per head rather than the usual £310. If you are interested please send us an email or give us a call.

It’s all in the head, someone once said.  In our two part look into the workings of psychology, Bradley Lotts talks about the effects of a traumatic experience on a Survivors mind.

In a real-life emergency, the skills and knowledge of building shelters, making fires, getting food and such like will only get you so far. It takes a lot more than these skills to survive. You could have all the survival training in the world however to use such training you need your mind; yet your mind is immediately impaired in a survival situation. To survive you will need to overcome strong emotions and thoughts that are associated with the stress of a survival environment and not let it destroy your will to live. John Leach, a leading survival psychologist, has described in an article ‘the won’t to live’ and how we should be paying attention to people who die unnecessarily in a survival situation as oppose to those who survive. Survival Psychologists are keen to study the impact of disasters on human behaviour as systematically and scientifically as possible, therefore several models have been devised to classify all disasters in a generic way so as to study the pattern of behaviour and transfer it across all events (Powell & Rayner 1951; Glass 1952; Tyhurst 1951).  For the purpose of his book, Leach has combined three dynamic models into a five-dimensional model which allows survival behaviour to be studied in a clear and robust way.

Pre- Impact phase

Threat stage and warning stage

Impact phase

Recoil Phase

Rescue phase

Post- Trauma stage

The first period of a disaster is known as the Pre-Impact phase and this is subdivided into the threat and warning stage. So, what exactly is defined as a threat?

The term threat has several meanings. It can be defined as a communication of intention to cause harm. In the Oxford Dictionary a threat is defined simply as, “A person or thing likely to cause damage or danger.” In a psychological manner, however Leach defines a threat as the perceived probability of a disaster occurring. Even when there is a high probability of a threat, people’s behaviour tends to be inactive during this stage as they remain in denial that anything bad will ever happen to them. In general terms, most people feel invulnerable and they don’t believe that they themselves could be directly or indirectly affected by a disaster. As an example of this I am sure many people have seen the film 127 hours, when Aron Ralston, a canyoner, became trapped by a chalk stone that came loose as he was descending into a Canyon. Aron Ralston didn’t leave anything to let people know where he was going – an action that is vital when venturing anywhere that poses a threat – and this could have been due to him being in denial that anything bad could happen. The consequence of this led to Ralston being trapped for days and eventually having to make the decision to cut his own arm off to free himself and survive. Had he left a note to say where he was going Ralston could have been found sooner. An example of denial and inactivity that is written in Leach’s book is the Ash Wednesday 1983 bush fires where 72 people died and 2000 homes were destroyed. 2 years prior it was revealed that out of a list of 10 precautions laid down by the local fire authority, most people only carried out one. Furthermore only 16% knew the number for the fire brigade. Why do people not prepare? Leach has outlined three basic reasons to explain this; planning and preparation is inconvenient in day to day life as it requires physical and mental effort; preparation can often come with a financial cost and thirdly, there is a common superstition that to prepare for a disaster will only encourage one to happen. People tend to dislike even thinking about a disaster affecting them as it provokes negative feeling and emotion therefore there is an ignorance to the potential of disaster which will indefinitely cause a lack of enthusiasm to prepare for anything.

Following the threat stage is the warning stage and this stages can cause a completely different reaction in people as the threat is made physically real. Disaster is now impending. Contrasting the threat stage, this stage characterised by over activity. This behaviour is just as ineffective as inactivity as people have a frantic urge to do something even if it is inappropriate and irrational. Surprisingly, it is common for people to still be in denial even though a warning has been given that a disaster is going to happen. An example of such denial was given by Pauls (1974) who found that during a fire drill in a high-rise office building only 17% out of 176 occupants interpreted the situation as a genuine fire alarm. This was in fact a practice drill however 90% of the people were not aware of this. It has been noted that people can completely ignore a warning till right up to the last minute before the incident occurs. Why do people ignore warnings? It could be said that in some instances people do not believe the warnings and they remain invulnerable until they see the actual disaster occurring with their own eyes by which point it can often be too late. Consider the following example; 1987 in Hungerford, Michael Ryan goes berserk in the afternoon with an automatic weapon leaving 16 dead. Several people died because they ignored warnings and walked straight into Ryan’s gunfire.  Sounds completely surreal that people would do that and you yourself may think you would never do such a thing however this type of inappropriate behaviour during a disaster is common.

Next up is the Impact period. This stage can sometimes occur without a pre-impact stage as some potential incidents can happen very suddenly, such as a car crash or an explosion. The impact period is said to be extremely overwhelming as sensory information rapidly floods the brain all at once making this stage the hardest to prepare for. Even people that are constantly trained to deal with these kinds of situations are not protected from the sudden psychological effects that the impact stage brings. Behaviour during a disaster varies from individual to individual, however from independent studies of disasters over the years it has been noted that there is a similar pattern of responses. People affected by a disaster tend to fall into 3 groups; 10% to 20% of people will remain calm thereby having the ability to think rationally and act effectively, approx. 75% of the population will be stunned and bewildered causing their thinking to be significantly impaired and between 10% and 15% will show a high degree of inappropriate behaviour that is ineffective and could potentially be a danger to themselves and others. Putting this into a real-life example; An armed robber once reported that as he walked into a bank he would always look for two people when he ordered everyone to put their hands up. He would look for the first person to raise their hands because he knew that the person can think quickly in a stressful situation and therefore could be a potential problem for him. He also looked for the last person to raise their hands as they were not fully aware of the situation and could also be a threat.

Recoil period is when the initial danger has been removed and the victims begin to take in what has happened. This can bring a whole array of emotions usually starting with confusion as there is a lack of awareness for what has happened. Once awareness has returned emotions turn into fear, resentment, anxiety and anger. Family ties are very strong and usually override everything else. People will show high levels of hyperactivity until they are reunited with family members. Survivors will get an almost childlike dependency to be with other people to comfort themselves, it is important that the groups formed are of a strong nature and do not allow peoples psychological state to further drop. The victims cannot sort this grouping system out themselves and will need to be almost mothered by rescue services etc. to form theses important groups. Yet again the victims can be in a state of denial during this phase telling themselves that this cannot be happening to them. There is also a strong need for victims to talk about what happened to them. Friedman and Linn (1957) reported that survivors of the Andrea Doria sinking had a compulsive need to tell the story again and again, with identical detail and emphasis.

The final part is the post- trauma period, this is the part where the victim will attempt to rebuild his or her life. It is also the stage where psychological reactions become symptoms recognisable by medical diagnostic criteria, such as recurrent dreaming, anxiety, depression and psychosomatic disorders. The event can increase fear and apprehension in a person, suggesting that the experience of a disaster may not necessarily help you to cope better in another life-threatening situation. Manolias and Hyatt-Williams (1986) study of post shooting experiences in firearms officers re calls on incident where a police officer was involved in his second shooting incident and he believed that the first incident he was involved in would help him to better cope with the situation. However, when he heard gun shots a strong feeling of fear returned and he thought to himself ‘not again’ and just wanted to find cover.

The model just discussed describes a collective response to a disaster, we will now talk about common individual reactions to potentially life threatening situations.

The first reaction we will cover is Panic. Panic is not a common reaction in a disaster; panic tends to set in when people are in enclosed areas and their potential exits are slowly closing. A good example of panic would be in the film titanic where the life boats are leaving the ship and fewer and fewer people have any hope of getting off the ship thus closing their exits, therefore they are trapped on a sinking ship with nowhere to go. Panic makes people lose their judgement and discretion and once it sets in it is very contagious. It is rare to see people panic when they are caught in a disaster, say, outside where they are not enclosed and they have unlimited exit points, having said this it may be more prevalent in an outdoor scenario where an individual is lost.

Paralyzing Anxiety is next, Anxiety in life threating situation can cause certain individuals to freeze on the spot. There have been two types of freezing identified and they are deadlock and live lock. Deadlock victim’s muscles show intense rigour and the person becomes hard to move even with physical violence. The second one is live lock which produces muscular tension which is within normal range.

Perceptual Distortion or tunnel vision, which I’m sure people have heard of before, is the next part we will talk about. Perceptual Distortion gives a high level of concentration on a task that has been selected during a stressful situation. The selection of this task is not always the right one in the highly stressful situation.  Perceptual narrowing has been induced chemically by certain drugs such as adrenaline, methamphetamine and amyl-nitrite (Callaway and Dembo 1958). The agents mentioned above are related to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is known as the fight or flight response.

Denial is the most common reaction before, during and immediately after an incident occurs. It can take different forms like straight forward rejection to an incident happening. It can also comprise a state of psychological disassociation which has been described by survivors as a sense of dream like reality. Denial can also be reinforced by past experiences like getting away with something once will make you think it will be fine to do it again. Also, people react to other people’s actions – remember we talked about how panic is very contagious, well so is denial. If everyone else is relaxed about a situation and is in denial that anything bad will happen it tends to be the attitude of the whole party involved.

Depressed reaction and apathy can occur if an individual does not overcome the feeling of denial. Depressed reaction should not be confused with depression which is psychiatric or a medical condition rather than a psychological dysfunction and it may be best to view this reaction as hypoactivity. People that show symptoms of depressed reaction look numb and they sit amongst the chaos and debris and almost have which some call a thousand-yard stare. The problem with depressed reaction is it can leave the victim open to other life threatening situations such as the onset of hypothermia.

Hyperactivity is the next thing to talk about and is the complete opposite to Hypoactivity. The victims show a maladaptive response to their situation when they become hyperactive. It has been more frequently noticed in the victims that are just coming through a state of depressed reaction. Hyperactivity gives the victim confidence in their own abilities which is both unreal and unwarranted. Their actions can be inefficient and inappropriate and worst of all, dangerous.

Next up is Stereotypical behaviour. When people are faced with a life-threatening problem they have been known to fall back on well learned behaviours. An example of this is given by Holden (1986) when a bank clerk in Norway was confronted by an armed bank robber who demanded money. The woman was momentarily so surprised that she could only respond the way she always had: she pointed to her left and said cash? Next desk’.

Irrational Behaviour is when people carry out inappropriate activities during stressful times. An example of this came from Lord (1955). During the sinking of the titanic a passenger called Mrs. Dickson- Bishop left behind £7000 worth of jewellery but she sent her husband back to their cabin to fetch her muff.

Anger, aggression and hostility amongst victims is universal. Janis (1951) highlighted that during the blitz in World War 2, air raid victims blamed Churchill, Hitler, the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe and even the local air raid warden for causing the destruction which had recently laid waste to their environment.

Guilt is a common feeling for survivors. They sometimes feel guilty about surviving instead of the others that didn’t make it. They can also start to blame themselves for what happened and allow themselves to think that they could have helped more than they possibly did.

The last part in different individual reactions is Psychological Breakdown. This is the ultimate psychological problem people can face in an extreme situation. This stage should not be confused with a mental breakdown. Once this stage is reached death is often close to follow. The initial symptoms include development of irritability, disturbance of sleep and mild startle reaction followed by social withdrawal, loss of interest, apprehension and confusion.

Senior Instructor Graham Melloy is about to depart to Africa as part of a UN peace keeping mission. Below he covers some of the survival tins he’s collected over the years.

In the mid 1980’s when I first ventured out in to this line of interest the big thing was making your own survival kit or more commonly a survival tin.  Now these kits were put together with whatever we could muster up from our hard earned pocket money from Survival Aids which now no longer exists as well as what we found in our old man’s sheds!

I have always had a survival kit and I now have a much tailored and tried and tested one that I never leave home without but I also have a wee collection that I have as an interest.  I thought I would share some of these with you and you will see that some of the items are fairly universal through the decades:

Old BCB COM-PAC kit circa early 1990’s

Survival Aids Combat Survival Tin again 1990’s

Coghlans Pilots Kit I picked up about 19 years ago

Now the above kits all have everything pretty much required for PLAN-M in some sort of form.  As they are survival kits a lot of the items are one trick ponies that will keep you going for that all important first 72 hours.  Some items can be used over and over again with care.  I also have a few variants of BCB military supplied kits that are available which most people will be aux fait with.

Pilots Mk 4 Go Pack which comes in 3 packs each containing what you require for a “survival” situation.

Some more up to date versions Above – Military, Combat and basic pack all of which are very similar with some containing more luxury items.

I have loads of parts of kits and some really extensive self-made ones for different environments but these are clearly a personal choice thing.  There is no hard and fast rule as long as you cover the essentials required in conjunction with PLAN-M.  I am just on the lookout now for a vintage WW2 survival kit to add to my collection.

That’s right guys!  We’re offering a 30% discount on all of our summer courses until the end of January. If you’re interested then give us a call or email info@backcountrysurvival.co.uk.

Fabric maps are nothing new, but like a lot of great products in the outdoors “a nod” in the direction of tradition can be a good thing……a modern twist on a proven method can only result in a great product.

temperature inversion high on the Cairngorm Plateau during the test of the Splash Map

Fed up with folding and refolding my maps to areas I required as well as having them wear out over time (even when protected in a map case) and cutting a map up is really poor practice, I recently purchased a fabric map from a company called Splashmaps  of the Cairngorm area based on the Harvey 1:40000 map. I had a good conversation with David Overton from Splashmaps and about the products and these are my thoughts on my purchase.

The Splash Maps Harveys Cairngorm Snood map

Now this will make purists and traditionalist cringe, but hey,  you sometimes need to take a deep breath and try something new.  The map I bought was definitely a change as it was a stretch map that was basically a snood!  This is something really innovative.

The bespoke BCS splashmap

So let’s see what it’s all about:  The Harvey map is printed onto a fine and stretchy microfiber and can be worn around the neck, head or wrist.  It has all the cartographic style of Harvey maps and the detail is really clear.  I was heading off  onto the sub-arctic plateau of the Cairngorms instructing a group of nine on “winter skills” and within the group, there was a good mixture of OS 1:50000, 1:25000 as well as Harvey 1:40000 & 1:25000 in use.  I opted to concentrate on the Splash Map stretch map as well as my Harvey 1:40 (which I stowed in the bottom of my pack) as I knew the area we were heading to and I really wanted to see how I faired with this.  Now I have extensive map reading experience and I have used mapping all over the globe but this was completely new.  I had previously experienced military Escape & Evade maps which are usually of a greater scale and not the greatest to use for fine work but this was a real eye opener.

Orientating the splash map snood to the ground using physical features at the start of the day

The first thing that I noticed was that there were no grid numbers on it………this will make lots of people raise an eyebrow, but if you pause for breath and think about it the map is stretchy so taking a grid reference is not going to be accurate so you can only use it for landmarks, bearings etc.  This is not a show stopper, as you can pre plan a route on a normal map and then trace it onto the stretch map using the Crayola pen supplied (which can be washed out later) if required.  I managed to identify everything easily, take bearings and orientate the map easily with my compass.  It was just a case of folding it to the area I required and doing all the normal map and compass work.

Taking a bearing using the Splash Map is easy

How many folk take two maps with them in the case of losing one? Having a splash map on you as a “back-up”, or in good weather a primary navigational aid can only be a good idea. All in all I found it really useful as I used it round my neck as a buff type item then used it to navigate around the hills.  If you are not comfortable with having no grid numbers then you can get a non-stretchy fabric map which does have the grid numbers on it.  I’m telling you folks this is the way forward now, and it is something I fully recommend you to try out. BCS will have a number of Splash map products on trial for you on our courses for 2017……..with our own twist!   Get on the web site and have a look at the products.

ONE ARM FIRE LIGHTING

BCS Instructor Bradley Lotts has recently undergone surgery on his arm, which got him thinking………..how easy is it to light a fire with one hand.

So, fire lighting is a very important part to our survival and it isn’t a one trick pony and can be used for several tasks including Warmth, signalling, light, Drying clothes, making tools, water pasturisation and cooking. For most of the people reading this article we have all managed at some stage, be it during a camping trip or personal development days to start a fire for whatever reason we might need one. Keeping the 7 P’s in mind we head of and collect all our resources to give us the best possible chance of getting our fire started. Collecting our tinder ensuring we have enough to give us a strong enough flame to catch our kindling and working our way up the thickness of the twigs until we get our fire sustained.  Easy?

Right okay so put yourself in a situation where you have been in an accident and you have managed to break either an arm or even worse a leg, suddenly that simple little task of collecting all your tinder and kindling could end up being a right pain in your ass. One big factor that is going to play havoc with your head is maybe not the thought of potentially having to crawl about the woods looking for dry usable material for your fire but your will to live; Can you muster up enough positive thinking to help you push through this extremely hard life or death situation? Which leads me on to a bit about survival Psychology

Survival Psychology

Cognition controls all our behaviour however when life is threatened this fundamental function of our existence can become impaired. Such impairment can be fatal and can lead to unnecessary death in a survival situation. There is theory known as 10-80-10 which suggest that 10% of people facing an emergency can control their fears and act rationally, 80% find themselves overcome with fear and emotion and lack motivation to respond while another 10% become hysterical and freeze. To ensure that you are part of the top 10% with a better chance of survival you must have situational and self-awareness.

To have both you must first have knowledge of the physiological processes your mind and body both undergo during an emergency.  

The Situation

You are out mountain biking when you hit a rock on the ground and fall off. When you sit yourself up you realise that you have broken your arm. You are in the middle of the woods far away from the main road, your phone has ran out of battery and you are unable to cycle back. You look at the time on your watch and realise that it will be getting dark very soon.

How your body responds

The sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates your fight-flight-freeze response, is activated to take control of your body. This results in the pituitary gland secreting 3 key hormones into your bloodstream – Adrenaline, Norepinephrine and Cortisol.

Adrenaline and norepinephrine are basically the same. Norepinephrine is pretty much a back up to adrenaline. Both have a major role in preparing your body for battle in numerous ways. They cause your heart rate and blood pressure to increase and your lungs to expand to take in more energy (known as bronchial dilation). Blood is channelled away from the digestive system and the skin towards major skeletal muscles for quick action and strength. They also trigger the production of glucose and the secretion of cortisol sets fatty acids free to be transformed into energy. These molecules are rapidly excreted into the bloodstream supplying a readily available boost of energy for muscles throughout the body, priming them for exertion.

Cortisol is released more slowly than adrenaline and norepinephrine and it helps to sustain the fight-or-flight response over an extended period. The digestive and immune responses are slowed in the anticipation of a fight.

The dangerous scenario

Over time the engaged sympathetic nervous system depletes the body’s energy reserves of glycogen and fat stores. If it goes on too long you could experience a crash which leaves you feeling cold and tired. The more primitive portion of the brain (the limbic system) takes control from the more developed frontal lobe. Thoughts become less logical and more visceral. This can lead to impulsive and irrational behaviour. If this is not controlled, then you can very quickly become the 80% who have no will to live or the bottom 10% who are too hysterical to even have a chance at coping.

We now understand how our brain is going to react in the situation so we have a fighting chance of overcoming the problem. So, we have collected all our materials for getting our fire started we now must work out a way of getting it done with one arm.

The pictures above show how I managed to get a fire going using one arm this is defiantly not the only way to get a fire going with one arm but it worked well for me as you will see in the video. The picture on the right shows you a big tinder bundle which is going to give me a better chance of getting my fire going.

Above On the left, you can see the layout I chose to give me the best possible chance of getting my fire started. The layout I chose was the lean-to fire lay which made the whole process a lot easier for me as I could easily control the oxygen intake to the fire by simply lifting and lying the kindling onto the log which gave it a 45-degree angle.  As you can see from the pictures above the angle of the wood allows a good supply of oxygen to flow into the tinder bundle. The smaller log of the two in the picture is a stabilizing log for me to rest my ferro rod on and hold in place with my foot so I can strike it using on hand.

I decided to use my ferro rod as it would be good practise……. a lighter would have been my first choice if I was in a real life threating situation. You should also carry at least two methods of starting a fire if you are going out in the hills or doing any outdoor activities, where the chances of you getting lost or hurt is high. There are other methods of starting a fire for example solar igntion, bow drill and flint and steel are all really good ways of starting a fire and it is good to practise these skills. If I was putting my life on the line I would put my ego aside and use the easiest method which is going to give me the best result and in my option that is a ferro rod and a lighter. I tried the bow drill with my broken wrist and found it nearly impossible and that was with a pre made set imagine having to try and make a set from scratch if you had a broken leg or arm, no thanks I will stick with my lighter, it is about survival not bushcrafting, two very different things. 

As you can see from the video above it doesn’t take me long to get my fire going using all the techniques mentioned above.

BCS Instructor Graham Melloy heads up onto the Arctic Plateau of the Cairngorms.

looking down into the Loch A’an Basin

After a very busy period at work prior to going out of the country for six months I found myself with some free time on my hands.  Apart from the normal family stuff on the calendar I decided that an overnight trip to the Cairngorms to shake off the cobwebs was just the ticket.  It was minus seven on the Moray coast when my son and I set off and it was still minus seven when we got to the ski centre car park so it was going to be a tester.

Between the pair of us we had more Fjallraven than the new Cotswolds in Inverness when we set off for our trek with the Kaipak 58 the bag of choice and having used it many times it still never fails to let me down.  Even though we were only out for one night with the temperatures as they were and the ever unpredictable weather that we have all experienced on the plateau we had to ensure we had all the necessary kit and this bag can take a fair amount without all the unnecessary straps and gubbins we find on gear these days.

The flat topped Shelter Stone Crag with Carn Etchacan above it

It was with relative ease that we headed up the hill skirting to the western side of Coire an Lochain with some detours due to ice patches up on to the plateau with striking views all round working our way across to Hell’s Lum Crag to get a good view of Loch A’an which was covered in ice with the plan to drop down to the shelter stone.  With the amount of ice on the ground and fast fading daylight the sensible decision was to backtrack and cross Coire Domhain towards Coire Raibeirt to find a nice spot to pitch the tent with good views.  We chose a nice spot to the south east of the Cairngorm summit overlooking the saddle with great views down towards the Fords of A’an.

The Keb Endurance 2 is a gleaming bit of kit and takes no time to erect though with the ground frozen putting the pegs in required some size 9 action!  Once that was up and our gear stashed we had a wander along the edge of Stac an Fharaidh along towards Ciste Mhearad taking in the views and enjoying the silence.  The temperature was still very low but the wind was definitely picking up when we got back to the tent in darkness to get some food on the go and my LED Lensor H7R.2 lit the place up like a football stadiums floodlights!  This sudden change of weather whilst not unusual definitely made us re-evaluate our plan for the next day.

Keb endurance 2 takes another pummeling, high on the Cairngorm Plateau. The summit of Cairngorm in the background

I had a Real Turmat beef stew tucked away in my bag left over from a previous training event with Rosker and having sampled these extensively in Afghanistan courtesy of the Danish Army I know how good they are.  My son though had to make do with a boil in the bag!  Once we were well fed and watered there wasn’t a great deal more to do apart from listen to the wind which was now howling and shaking the tent like crazy so it was an early night!  It was still cold and the Sarek 3 season down bag I have worked a treat with my home made silk liner. (Three panels from a

parachute…..try it!)   With the wind increasingly getting stronger I got up to check that the pegs and guy lines were still intact and I was nearly blown off my feet but all was well.  Sleep was interrupted by the wind throughout the night and at about 2am I thought the tent was going to take off but the guy lines held out and the poles stayed strong.  Daybreak brought a calm of sorts and the plan was to head off to Cnap Coire na Spreidhe and beyond to locate the El Alamein refuge but with a heavy fog and the wind picking up again it was the sensible thing to head down off the hill at our own pace.

So with plenty more excursions planned over the next few weeks before heading to warmer climates this was definitely a much needed shake out.  The Fjallraven gear never fails to amaze me and the Keb jacket was ideal for this trip with the Eco shell over the top when required.  The tent was excellent and the Primus Winter gas did exactly as it said on the tin compared to the normal Primus gas I also took along to conduct a comparison.

Here’s to the next one and a bit longer and hopefully more snow!

Ever heard of Ake Nordin? You’d be forgiven if  you haven’t.  Ake lived in a town called Örnsköldsvik in East Sweden, a keen scout and outdoors man that was not entirely happy with the rucksacks and outdoor equipment of the day.  At the age of 14 and prior to a trip to the Västerbotten mountain range Ake borrowed his mothers sewing machine, and after knocking up a satchel made of strong cotton, attaching it to a wooden frame (he knew that carrying equipment on his back required it to be close to his back with a high centre of gravity) he had produced one of the first multi-day hiking rucksacks.

Soon friends were commissioning him to do similar for them, orders from local Sami reindeer herders that spend weeks in mountainous terrain would soon follow. 10 years later he would register a new company at his familys 1 bedroom flat and name the company Fjallraven. Humble beginnings.

One of the things I love about this story is it perfectly illustrates that “Necessity is the mother of all invention”.  Many outdoors men and women of the day just accepted that the they would have to carry their equipment in ungainly, un-shapely, sagging and uncomfortable sacks strapped to their shoulders. Young Ake had other ideas.

There’s plenty of stories of similar pioneers in the outdoor world; from Yvon Chouinard, pioneering rock climber, environmentalist and owner of Patagonia clothing. The young Chouinard recognised that Pitons (metal spikes hammered into rocks for protection) were damaging the rock. Along with Tom frost he designed a new and “cleaner” way of protecting rock routes by producing chocks/stoppers/hexentrics.

Closer to home (Scotland) John Cunningham and Hamish Macinnes during the 70’s, were experimenting with curved ice axes and refining “front pointing” techniques for ascending steep ice. Hamish Macinnes was the inventor of the first technical all metal ice axe, along with the the Macinnes stretcher still used by MRT worldwide.

North Face of Ben Nevis, Tower ridge centre.

It’s easy to digress from the main subject matter, however, the point is that many of the pioneers in the outdoor equipment world designed their products as a direct reaction to problems they were facing whilst “out in the nature”. The Fjallraven Kaipak range has been designed using the same processes.

The Kaipak comes in three sizes the 28 litre (day trips and summer use) the 38litre (day trips summer/winter, 2 day trips low level) and the 58 litre (multi-day trips, summer and winter). All the guys at BCS use theirs as their main “teaching” rucksacks, as depending on the length of course that we are running there is enough room in the 38 and 58 for group as well as personal gear.

One of my biggest pet hates nowadays is finding a rucksack that doesn’t have hundreds of superfluous straps attached to it. There seems to be a gimmicky trend from some of the big rucksack producers to try and sell a pack based on the amount of equipment that can be strapped, attached and hung from the outside. These extra straps if not taped up can become your worse enemy in poor weather conditions, I’m sure many of you can identify with being repeatedly slapped in the face whilst trying to take a bearing.  The Kaipak range is simple, minimalistic and sticks with a small number of features that are “bomb proof” and won’t let you down.

First impressions of the Kaipak is that it’s clean, simplistically functional and almost utilitarian.  The Kaipak is made from G1000 heavy duty fabric, making it immensely hard wearing and can be treated with Greenland wax if necessary. Anyone familiar with Cairngorm Granite will testify to the fact that a single seasons use can trash most outdoor gear, yet after 3 seasons worth of personal and professional use the G1000 on our Kaipaks is still looking sweet…….a recurring theme for anyone that owns “historic” Fjallraven clothing.

An absolute must for me personally is a “floating lid”, which the Kaipak 38/58 both have, this allows you to stow the pack full to the brim without putting unnecessary strain on the fastening clips, it also keeps the Kaipak looking neater when fully packed . The top flap is surprisingly spacious for keeping headtorches, spare gloves, hat and anything else that need to be go to quickly.

Inside the top flap there is a waterproof cover in UN Blue, perfect for keeping the Kaipak dry in downpours, but as you may know UN Blue along with orange is one of the first colours picked out by the human eye…..be safe, be seen!

Bradley on the poorly protected/exposed 2nd pitch of January Jigsaw, Glencoe

The front of the Kaipak has a large full length zipped compartment for keeping water proofs in, minimalizing “faff” time.  The sides of the pack are equipped with clever cinches that allow you to attach walking poles autonomously from anything else you want to attach on the sides, the cinche itself is metal so isn’t affected by “icing up” during the winter.

The shoulder straps are the perfect width for spreading load across the shoulders and the Aluminium frame and padding on the back structure is spot on. Another great feature on the 38 and 58 is the large hip belt that is exceptionally comfortable, and the two small pouches attached to it are handy for keeping essentials in.

As companies get bigger they tend to lose touch with who their client base is, why they started selling outdoor equipment in the first place. There’s many big brands out there that are not selling equipment as a result of listening to what outdoor recreationalists need from an outdoor garment and are instead focusing on what the market determines from a sales point of view. Fjallraven, despite their growing popularity are still pushing for innovation, when you buy a Fjallraven garment you also buy into their “ethos”.

On a personal note out of all the Fjallraven gear BCS use the Kaipak is probably my favourite piece. It’s proven itself on many different occasions from woodland, mountain and winter use.