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.

Following on from last months blog “how much water is needed to survive” we will be having a look at water acquisition within a coastal environment in this post. Starting at the beginning and looking at procurement of water within a coastal environment……where’s the best place to start looking for potable water?

Rain water – The purest source of water, Rain water can be collected using any form of sheet material fashioned into a “well” and is the only method where you don’t have to worry about the 3 principles of water purification which are;

1. Sedimentation – Allowing turbidity/particles to settle to the bottom of a container
2. Filtration – Taking out any large particles that could host harmful pathogens within….It should be noted that Chlorine, Iodine and other chemicals “bind” to organic particles and might not necessarily reach the centre of particles to denature pathogens
3. Purification/pasteurisation – Once the water is clear of particles using heat or chemicals to render pathogen inert. The boiling process is the most reliable as long as you have carried out steps 1 and 2 above.

All organic pathogens are denatured at “time over 72 degrees centigrade”, however bringing water to the boil is a good visual sign that you have achieved this. Don’t worry about boiling the water for a certain length of time just remember….Big bubbles No troubles

Streams – Water should be taken from swift flowing water where possible (bacteria and protozoa do not thrive well in highly oxygenated water.  When using water courses always take water from as high up as possible, this will reduce the amount of tributaries flowing into the main source.  Contrary to popular belief water taken from streams should always be purified (sedimentation and filtration is not needed when the water is running quickly)

Seep Wells – Simple but effective, look for indicator signs of saturated ground – Sphagnum moss, reed/rushes and surface water. Dig down into the ground until you hit the water table and allow the water table to rise within the well.  The water coming through at first will be full of turbidity so bail the well out two or three times until it starts to run clear and follow the 3 principles outlined above.

Within a coastal environment digging a seep well directly into the sand or even up on the banks will result in “brackish” water coming through. A top tip when using this method near the sea is to dig the well directly behind the first sand dune, this will yield potable water.

NOTE –The water is not reliably safe to drink straight from the well. 

Solar stills and transpiration bags – Both these techniques rely on evaporation at a slow rate. A well made solar still or transpiration bag left out in direct sunlight will yield around 300ml a day (1 cup)…..if you’re lucky. It should be noted that using salt water in a solar still will still result in Brackish water.

Fresh water from sea water

We are all familiar with the dangers of drinking sea water, but what actually happens when salt water is ingested?

• The concentration of salt within the humans body is regulated by a process called Osmosis
• Osmosis is the movement of high water concentration to low water concentration across a cell wall.
• Cells hold a high water content within them, but a Low salt concentration
• When the salt water which has a low water content but high salt concentration is drunk (sea water) this draws water, across the cells wall, and into the cell as an equilibrium is reached
• too much salt in the system and the cells shrink and dehydration will occur at a higher rate, putting strain on the Renal system and other organs ultimately resulting in death.
• The same thing happens were you to drink your own urine.

Where you to find yourself in a situation where there is no reliable source of fresh water you will have to think about converting salt water into drinking water, which is no mean feat. Out of all the methods that have been tried and tested by the BCS team the best result we have found is with an improvised Distillation unit.

Improvised Distillation Unit

The one thing you’ll never be without on the shore line is resources. Flotsam and jetsam is abundant and even the most inconspicuous item can be utilised in many different ways.  The improvised distillation unit pictured comprises of a scavenged metal tin, a camelback drinking staw (already part of our kit) and a metal receptacle for fresh water.

1. The Black metal tin contained 2 litres of salt water collected from the sea.
2. the camel back straw was fixed to the top of the container and buried under wet sand
3. The other end of the straw is placed into the fresh water receptacle.
4. Light a fire at the bottom of the metal container holding the seawater and attempt to hold a constant heat (this is the hardest part of the technique)
5. As the sea water begins to boil, fresh water steam begins to collect in the camel back straw, due to it being buried under wet sand the steam condenses in the straw and runs down into the fresh water container.

Result

Over a 1 hour distillation time, from the 2 litres of sea water, fresh water harvested was 100ml giving a ratio of 20:1. Although this does not seem a huge amount if you were to multiply this by 24 hours the total yield would be almost 2.5 litres which is significant.

Reverse Osmosis Pump

Reverse Osmosis Pump (ROP)

Reverse osmosis pumps can typically be found on life rafts and other vessels where crew members may find themselves adrift and unable to be resupplied for a length of time. The Survival ROP’s are reasonably small but due to the mechanisms are heavy.

As was discussed earlier, naturally the process of osmosis allows salts to pass from a high concentration to a low concentration across a membrane to achieve an equilibrium. The ROP, as the name suggests works the opposite way round, so to produce fresh water it holds the salt water in a chamber and pressure (produced by pumping) forces the salt across the membrane from a .  An “inlet” pipe is passed into salt water and the handle is pumped at 40 strokes per minute, the pressure reached within the chamber pushes low.

Keep up to date with our blog for more offers on our Bushcraft and Survival Courses in Scotland and North East England – We feature discounts and competitions regularly.

We always hope it will never happen but what if you get lost in the great outdoors, injured or a friend you’re out with breaks a leg?  Getting your location out to potential rescuers is a hugely under rated topic that should be learnt by anyone spending time in the wilderness. Here’s 10 quick tips for getting yourself found quicker by the emergency services and SAR.

1. Within a Survival scenario we always work to the 72 hour window……..you need to get yourself found within this time frame, after which SAR and emergency services begin to scale down the search.
2. Leave a Route Card – We’ve all been guilty of it, heading off into the nature without telling anyone where we’re going. A route card can be given to a loved one, pinned on the fridge or left with a ranger station or the local police. A route card should include;

1. Start point + Time
2. End point + return time
3. Rough route intended
4. Potential contingency routes (if your plans change)
5. Other members of the party and contact details

3. Mobile phones – Make sure your phone is charged, battery packs can also be bought for cheap to top your phone up if it’s running low. In an emergency use either 999 or 112, contrary to popular belief they will give you the same service. 112 is a pan european number but will also work in some 60+ other countries. If your phone has no signal whilst calling emergency services, your phone will “camp-on” another network, this is not the same as roam. A “camped-on” phone can only make outgoing calls and cannot receive incoming even if its from the emergency services. For wilderness emergency’s call 999/112 and ask for the police and then mountain rescue

4. Register with the 999/112 text service. Simply send register by text to 999/112, – if your phone has no signal or can’t “camp-on” to another network then you may be able to send a text to the emergency services. The text will also sit in your “outbox” until sufficient signal is gained to send it

5. Did you hear that? – Of the number of rescues I’ve been part of the whistle is the first thing you’ll hear. The correct distress signal on the whistle is 6 long blasts over 1 minute. If you hear this when out and about, reply with 3 short blasts and repeat until you close into the individual needing assistance. A quality whistle can be heard for over 1 mile in good conditions. A loud shout will carry for nearly a kilometre.

6. See the light – Apart from the obvious advantages of always carrying a head torch (!) it can also be used for signalling. Most modern head torches have a strobe setting on them which can be seen for miles. If you don’t have a strobe setting the emergency signal is the same as the whistle above. Always carry a space blanket, apart from first aid uses they can also be pinned down onto the ground and light shon onto it to increase the light signature .Cameras and modern smart phones have a flash setting on the camera, there have been cases of people being found using this. A “Heliograph” or mirror is a massively under-rated bit of kit and can be seen for 20 nautical miles or a ceiling of 10,000 feet +.

7. Be safe, be seen – There’s no need to be going out in camouflage unless you are in the military……Bright coloured clothing makes you instantly stand out. Orange is the first and last colour seen by the human eye but can sometimes blend in to the surroundings. “UN Blue” is our favoured colour as it is un natural in almost any terrain.

8. Ground to Air signalling (GTAS) – If you remember any GTAS it should be the inverted V, this is the international sign for “assistance required”. Always carry an orange survival bag, these can be cut up and fashioned into a GTAS along with foil blankets and any other bright materials you may have such as role mats, sleeping bags and jackets.  Ideally the inverted V should be 15 feet x 3 feet.

9. Hold their attention – Once you have attracted the rescuers stand with your feet together with your arms outstretched above your head in a Y shape, this is the stance for “assistance required”.

10. Prevention rather than cure – For the outdoor enthusiast, statistically, the number 1 reason you are likely to need rescued is due to a navigational error. Spend time brushing up on map and compass work, and carry a GPS for back-up use only. Avoid using phone apps as this runs the battery low quickly.  One of the first thing SAR/emergency teams will ask for is a 6 figure grid reference, make sure you can relay this along with the 2 letter Pre-fix (these are the blue letters that split the OS map into separate sheets).

Keep up to date with our blog for more offers on our Bushcraft and Survival Courses in Scotland and North East England – We feature discounts and competitions regularly.

We will be delivering survival courses from next month onwards from our new second survival school in NE England, so if you can’t get up to visit us in the Highlands of Scotland you can book onto one of our courses closer to home.  All bookings will be online in September on our new website so keep a look out.

Keep up to date with our blog for more offers on our Bushcraft and Survival Courses in Scotland and North East England – We feature discounts and competitions regularly.