The Winter Mountains

Due to accidents throughout Scotland in the 2012/13 winter, never before has there been such a demand of winter walkers, climbers and mountaineers looking for training and guidance whilst out on the hill.  Many factors have contributed to this however a number of high profile rescues have highlighted that the winter mountain environment can easily chew up and spit out the unaware and inexperienced.

Prolonged lengths of cold weather last year combined with heavy snow fall saw the avalanche forecast (which can be found at www.SAIS.gov.uk) go through the roof. The usual freeze thaw cycle that binds a snow pack together wasn’t happening.  This being said Avalanches weren’t the only reason for accidents, route finding and navigational skills were leading to mistakes being made. The  winter environment in the mountains is a dynamic and ever changing beast, a fickle mistress!  The margin for error is reduced significantly from summer to winter and one bad judgment sometimes paired with another can have dire consequences.

Avalanche pits

When leading or teaching a group in the winter mountains the first job is to kit the client out with specialist gear that will allow travel to become easier; Ice axe, crampons, helmet and rigid soled boots.  Not only this but the “faff factor” must be reduced prior to setting foot on the mountain.  Survival in extreme temperature relies on being organised and slick, you will know yourself that after exercise in the outdoors if your stopping and starting frequently how cold you can get,  if you add minus temperatures and wind chill factors to this hyperthermia sets in rapidly. Therefore finding a system whilst packing your bag for the day should be honed and refined with experience, to avoid stopping and starting.

For myself personally, being self-sufficient in the Mountains is the biggest reward. To be able to travel in a hostile environment knowing that I will be able to cope with almost anything the mountains have to throw at me is what Mountaineering is all about. Yet you cannot just turn up on the mountain and expect everything to go as planned. The mountain environment is frequently different from sea level when it comes to the weather. Setting off from the car on a sunny winters day, can rapidly turn into a fight for survival when up higher, never underestimate this factor. Prior to heading out you should check the weather, my preferred site is www.MWIS.org.uk . This service gives upland weather reports for many of the mountain regions in the UK. Remember it’s OK to change your initial plans if the conditions are looking rough, many accidents are caused by ignorance of signs such as weather or avalanche warnings. If in doubt turn about, discretion is often the better part of valour.

There has been a number of interesting articles recently  released by the Mountain Leader Training Association (MLTA) regarding decision making in the mountains.  One of these was regarding the use of Heuristic decision making. Put simply if you had to make minute decisions about everything, everyday then your head would be overloaded analysing. Heuristics are “short cuts” and include stereotyping, rule of thumb and common sense. Although these can be useful “shortcuts”, when coming to a decision they can lead to misinterpretation of a situation; “you can’t always read a book by its cover”.  Examples of Heuristics that you may face on a mountain day could be being faced by a steep avalanche prone slope that have footprints up it, you would be excused for thinking that if the slope were to avalanche it would have been triggered by the party in front of you.  Another scenario could be being familiar with an area and thinking there’s not usually a cornice there, so there won’t be one now. Your Heuristic findings do not take into account the dynamic nature of the snow pack or the historical weather patterns prior to setting out.

As they say, “theres no substitute for experience”, learn the basics, consolidate what you’ve learnt and make everything subsequently a gradual progression.

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.

Running courses in Scotland gives us the added edge of being able to run courses in the snow.  During the winter months theres always snow to be found if you know where to look!  We use Alvie estate near Aviemore to run most of our courses.

A traditional estate where heards of red deer roam and the golden eagle is a regular sight. Taking the 4×4 track into the Monalaidh we can quickly find ourselves 500 metres above sea level, an hours walk in over open grouse moor takes us upto the tree line, mature pine trees stand like sentinels.  Its here that is home for the night, 2 hours hard graft and youve created a ‘shovel up’ shelter, another half hour and the fires blazing drying off wet clothes and boiling the brew pot.

As it gets dark the strange feeling of having no tent comes across you, the feeling of being exposed on a bleak hill side quickly fades away as you crawl into the snow cave, quietness descends.

Its easy to wax lyrically about these places and the people you spend time with when your there, but this is an experience we should all have at some point, no need to travel abroad, its all here in the highlands!

Neil

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.

Dates are up for Survival Training in October, This year we will be running a combined course up in the NW of Scotland. Taking complete beginners all the way up to aspirant Survival Instructors. This is the perfect opportunity to not only learn from the leaders in Survival training but also from the diverse members taking part.  So if you’ve been unsure up to this point whether you’ve “got what it takes”, why not drop us a line and see what we can do for you?

STAS was founded by Duncan Clark of North Ridge Adventure with input from SAS survival guide author John “Lofty” Wiseman, the NCFE and others.  The current Handbook for all STAS is the SAS survival Handbook. All 4 levels within STAS are underpinned and structured by survival models such as PLAN-M, the rule of 3′s and the survival pyramid.

The Survival Training Award Scheme (STAS) – Founding Member

In response to a growing trend for regulation of adventurous training, STAS has been established to provide quality standards for land-based survival skills. The aims of the scheme are to:

• Provide quality training and assessment for survival skills – standardized, accountable and suitable for all individuals and organizations
• Offer a clear progression route for students (see course outlines below)
• Safeguard the adventurous nature of Survival Training – learning to manage risk appropriately
• Assure customers of instructor competence.

Survival Instructor Award (SIA) – The Top Award, Independently Accredited at Level 4 in the UK

This professional award takes place over all 4 seasons and is for people who wish to teach the full range of survival skills.

Already Instructing? SERE qualified? Contact us about Accredited Prior Learning (APL) 

Candidates must be highly self motivated and should be aware this course will involve rigorous performance assessment.  We do however allow for a wide range of learning styles and have assessment methods which allow you to shine, including video diaries and practical projects.

Your Survival Training/NCFE Certificate of Achievement will provide professional recognition in this fascinating and growing sector.

We invite serious enquiries from individuals or organisations, and will be pleased to advise on special courses for groups. This Award is restricted to those over 18 years of age with appropriate relevant experience.

Survival Group Leader (SGL) – the course for leaders in non remote areas

Stepping stone to the SIA or destination in its own right, the SGL is for those leading groups in non-remote locations and has a different remit to the SIA.

The SGL award focusses on being able to provide safe and enjoyable survival experiences to groups of beginners and to young people: – bivouac skills (woodland shelters), fire safety and general campcraft including sustainability issues feature highly. Over and above these skills however is the need for effective planning, risk assessment, and emergency procedures and these form a major part of assessment.

Personal Survival Award (PSA) – a personal proficiency course

Bushcraft and Wilderness skills in the Britain’s most northerly Survival School

The PSA has a broad scope and is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to operate effectively in any situation. On this course you will learn about the PLAN-M method (Protection, Location, Acquisition, Navigation – Medical) and will actually experience what it means to survive outdoors with minimal equipment. We will teach you how to construct shelter, build fire for warmth and cooking, attract rescuers and deal with the most challenging terrain and weather. Your certificate iwill be a passport to confidence in the great outdoors, wherever life may take you.

Survival AWare (SAW) – the essential course for everyone

Now including the Commando Survival courses we are running in association with Go Commando Bootcamp and our good friend Lee Stuart – former Royal Marines Commando instructor and fitness advisor.

Happy Campers

One night out in the woods with your family, friends or even alone. Sounds easy? Maybe the thought terrifies you…whatever the answer this course will show the reality – that with the right skills and knowledge it doesn’t need to be so bad, in fact we will ensure you have a good time as you learn and will assist you to develop some useful skills to go home with.

There are no age restrictions on this course and the subjects taught will be tailored to the group.

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.

Possible the finest paddling expedition in Scotland?  Loch Shionasaig, Veyatie and Fionn Loch with access to Scotlands most iconic hills Stac Polly, Suilven, Cul Mor and Canisp.

The course ran for 5 days with 8 clients and started with a portage of gear and boats into Boat Bay on the
North side of Shionasaig. Every wild camp in this trip is a winner and the first night on the banks of Boat Bay didn’t disappoint, fine little outcrops of Torridon sandstone made for the evenings entertainment with some nice “bouldering” and scrambling.  The Second day saw us packing gear into boats and setting off. A force 3 head wind made for a tricky start but the group handled the boats well as we passed through the inlet into Shionasiag.  Hugging the West shore gave protection from the wind and at around 1700 we arrived at our intended second camp on a beach surrounded by the amphitheater of Cul Mor and Cul Beag. Long hours of light meant that we grabbed a quick bite and set straight off for Stac Polly which we summited at around 1800.  Straight back down to the boats for an open fire and food.

The second day saw an early start and straight up for Cul Mor, as we neared the top we were treated to a sighting of a pair of Golden Eagles.  Back down to the boats and an intended wild camp on Eilean Mor (big island). In my opinion this is one of the best wild campsites you can find.  Setting camp on the north shores you have a panorama of Stac Polly, Cul Beag and Mor, Suilven and Canisp – having said this the midges made an appearance “en force” and after a spot of fishing we cleared of into our tents away from pesky critters.

The third day was the big one…..a lengthy portage of boats and gear in to a connecting loch between Shionasaig and Fionn Loch and then another portage into Fionn Loch itself, this is the reality of expedition paddling, there’s always hard graft to be done to gain the objective. The group performed superbly and without a winge carried boats and gear 2 Kilometers into Fionn. A short paddle down the loch and a 3rd outstanding wild camp, with some rainbow trout for dinner that was landed that evening.

The 4th day was spent paddling, fishing (brown trout this time) and lining our boats upstream and into Loch Veyatie. Our final nights camp was a corker, stories told around the camp fire, fishing and a good breeze kept the midge away.

The final day was a easy paddle to Elphin and a quick shuttle to pick the transport up. Its quite clear to everyone on the course and the instructors that Scotland is a match for Canada and Scandanavia when it comes to quality paddling expeditions, we love this country!

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.

Few races conjure up feelings of endurance, suffering, scenery second to none and pain both physical and mental. The race itself has a loyal following unlike any other race family in the industry and competitors are drawn from across the globe to compete in the West highland way race.  The course runs from Milngavie just outside Glasgow and follows a line through glens, along lochs, over mountains and past the most iconic scenery in the British isles finishing in Fort William – a total of 95 miles and an overall ascent of 16,000 feet. The entire course must be run non stop and be completed in under 35 hours.

During the race there is little room for error, from nutrition to kit, it all has to come together. One small blip can be magnified ten fold and become a reason to retire, ruining a years worth of training.   With this in mind I returned to Camelbak after a few years using a competitor brand that was low price and hence low quality.

The Camelbak venture was foremost in my mind for the WHW race, the pack itself sits on the hips as a belt arrangement which has the added advantage of easy access to the pack compartment and hydration bottles whilst running, a constant pace is essential during such an event and any faff with finding gear whilst running leads to seized muscles and loss of focus. The storage compartment is a slight 2 L which doesn’t seem much but will hold the essentials of anyone wishing to move light and fast, within mine I managed to get my emergency whistle, emergency foil blanket, map, compass, x4 energy bars and a light weight waterproof jacket with elasticised straps on the outside to store extras.

The start gun goes off in the dark at Milngavie  0100 hrs leaving the competitors 35 hours to get to Fort William. Initial feeling of the venture are that its mega comfortable. The perforated foam waist bands have been cunningly split in half allowing the belt to contour the body avoiding any rubbing. The first check point is 14 miles at Balmaha at the side of Loch Lomond where I meet my support team who feed me and refill my pack with energy bars and water into the bottles.

The trail winds along the East side of Loch Lomond to Inversnaid then on towards the 50 mile mark at  Auchtertyre outside Tyndrum. The juxtaposition of starting in Glasgow and running to some of the most spectacular places in Scotland doesn’t pass me by, this is one of the joys of this event, it is a true journey of magnitude, in some ways you can appreciate that the country isn’t that big if you go from glen to glen and hill to hill as our ancestors did, rather than by winding roads that are built due to the need of the road builders.

One of the most striking additions to the Camelback Venture are the two Podium water bottles that come with the pack. Each bottle holds .6 of a litre of fluids, have a jet valve outlet which in laymans terms means you don’t get any airlock whilst drinking, meaning the water is in continuous delivery, very impressive! Even more of a surprise is that the bottles double up as flasks due to the gel insulation surrounding the inner container, keeping cool water cool and warm water warm. This is another area Camelbak have outstripped the competitors, other brands have nasty cheap plastic bottles that compress.

Leaving Auchtertyre for Bridge of Orchy the ergonomics of the belt become apparent. The drinks bottles are canted out slightly making it easier to reach round and draw one from the holster.  Thankfully the holster doesn’t have superfluous bungee loops to hold the bottle in place, which to me is just another faff to overcome, getting on for the 60 mile mark and having not slept in 36 hours the body starts telling you to stop for the most minor things, including getting water bottles out….the less reasons you have to stop the less the body can trick you!

The next section is the one I looked forward to most but unfortunately is the section I suffer on. Coming down into Glencoe I’m hit with excruciating shin splints which turns a run into a jog and a jog into a walk. Leaving Glencoe after meeting the support team competitors are hit with the Devils staircase which climbs the flanks of the south side of glencoe and leads you down into Kinlochrannoch. A five mile descent on harsh underfoot conditions considering we’re now 80 miles into the race seems unfair to say the least, and in the dark the mind plays games, making figures out of the most benign features.

I hit Kinlochleven and begin the long climb up and over to Glen Nevis, the final stage of the race.  Camelbak are one of those companies that you, as the customer never have to do much thinking about the product, it does exactly what it says it will…and some. As I hit the tarmac and the 30 mile an hour sign into Fort William I know its over, and as my hands touch the doors of the leisure centre I feel nothing but acute tiredness and the need for sleep having spent 30 hours on the trail.

The Camelbak venture is a great piece of equipment and has been thought out brilliantly with ultra runners, as well as road runners in mind. If you want value for money mixed in equal measure with quality then get yourself one, stay with the original and the best.

For more details and to purchase please follow this link http://www.nightgear.co.uk/Camelbak/466ngb.htm

Neil Foote – Backcountry Survival

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.

Survival AWare or SAW course is running on the 15th to the 16th of June, by Backcountry Survival and North Ridge Adventures. This two day and an overnight bivouac is a continually assessed award and is for individuals or groups wishing to learn more about the subject of survival. Candidates can continue on the Survival Training Award Scheme, ultimately working in the Survival industry. This course is also relevant for those wishing to  brush up on skills for expeditions and personal outdoor use.

The course will be run from Tallybont forest in the Brecon Beacons National Park, although a shuttle will be running from the Highlands of Scotland down.

PRICE – £260.00

STAS Registration, certificate and badges included in price.

BCS Phone – 01479 873388 (Neil)

NRA Phone – 07979 691989 (Duncan)

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.

Family Wilderness Trip

Seems like the summer will soon be upon us. Why not spend a few days with us over the holidays? BCS can tailor packages in multi environments, from rivers and lochs to woodlands and mountains. You can be assured that there’s something for all the family and it will be educational and challenging.

If you’ve got an idea that you want to talk over don’t hesitate to get in contact for advice.

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.

The Survival Group Leader

Monday 29^th April saw the start of the first ever SGL course – and what a course it was! We met the candidates down at the Alvie Estate office near Aviemore before ferrying them up to a remote hunting lodge in the Monadliath mountains which we used as an HQ throughout the course.

With any training programme it’s important to get the basics in place, so the first part of day 1 was spent in lectures on the origins and principles of Survival training, and a lot of group discussion on topics such as ‘where does Survival training fit into outdoor pursuits’ and ‘how is it (ST) differentiated from bushcraft and other activities’? These group discussions were really interesting because not only the Instructors but the candidates had a wealth of experience in different fields – we had mountaineers, gamekeepers, hunters and sailors, all wanting to learn how to put a common safety framework around their group survival activities.

In the Survival Training Award Scheme we teach the PLAN-M system.

This stands for: Protection, Location, Acquisition, Navigation, Medical –  so the first order of the day was to get out in the weather and practice protection strategies including the protection of casualties.

From an aspirant SGL point of view this means developing a full understanding of clothing systems, survival bags, tents and of course, bivouacs using only what nature provides. Many hours later, the candidates were comfortably ensconced ‘underground’ in a fantastic turf-roofed shelter where they survived the night’s wind and rain in absolute comfort (although there were a few snoring complaints in the morning). For our part this is always the most important lesson with any group – that with the right knowledge and skills it is possible to be comfortable in the most unlikely places!

 

The course moved on through the week in a blur of activities, focusing on all the major survival elements as well as the group leadership principles, duty of care in training and legal requirements.

Bushcraft and Wilderness skills in the Britain’s most northerly Survival School

Water acquisition, treatment, sterilisation using chemicals, boiling and filtration with the very latest equipment were covered in detail as providing safe, clean water is an absolute essential. The group also learned about fire lighting, fire management under our policy of ‘leave no trace’ and group cooking with and without equipment. As part of the group cooking lessons we covered game preparation and each of the students was required to clean pluck and prepare a pigeon, then to skin and prepare a rabbit – after suitable instruction, of course!

There were a number of overnight locations used, all of which were left exactly as found, before the candidates assembled in the big clearing for the final exercise of the course – LOCATION, or getting rescued by alerting a scheduled passing aircraft as the exercise scenario went. This exercise was not only highly practical, but a lot of fun and the guys got to deploy every conceivable method of attracting rescue from the oldest to the newest – whistles, heliographs, flares and smoke signals, right through to radio and satellite communications. In a real survival situation we would have been rescued for sure!

Feedback after this new award course has been really positive so the Survival Training Award Scheme (STAS) is proceeding to roll out the course in both the UK and North America in conjunction with the introductory Survival Aware course, and the Personal Survival Award. As the course came to a conclusion, each candidate had the benefit of individual feedback and development advice based on observations of their performance throughout the course. All were at a very high level of proficiency and will be able to confidently present themselves for assessment after a period of skills consolidation.

If you are interested in learning more about survival training at any level we invite you to let us recommend a course which will meet your needs – just contact us by email or phone any time.

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.

Survival Group Leader And Instructor Course

A hugely successful STAS training course ran last week with candidates from the UK and EU in attendance. The course was run in the Monaidlaith as well as the Cairngorms and saw individuals put through multi-terrain training; from river crossings to mountain navigation and woodland survival.

Course content included;

• formalised risk assessing
  
• teaching and coaching techniques
• emergency first aid
• navigation and negotiating steep ground
• Sharp tool coaching
• Water hazards
• Game preperation

Snaring in Scotland

New laws in Scotland are to be enforced as of the 1st of April 2013. These state that each snare being set must be labelled, GPS tagged and logged in a book. This is after “free running snares” have been outlawed North of the bordered, and a stopper must now be fitted 13 cm’s from the free running end of the snare (rabbits). Townie reactionary lobbying? or a step in the right direction for animal welfare? What do you think?

To become an accredited snarer please contact BASC on 01350 723 226.

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.

This week were going to stick one up Primus, MSR and Colemans and talk Backcountry Survival stoves.  Always a big question when running extended courses in the mountains or when away on expedition is which stove and fuel should I use? There’s a stove for every situation…..for a faff free burn in a temperate environment you can’t go far wrong with a butane powered whisperlite or similar. For a cold prolonged excursion a petrol stove is a must. and betwixt the two sits the trangia.

Experience has taught me that when far away from “civilization” where resupply from shops is a no go, then a petrol stove is easier to find fuel for, finding butane canisters in the far flung regions are as common as hens teeth.  Butane also has a freezing level of -30, Propane -40 (although there are tricks around this) and petrol not being a single molecule compound begins to freeze at -60, but not completely.

Usually (but not always) butane stoves are a closed system, meaning you cant get into it to bodge it back together when it starts to go wrong, the petrol priming stoves are fully modular making life easy to get in amongst and clean/replace/bend parts to get it functioning again.  Having said this Priming a petrol stove is an art that can only be mastered with hours of playing around with to avoid flare ups – OK if your outside, but in a hostile environment where you need to cook in a tent you can easily lose your protection (first hand experience of seeing this from 2 royal signals officers in Siberia, whilst priming their stove they burnt their tent down).

Having said all of this, what if you had no stove?  There was not enough fire wood to cook or steralise your water supply, or lighting a fire for whatever reason was not an option?

…………….Or perhaps you don’t have the cash to stump up for a new stove?

Step 1.Take two drinks cans and cut the bottoms off and keep, these are the basis of the stove, making sure you retain 4 inches or above in height. For the best result the drinks cans should be the same diameter as each other.

Step 2.Take one of the can ends and perforate with a nail/drill or other sharp object. These will become your flame holes so bear the Fire triangle in mind when your doing this, remember you need Oxygen, Fuel and Heat for a burn, so too few holes will not allow the flames to breath, too many and you’ll have a fire ball on your hands! If you cant get the stove to start put more holes in.

Step 3.Take the non perforated end of the second can and fill to the top with cotton wool (in a survival situation this can be substituted by old rags/clothing/jacket liner). Next pour fuel into the can and allow the cotton to absorb, do not overfill the can. The Hobo stove will burn any liquid that will light with a naked flame, although white gas will burn cleaner than petrol.

Step 4. Push the two cans together one inside the other and make sure the cotton wool is touching the holes. Now “Prime” the stove with a small amount of fuel and light.  The holes should start to allow oxygen into the stove and fuel vapours out, if this does not happen see step 2.

Step 5. Note – Picture 1 is priming and Picture two on a full burn.  With a full charge of fuel as described above you should have 30 – 40 mins burn time, enough for a few brews.

Step 6. The problem of cooking can be overcome with a bean can as shown, this allows your billy can to sit over the flame whilst the air slots cut in the side  feed the stove with oxygen.

Disclaimer! – Always run your stove in a well ventilated area, Carbon Monoxide kills. Keep your stove away from flammable fuel canisters, especially on initial start up. We take no responsibility for you burning down your/your mums house!

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.

Snow Holeing

Be it necessity or leisure, the snow hole is in many cases the most effective form of shelter within a winter mountain environment.  Yet unlike woodland shelter, there has to be a lot more judgment   and understanding of the building medium and topographical features to avoid an unpleasant or in some cases be a potentially fatal experience.  The snow hole has been an essential means of survival for many over the years – from indigenous communities; the famous Heroes of Telemark; to present-day mountaineers.

For myself and many others, Bushcraft is having the skills, confidence and experience to travel through and live in a wilderness setting for a prolonged length of time.  The “human animal” has the ability to survive in practically any environment on the face of the planet.  This greatly depends upon the careful planning of appropriate equipment – much of which has been evolved and refined over time.  However, it is experience and skill, combined with this equipment, that best equip the individual to withstand the harshest of conditions.

Let’s put the need for effective shelter into context. Many have heard of the “rule of threes” a hierarchy of the essentials and time scales needed to sustain human life;

• 3 minutes without oxygen
• 3 hours without shelter
• 3 days without water
• 3 weeks without food

These rules are, of course, all circumstantial and need to be considered alongside a number of other factors. In a hostile habitat such as the Cairngorm Plateau, in the depths of winter, three hours can be an over estimate. Hypothermia can set in at an alarming rate.  Technical hypothermia is the loss of a mere 2°C from your body’s core temperature. Contributing factors such as wind chill and heat loss through perspiration evaporation, will speed the process up, as water conducts heat away from the body five times faster than air. When you factor wind chill into the equation, heat loss occurs twenty-five times faster than on a still day. The need for shelter is paramount!

Location, Location, Location

The first thing to think about is where to start excavating your snow hole.  Prevailing winds are typically south-west in this country, causing wind-carried snow to lay deepest in the north-east lee (or sheltered) slopes.  Snow depth of course depends on the recent wind conditions, and close attention to weather patterns should be made prior to any expedition. In Scotland, the snow can lie for up to 10 metres deep, which is ideal for excavating a snow hole. I have heard many horror stories about groups and individuals staying out for the night and digging into the snow pack, only to find that the snow depth is not sufficient to house everyone.

Think you won’t get avalanched in Britain? Think again! Being avalanched whilst digging, or worse being buried whilst inside a snow hole is a real possibility. It should be noted that an avalanche can occur on a slope with an angle as little as 20°! The Scottish Avalanche Information Service or SAIS is the one-stop-shop for mountain snow conditions and should be adhered to prior to heading out.

An avalanche probe should be utilised to test for any discrepancies within the snow pack, feeling for any excessively hard snow with wind slab (hard packed freshly-blown snow) lying on top. An avalanche pit is also a useful tool to get an idea of the local stability within the different layers in the snow.  A hidden layer of Graupel (when snow is rotated in storm conditions to form ‘ball bearings’) under wind slab can act as lubrication for any subsequent snow layers, increasing the risk of avalanche.

Choice of Snow Hole

Temperature will dictate which style of snow hole is more relevant.  In Scandinavia and the Arctic regions, a ‘Kaloo’ or traditional Norwegian set up is the preferred choice.  The idea is to dig a corridor straight into the snow pack and leave raised sleeping platforms either side.  This has two distinct advantages: The first being that it keeps you closer to the top of the cave, where the warm air from body and stove rises.  The second is, as the cold air drops to the floor, it is allowed to escape through the doorway, which is in line with or often lower than the sleeping platforms – in effect acting as a cold sink.  The roof has to be perfectly smooth and rounded to support the weight of the snow being exerted from above and the sides.  In warmer climates, however, the Kaloo is prone to collapse.

In the British mountains, where the ambient temperature rarely drops below -10° and is more than often in the -1° to -7° range, it is more important to try and hold onto some of this cold air to stop the inner surface melting and dripping onto you.  In this case, a snow cave may be more appropriate. This can be dug quickly by two or more people.  Set at a planned distance apart, two doorways are dug in unison and joined once inside.  The sleeping spaces are on the floor which encourages the retention of the cold air and expulsion of any warm air quickly.  Once either type of snow hole has been dug, the doors can be capped from the top downwards by cutting blocks from above the chosen site and sliding them into place.

Carbon Monoxide

Believe it or not more people succumb to Carbon Monoxide poisoning than by the collapse of their snow hole.  Carbon Monoxide is produced from using a gas or petrol stove in an enclosed space and is formed when there is not enough Oxygen to produce Carbon Dioxide.  Two essentials are needed to counter this. The first is a small hole punched through the roof with a ski or walking pole to allow the Carbon Monoxide to escape (CO is slightly lighter than air).  The pole is left in place to clear any spindrift that may accumulate during the night.  The second is a candle, (apart from the obvious extinguishment of the flame telling you that there’s not enough oxygen for the flame to burn) which should be slightly flickering to confirm there is a small amount of air circulation throughout the sleeping space.

Equipment

As we all know the mountainous regions of the world are amongst the harshest and unforgiving environments on the planet.  The old adage of “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment” holds true!  Apart from having the usual ice-axe, crampons, water proofs, map, compass, weather reports and spare clothing, you should be equipped with an avalanche probe, snow shovel, bone saw, a good 4-season sleeping bag and bivvie bag, a reliable stove and most important of all…. good quality training.

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.

The Survival Triangle

How can you possibly speak about the individuals will to survive unless you yourself have been faced with a potential night out on the hill, getting lost in a whiteout blizzard or had to administer yourself for long periods in a hostile habitat? Without this first hand experience, one of the most useful tools for allowing you to visualize the dynamics of Survival is the Survival pyramid. This lists the three areas that are needed to surmount an emergency event;

Will to Survive – Is the basis for all survival situations, the individuals mental and physical attitude to their surroundings will be the ‘ make or break’ of them.  Some people are born with a greater capacity than others, for some folk it is possible to train themselves by taking on increasingly harder challenges and tuning the body and mind. External forces can play a part to Surviving a scenario; be it Religion, the team or loved ones at home, these are factors to give the individual that little extra incentive to ‘dig deeper’.  Interestingly I remember reading Heinrich Harrer’s “White Spider” about the first rope to ascend the North face of the Eiger, in which he comments;

“… allowing the mind to wander to the valley and loved ones in it is not conducive to a successful expedition, the mind must be occupied with the task in hand…”

Sometimes the will to Survive is the pure focus on the task at hand, complete immersion will be needed to ‘come out the other side’.

• Knowledge – Knowledge is power.  Ignorance of facts leads to fear, and an education in wilderness skills will hold the trainee in good stead for future experiences;

“Make your pack lighter by filling your head with knowledge”

Nature and what is around you has all that you need, its the implementation of these resources that is important. Everybody knows that you can make fire by rubbing two sticks together, or set out snares to catch food. But which types of wood and how old do they have to be to get an ember?  How long does a snare have to be set out for to turn up a catch? Just ‘knowing’ something doesn’t mean you can affect it to work, but being knowledgeable often means you have put it to physical practice and allows you to tweak technique in the field depending on the circumstances.

•  Kit – Kit is always at the top of the triangle. We rely on our knowledge and will to survive to allow us to teach and to surmount situations with the base minimum of equipment.  However when out in a wilderness setting planning what you pack is hugely important, as is a good knowledge of the equipment or gear that you are taking . Relying too much on gear can be a hindrance especially what we are teaching is self sufficiency.  This being said with a knife, metal mug and well prepped survival tin life can be comfortable.

 As an individual and company delivering courses in Bushcraft and Survival I am often asked what is the difference between the two?  A complex and much debated question.

I once heard my head instructor Pete Long describe the differences nicely to a group by saying;

“Survival is essentially finding yourself in a situation and trying to get yourself out of it, Bushcraft is about purposefully putting yourself in a situation and trying to stay there.”
In my view the two interplay and combine in many ways, the Survivalist will have much the same knowledge as the Bushcrafter but the desired outcome is different. The desire to be as self sufficient as possible and work with the base minimum of gear is present in both sides.  The other difference is the Survivalists ability to freely use modern day materials and manipulate them to serve his needs. To give an example is the use and production of man-made tinders to light a fire; The Hudson bay trappers would take a tin with them when they were going off to trap animals for their fur, this tin they would pierce a hole on the top and use to make char from natural materials such as cotton, punk wood or a piece of natural material that they had. Indigenous peoples might favour Amadou which is found in the horse shoe fungis, thin slices are cut, put into boiling water and ash and boiled up and dried. The outcome is similar, the difference is obviously the man-made tin which would not be available to indigenous peoples.

One thing is certain, there is no substitute for hard earned experience, like the base of the survival triangle it is the building block on which we keep adding, leaving us more safer, rounded, happier and contented individuals.

Neil Foote.

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.