Table Of Content
Contents
Introduction .......................................................................i v
1. Trip Planning and Preparation ..............................1
2. Survival Kits ............................................................. 15
3. Psychological Aspects of Survival .......................37
4. Signaling ..................................................................53
5. Water .........................................................................67
6. Fire.............................................................................95
7. Shelter .....................................................................139
8. Food.........................................................................179
9. Survival Travel and Navigation ......................... 213
10. Dangers and Hazards ......................................... 249
11. Weather ..................................................................275
12. Clothing..................................................................285
13. Survival First Aid .................................................. 299
14. Essential Survival Skills .......................................319
15. When Disaster Strikes Close to Home ............ 341
Author’s Note .................................................................349
Checklists.......................................................................351
Acknowledgments .......................................................359
Index ...............................................................................3 2
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
It was decidedly fate. Soon after quitting the music industry and resolv
ing to live a life of outdoor adventure at the age of 25, I opened the newspaper
one morning and saw a small ad for a wilderness survival course. Not long
after, I found myself on my first solo outing: curled up in my shelter, boots
sticking out the entrance, rain teeming down . . . and I was giddy. I realized
then and there that I was reliving my boyhood days of building shelters behind
our family cottage, only this time I could stay out all night. I was hooked, and
since then, wilderness survival has figured prominently in my life.
In Surviving the Extremes, Dr. Kenneth Kamler writes, “Human beings
are the only animal whose emotions, spiritual imperatives and lust for
adventure override our survival instincts. We get into trouble because we
have an insatiable desire to explore. We know very well we have assumed
risks when we travel in an extreme environment and that our decisions
could have fatal consequences.” My own insatiable lust for adventure has
seen me voluntarily place myself, time and time again, in survival ordeals
or extreme adventures. I used to do it for fun, and I guess I still do.
I have always channeled my creative energy toward filling voids,
doing things that nobody else has done. Creating a survival series for tele
vision was no different. I had seen lots of survival films; they seemed dry,
boring, and of little interest to anyone but the hardestcore survivalists.
What was missing was the drama that unfolds in reallife situations. I rea
lized that to really show how to survive you need to go out and actually do
it—and film the experience. Out of this thinking, my idea for producing a
television series, eventually called Survivorman, was born.
From the getgo, I vowed not to let Survivorman make a mockery of
survival by incorporating games and challenges, or by cheating my way
through it by staying in hotels every night or bringing along a makeup
artist to help me look dirty. There would be no camera crew to offer me
food and assistance. I needed to be out there, alone, just as I had for years
trained to be, actually surviving, or at least coming as close as I could to
simulating that experience.
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Dr. Kamler notes, and I agree, that there are four forces at work in
the struggle for survival. Knowledge—well, you’ve got a good start by read
ing this book. Conditioning—an oftenoverlooked aspect of preparation
for wilderness adventure. Luck—my dad would have called it “dumb” luck;
hopefully you’ve got some! And the single most important force of all: the
will to live. Without it, people have perished beside packs of supplies. With
it, others in similar situations have survived seemingly impossible ordeals.
To this list I would add survival kit. Certain gear can make a huge differ
ence in your struggle to survive.
Snowmobiler Chris Traverse certainly had most of these forces when
he got lost on his way home from a fishing trip in northern Manitoba in
March 2008. To reach safety, he had to endure five days of walking through
waistdeep snow without supplies. I was humbled when Chris credited Sur
vivorman with helping him survive.
Stories like Chris’s are a large part of what led me to write this book
and to make sure that, like my TV show, there is nothing phony about
my work. The field of wilderness survival is cluttered enough with infor
mation. I stick to triedandtrue methods, providing the background and
explaining the skills that I know can help you to survive. The skills are ones
that anyone can easily learn and use, and that should work anywhere, any
time. I also provide essential checklists, which you’ll find at the end of the
book; photocopy these and use them to plan your next adventure. Prepa
ration is everything.
Yet no matter how prepared you may be, you should never lose sight
of the fact that a survival situation is an emergency. It may seem fun on a
survivalskills weekend when you’re fully fed, guided by an instructor, and
surrounded by a group of likeminded students, all smiles and dirty faces.
But in a reallife ordeal, “fun” is not part of the equation.
Survival is not about smelling the pines and feeling the breeze on
your weathered and tanned face. Survival is not fun. It’s not pretty. It’s
never comfortable. It may involve eating gross things, enduring pain and
deprivation, and battling fatigue and loneliness. It may involve danger. It’s
about life or death. If you want to learn how to survive, read on. . . .
V |Survive!
