Sat, Nov 19 2011 - Survival Training 2-Day Course (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Rob Garner Participants: Rob Garner, Michael Johnson, Agam, Maribeth, Scott, Laura, Sarah Y, Carol, Lisangel, James C, Shannon B, Joyce T., Caroline, Tom Monk, Michele Troso, Griff, Alex, Lemmy

Write Up:
It's like a scene from a movie. Your plane went down deep in the woods. The survivors setup a camp with stuff from the wreckage. They make a fire pit and hang a parachute over it to protect them from the weather. Now it time to survive.

Ok it wasn't that dire at Red Top Mountain, but the scene is the same.

You arrive at the training area to the scene I just described. A circle of chairs is formed around the fire pit. This is where most of the instructional training occurs. Skills, techniques and knowledge are taught and a few stories to keep it interesting.

Jim discussed and demonstrated a subject, for example fire making, in excellent detail. Then we would practice the skill by gathering the material from the surrounding area and build a fire.

We also learned techniques and skills for making shelters, food gathering and preparation and navigation. Jim also spent some time on the mental aspects of survival.

Some people spent the night in the shelters we made. It started to rain around 4:00am. The shelters stayed dry. Amazing!!!

The navigation portion of the course is exceptional. We spend a lot of time understanding how to read and orient a map. The teaching techniques Jim used made it very easy to understand. Then we practiced those skills on the orienteering course in the park. We also navigated back to our camp in small teams. This was really fun and good experience.

Jim is one of those rare teachers that knows his subject well, has lots of real life experience and is passionate about sharing it with others. He will spend the time, one on one if needed, to make sure each person understands the material.

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