Snowy First Steps to Wilderness Survival

At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

Okay, not really. I'd been looking forward to my primitive skills class from Advanced Survival Training and Instructor Tim MacWelch for a month now. For one, it was the first weekend in several that the weather didn't make getting outdoors completely miserable or life threatening. (People in Northern Virginia can't drive in snow and icy weather.) Second, I got to learn several basic skills that get me closer to my goal of being more self-sufficient.

I was most excited about learning to use a bow drill. We assembled our bow drill sets and all attempted to make an ember. I'd like to go on record stating that bow drills are hard. They are even harder in five inches of snow and a strong wind. I'm told that bow drill friction fires are difficult under any circumstance. That doesn't make me feel a lot better about not getting it right. Only one student managed to beat the elements and got an ember going.

I confess I got mad because my arm quit before I made an ember, so I used my fire steel and lit my tinder bundle. I wasn't going to leave without making fire, even if I kinda cheated. (Everyone knew, by the way.) At least I didn't use the lighter I had stashed in my backpack. I'll keep practicing with the bow drill. The damn thing won't beat me forever!

We need a lot more leaves
and a door!

The class was more successful at building shelters. It's a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, especially scouting for good locations and materials. I like figuring out jigsaw puzzles and shelter building is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. Find the right location. Place the pieces in the right direction and the right shape. Keep building until all the pieces are filled in.

We didn't complete the shelter because we had other things to learn, but we were pretty impressed with how much we could get done in a couple of hours, but it is obvious it would take much longer if we had been working solo. Primitive survival would definitely be a full-time job.

One of the other critical lessons of the day was the appropriate use of snow. It should definitely be used for snowball fights. Yeah, you can also melt it for water or if you had enough, build a snow shelter, but really, the best use of snow is pelting people with it.

We also learned basic flint knapping and the principals for signalling in a rescue situation. The best thing about Tim's classes is that everything is hands-on. We all built the shelters. Everyone made big and little rocks into useful tools. Everyone got a bow drill set and at least attempted to make fire. Everyone over the age of 21 got maple wine too.

Oh, Tim learned something too. If you dare me to squee like a teen-aged girl and ask for your autograph AND promise me maple wine if I do, I'll do it. I'll make you really sign the magazine too! (If I'm going to look silly, you're gonna sign!) The maple wine was fantastic, again! Thankfully, there was no video and to my knowledge, no pictures!

...I will survive!