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Wildland survival skills aren't just for mountain men

Other voices

By Rich Landers | The Spokesman Review • Published December 19, 2008

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The topic of outdoor survival can scare the average person to death.

That's a pity. There's so much important information everyone should understand before the hard-cores branch out to eating bugs, snaring rabbits and packing a 12-inch survival knife with flint and fishhooks in the handle.

Survival preparedness isn't just for mountain men. It's important in everyday life and activities as basic as winter driving.

I'll guarantee that some people have been warming their vehicles in this week's arctic blast so they can hop in and drive to school, work or their friend's house while wearing sweats and sneakers — maybe even flip-flops.

Not that they really need it anymore, but my college-age daughters this week each received the usual e-mail reminder that their parents love them and, just as important:

• "Be sure to call us with your itinerary; dress for the single-digit weather, pack snacks and water and charge your cell phone.

• "Don't forget to stash your down sleeping bag — the high school graduation gift that keeps on giving — in the trunk before driving over the mountain passes for the holidays."

I'm hoping this residual parental hovering will instill a routine they'll maintain into adulthood. It's basic stuff that could prevent an inconvenience from becoming an ordeal.

Hunters, backpackers and snowmobilers tend to be inherently prepared because enduring inhospitable weather is integral to enjoying their sport.

Most of these sportsmen have invested in foul-weather clothing and keep their rigs stocked with maps, matches, flares, flashlights, batteries, tow straps and extra hats and gloves.

But I suspect we'd be shocked to learn how many skiers head to the slopes without tire chains or adequate tires.

We might cringe at the number of people who venture off the beaten path without the essential survival skill to build a fire.

Thoughtless motorists can get away with being unprepared when the unexpected occurs, even on a well-traveled road — as long as they don't slide off an embankment, out of sight in the darkness where they might have to survive the night with a broken hip.

Something like that happens every year.

If you're heading out of town without the essentials for surviving a night out, you're unprepared.

As I was making a presentation about survival last year to the Downtown Rotary Club in Spokane, I realized that survival preparedness is based on the same principles many of them already follow in their careers.

We don't necessarily have to think of survival in terms of survival kits, pemmican bars and building a rescue litter with a Swiss Army knife.

Maybe we should think of survival preparedness as we would establish a successful business:

• Evaluate conditions.

• Make a plan and minimize risk.

• Gear up and realize limitations.

• Set a sustainable pace.

• Involve competent, compatible partners.

The entrepreneur who ignores these basics could lose his shirt and go bankrupt. The consequences are a lot harsher for people who venture outdoors.

A lot of successful people have gained valuable lessons in the school of hard knocks.

However, students of survival preparedness strive to avoid learning the hard way, because in some cases, that's too late.

Rich Landers of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane can be reached at richl@spokesman.com.