Did you know that Mountain Shepherd Adventure School has five different survival class offerings (well, six if you count Women’s Survival Essentials course)? We’ve got courses that cover survival basics for adults (Survival Essentials), survival basics for families (Survival Essentials – Family Course), advanced survival skills (Survival Quest), primitive wilderness skills (Bushcraft Essentials), and classic and important skills for anyone venturing outdoors, Wilderness First Aid.
So, which is the right course for you? Many first-timers to Mountain Shepherd try out our Survival Essentials course, a great introduction to survival skills. Survival Essentials, geared towards adults, teaches the life-saving wilderness skills you need to embark on outdoor adventures with confidence. Through an engaging and hands-on experience, you’ll explore the seven priorities of survival – the seven key elements to making it out alive. Over the course of just two days and one night, you’ll learn the essentials of positive mental attitude, wilderness first aid, shelter, fire craft, signaling, water, and food. Students depart the Survival Essentials course with a solid foundation of wilderness survival skills and knowledge.
Want to learn all the survival basics of the Survival Essentials course, but want to get your entire family in on the action? We’ve got you covered! Our Survival Essentials – Family Course helps you and your family develop better camping skills through hands-on experiences. The seven priorities of survival will serve as the foundation upon which your adventure will rest. Starting with a brisk uphill walk to our first hands-on lesson, the course cycles among covered outdoor training camps so families can learn and practice the seven priorities of survival in a variety of settings. Families can choose to overnight in a tent, hammock, or improvised survival shelter. Loaner gear such as tents, hammocks, and sleeping bags are available, so this is a great opportunity to try something new or test out your own family sleep system.
We are beyond excited to have updated one of our signature courses – Rolling Thunder! It is now called Survival Quest, and we think it’s going to be a really special course. This advanced adult course is designed to put your skills to the psychological and physical stress experienced in a survival situation. Over the course of four days and three nights, you become a proficient global survivor. The course begins with hands-on learning of the seven priorities, while the second day brings backpacking and camping skills, first aid scenarios, and land navigation, using only a map and compass. Day 3 takes you on an off-trail hike putting your newly learned land navigation skills to the test, and sets you up for a solo overnight experience to end the course. Intrigued? We’ve got several courses already on the schedule for this spring and summer.
One of our most asked about courses is Bushcraft Essentials, a course for adults to learn important life-saving wilderness skills, acquire confidence, eliminate wilderness fears, and to gain wilderness experience. Bushcraft refers to the skills required for living in the backcountry. We focus on teaching you primitive shelters and fire, using tools, orienteering and using and creating your own gear. Mountain Shepherd’s approach to Bushcraft is centered around reducing your dependence on modern backpacking gear while increasing your ability to exist comfortably in a wilderness setting. While there is a distinct difference between survival and bushcraft, a solid foundation in these skills will enhance your ability for survival and help you to maintain a positive mental attitude if the situation were ever to arise, say if you made it on the show Alone!
And lastly, (but surely not the least!), is our Wilderness First Aid course. This course is designed for the outdoor enthusiast, backpacker, dayhiker or wilderness survivalist who requires or desires wilderness first aid knowledge and skills. Wilderness First Aid is an objectives-driven, skills-based course, based on the ASHI Wilderness First Aid (WFA) program. The course utilizes didactic instructions and active participation to teach students foundational knowledge of the principles of first aid in a wilderness setting and application of that knowledge. This course does come with an ASHI WFA certification, for those students who have satisfactorily completed all the requirements.
There are lots of good course options for folks of all ages to learn about survival skills at Mountain Shepherd. Have questions? Want to book a private course? Just want to say hello? Email Dina at dina@mountainshepherd.com. Hope to see you soon!
