COURSE DESCRIPTION

Fall and Winter are two of our favorite times to spend time in the backcountry. There is, of course, the mushroom harvest and changing of the leaves to enjoy at the start of fall, but more than that, as the winter moves in the instinctive drive to mate and gather food dominates the lives of wild creatures. For the comfortable outdoor adventurer, this can make for a great time to see some of your favorite animals.

In addition to being rich with animal close encounters, fall is the first real test of your outdoor skills. It is one thing to sleep in a lean to or build a fire during the warm summer, but with the cold and damp moving in for the Autumn season your skills will begin to be challenged and your comfort will be based on how well you apply your skills and fine tune techniques.

Not only is fall training a wonderful time to add new skills, it is also the time to refine and grow old skills and to prepare your winter equipment and training.

Soon, the strong winds move in and the winter will change everything. This class is all about being ready to enjoy the upcoming cold season with the same comfort and spirit of adventure as you would enjoy any other season. This class is wonderful for the beginner and advanced as we will be revisiting some common skills to adjust them for the needs of cold weather, and we will be adding seasonal specific skills based on the weather and resources found through the fall and winter.

In the Rockies, no two falls are ever alike so the exact list of skills is everchanging for this class. We have built snow shelters in fall, but in other years we have relied on thatched roofs to hold in the heat and hold out the cold. In past classes, students have enjoyed learning such things as the one-hour primitive emergency action shelter, preparing and changing gear for the season, thatching roofs and blankets, making capote coats, snow tracking, making snow shoes, building bull boats, mastering fire in wet conditions, watching young foxes play, and more.

We will always be focusing on primitive, modern, and pioneer skills that have been proven to work, not just in the season, but specifically in the Rocky Mountains and other harsh environments.

Regardless of the specific skills and experiences the mountain gives us, the heart of this class is to prepare your gear and load you up with skills to make cold weather seem like an opportunity rather then a deterrent to cold season adventures.

WHAT TO EXPECT​

In this 3 day class, we will teach you the basics of cold weather survival so that you will be able to spend the night out in the wilderness. Your key survival tactics will be to stay warm and dry so we will primarily focus on fire and shelter during these two days.

SKILLS TAUGHT WILL INCLUDE

• Proper gear/clothing selection for cold weather
• Hypothermia wrap
• Primitive shelters and snow shelters (snow pending)
• Primitive and Modern fire starting methods in a cold environment
• Use of snow as water
• Full Length Body Fire and the All Night Fire

ACCOMMODATIONS

A large 21 person military tent with winter liner is provided for a community tent during class hours and may be used for sleeping at night. Tent is complete with 2 wood burning stoves and a cot for each student. This is a shared tent for all students that wish to use it.

LENGTH

3 Days / 2 overnights

ACCOMMODATIONS

If students do not wish to camp with us, the town of Cripple Creek is a short 15 minute drive from our location and Woodland Park is 30 minutes away. Students will be responsible for making their own reservations with nearby hotels. We do have a central community campfire location with a few designated campsites but mostly offer dispersed camping. Students will be able to drive their car within 100 feet of the main camp and will not have to hike gear in for long distances.

• Shelter Lodging: Students can stay in one of our 20 person GP Medium tents when not running field exercises or may stay in their own tents, campers, vehicles or a primitive shelter. Our tents are complete with wood burning stoves for cold weather conditions. This is a shared tent for all students that wish to use it.
• Sanitation/Hygiene: A portable restroom and potable water will be provided at main camp.

FOOD AND WATER REQUIRED

Water will be provided but students will need to bring their own food. We recommend quick field expedient meals such as freeze dried hiking meals or MRE’s. They can quickly be made at our primitive camps and won’t slow down the learning process. However, students may bring any food that they wish to cook over the campfire or on their own personal camp stove.
Food can be purchased locally at nearby facilities. Walmart and several local eateries are within a reasonable driving distance.

​CLOTHING REQUIRED

Warm outdoor clothing, warm gloves and hat, winter boots and wool socks. Layers are important in Colorado. You will want a water wicking base layer, an insulating mid layer, and a waterproof breathable outer shell. Check out our Clothing Layering Basics if you are unsure of what to wear.

SUGGESTED GEAR LIST

We do not provide students with gear unless they have purchased it from us ahead of time. Not much gear is needed for our courses, though good equipment does speed the learning process up greatly! Gear does not have to be bought from our store to attend the course, but we recommend survival gear of equivalent quality.

• Fixed blade knife (Preferably a bushcraft style knife WITHOUT a serrated edge)
• Ferrocerium rod
• Poncho or Rain Gear
• Cold Weather outdoor clothing and appropriate footwear
• Folding hand saw
• Overnight Camping Gear: Tent, 0 Degree sleeping bag, ground pad, etc
• Shemagh or large cotton scarf
• 100’ 550 Paracord
• Headlamp and extra batteries
• Cooking pit and eating utensils
• Single walled metal canteen
• Sunscreen and UV protective sunglasses
• Small Backpack
• A collapsible snow shovel is recommended but not necessary

​Check Recommended Items List for more details!

If it is still not clear what gear is needed for our survival courses, then we have assembled a complete kit that is still high quality but for a budget friendly price. All the items in this kit were hand selected by our instructors to be the best bushcraft tools on a budget. This survival kit is a useful starter kit that can be used in all of our courses. These are all must have tools at a good price. It’s a great survival kit, bug out kit, go bag, or use it as a solid foundation to build a kit that perfectly fits your needs. With this kit and our training anybody can survive like a king in almost any environment!

NOTE

Due to the different levels of prior experience and knowledge among students in each class, individual outcomes may vary. Weather conditions can also be a factor in changing class content slightly. Nonetheless, our instructors will always endeavor to be as accommodating and consistent as circumstances will allow to ensure students get the best training experience and value for money.