Senior Instructor Graham Melloy is about to depart to Africa as part of a UN peace keeping mission. Below he covers some of the survival tins he’s collected over the years.

In the mid 1980’s when I first ventured out in to this line of interest the big thing was making your own survival kit or more commonly a survival tin.  Now these kits were put together with whatever we could muster up from our hard earned pocket money from Survival Aids which now no longer exists as well as what we found in our old man’s sheds!

I have always had a survival kit and I now have a much tailored and tried and tested one that I never leave home without but I also have a wee collection that I have as an interest.  I thought I would share some of these with you and you will see that some of the items are fairly universal through the decades:

Old BCB COM-PAC kit circa early 1990’s

Survival Aids Combat Survival Tin again 1990’s

Coghlans Pilots Kit I picked up about 19 years ago

Now the above kits all have everything pretty much required for PLAN-M in some sort of form.  As they are survival kits a lot of the items are one trick ponies that will keep you going for that all important first 72 hours.  Some items can be used over and over again with care.  I also have a few variants of BCB military supplied kits that are available which most people will be aux fait with.

Pilots Mk 4 Go Pack which comes in 3 packs each containing what you require for a “survival” situation.

Some more up to date versions Above – Military, Combat and basic pack all of which are very similar with some containing more luxury items.

I have loads of parts of kits and some really extensive self-made ones for different environments but these are clearly a personal choice thing.  There is no hard and fast rule as long as you cover the essentials required in conjunction with PLAN-M.  I am just on the lookout now for a vintage WW2 survival kit to add to my collection.

That’s right guys!  We’re offering a 30% discount on all of our summer courses until the end of January. If you’re interested then give us a call or email info@backcountrysurvival.co.uk.

Fabric maps are nothing new, but like a lot of great products in the outdoors “a nod” in the direction of tradition can be a good thing……a modern twist on a proven method can only result in a great product.

temperature inversion high on the Cairngorm Plateau during the test of the Splash Map

Fed up with folding and refolding my maps to areas I required as well as having them wear out over time (even when protected in a map case) and cutting a map up is really poor practice, I recently purchased a fabric map from a company called Splashmaps  of the Cairngorm area based on the Harvey 1:40000 map. I had a good conversation with David Overton from Splashmaps and about the products and these are my thoughts on my purchase.

The Splash Maps Harveys Cairngorm Snood map

Now this will make purists and traditionalist cringe, but hey,  you sometimes need to take a deep breath and try something new.  The map I bought was definitely a change as it was a stretch map that was basically a snood!  This is something really innovative.

The bespoke BCS splashmap

So let’s see what it’s all about:  The Harvey map is printed onto a fine and stretchy microfiber and can be worn around the neck, head or wrist.  It has all the cartographic style of Harvey maps and the detail is really clear.  I was heading off  onto the sub-arctic plateau of the Cairngorms instructing a group of nine on “winter skills” and within the group, there was a good mixture of OS 1:50000, 1:25000 as well as Harvey 1:40000 & 1:25000 in use.  I opted to concentrate on the Splash Map stretch map as well as my Harvey 1:40 (which I stowed in the bottom of my pack) as I knew the area we were heading to and I really wanted to see how I faired with this.  Now I have extensive map reading experience and I have used mapping all over the globe but this was completely new.  I had previously experienced military Escape & Evade maps which are usually of a greater scale and not the greatest to use for fine work but this was a real eye opener.

Orientating the splash map snood to the ground using physical features at the start of the day

The first thing that I noticed was that there were no grid numbers on it………this will make lots of people raise an eyebrow, but if you pause for breath and think about it the map is stretchy so taking a grid reference is not going to be accurate so you can only use it for landmarks, bearings etc.  This is not a show stopper, as you can pre plan a route on a normal map and then trace it onto the stretch map using the Crayola pen supplied (which can be washed out later) if required.  I managed to identify everything easily, take bearings and orientate the map easily with my compass.  It was just a case of folding it to the area I required and doing all the normal map and compass work.

Taking a bearing using the Splash Map is easy

How many folk take two maps with them in the case of losing one? Having a splash map on you as a “back-up”, or in good weather a primary navigational aid can only be a good idea. All in all I found it really useful as I used it round my neck as a buff type item then used it to navigate around the hills.  If you are not comfortable with having no grid numbers then you can get a non-stretchy fabric map which does have the grid numbers on it.  I’m telling you folks this is the way forward now, and it is something I fully recommend you to try out. BCS will have a number of Splash map products on trial for you on our courses for 2017……..with our own twist!   Get on the web site and have a look at the products.

ONE ARM FIRE LIGHTING

BCS Instructor Bradley Lotts has recently undergone surgery on his arm, which got him thinking………..how easy is it to light a fire with one hand.

So, fire lighting is a very important part to our survival and it isn’t a one trick pony and can be used for several tasks including Warmth, signalling, light, Drying clothes, making tools, water pasturisation and cooking. For most of the people reading this article we have all managed at some stage, be it during a camping trip or personal development days to start a fire for whatever reason we might need one. Keeping the 7 P’s in mind we head of and collect all our resources to give us the best possible chance of getting our fire started. Collecting our tinder ensuring we have enough to give us a strong enough flame to catch our kindling and working our way up the thickness of the twigs until we get our fire sustained.  Easy?

Right okay so put yourself in a situation where you have been in an accident and you have managed to break either an arm or even worse a leg, suddenly that simple little task of collecting all your tinder and kindling could end up being a right pain in your ass. One big factor that is going to play havoc with your head is maybe not the thought of potentially having to crawl about the woods looking for dry usable material for your fire but your will to live; Can you muster up enough positive thinking to help you push through this extremely hard life or death situation? Which leads me on to a bit about survival Psychology

Survival Psychology

Cognition controls all our behaviour however when life is threatened this fundamental function of our existence can become impaired. Such impairment can be fatal and can lead to unnecessary death in a survival situation. There is theory known as 10-80-10 which suggest that 10% of people facing an emergency can control their fears and act rationally, 80% find themselves overcome with fear and emotion and lack motivation to respond while another 10% become hysterical and freeze. To ensure that you are part of the top 10% with a better chance of survival you must have situational and self-awareness.

To have both you must first have knowledge of the physiological processes your mind and body both undergo during an emergency.  

The Situation

You are out mountain biking when you hit a rock on the ground and fall off. When you sit yourself up you realise that you have broken your arm. You are in the middle of the woods far away from the main road, your phone has ran out of battery and you are unable to cycle back. You look at the time on your watch and realise that it will be getting dark very soon.

How your body responds

The sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates your fight-flight-freeze response, is activated to take control of your body. This results in the pituitary gland secreting 3 key hormones into your bloodstream – Adrenaline, Norepinephrine and Cortisol.

Adrenaline and norepinephrine are basically the same. Norepinephrine is pretty much a back up to adrenaline. Both have a major role in preparing your body for battle in numerous ways. They cause your heart rate and blood pressure to increase and your lungs to expand to take in more energy (known as bronchial dilation). Blood is channelled away from the digestive system and the skin towards major skeletal muscles for quick action and strength. They also trigger the production of glucose and the secretion of cortisol sets fatty acids free to be transformed into energy. These molecules are rapidly excreted into the bloodstream supplying a readily available boost of energy for muscles throughout the body, priming them for exertion.

Cortisol is released more slowly than adrenaline and norepinephrine and it helps to sustain the fight-or-flight response over an extended period. The digestive and immune responses are slowed in the anticipation of a fight.

The dangerous scenario

Over time the engaged sympathetic nervous system depletes the body’s energy reserves of glycogen and fat stores. If it goes on too long you could experience a crash which leaves you feeling cold and tired. The more primitive portion of the brain (the limbic system) takes control from the more developed frontal lobe. Thoughts become less logical and more visceral. This can lead to impulsive and irrational behaviour. If this is not controlled, then you can very quickly become the 80% who have no will to live or the bottom 10% who are too hysterical to even have a chance at coping.

We now understand how our brain is going to react in the situation so we have a fighting chance of overcoming the problem. So, we have collected all our materials for getting our fire started we now must work out a way of getting it done with one arm.

The pictures above show how I managed to get a fire going using one arm this is defiantly not the only way to get a fire going with one arm but it worked well for me as you will see in the video. The picture on the right shows you a big tinder bundle which is going to give me a better chance of getting my fire going.

Above On the left, you can see the layout I chose to give me the best possible chance of getting my fire started. The layout I chose was the lean-to fire lay which made the whole process a lot easier for me as I could easily control the oxygen intake to the fire by simply lifting and lying the kindling onto the log which gave it a 45-degree angle.  As you can see from the pictures above the angle of the wood allows a good supply of oxygen to flow into the tinder bundle. The smaller log of the two in the picture is a stabilizing log for me to rest my ferro rod on and hold in place with my foot so I can strike it using on hand.

I decided to use my ferro rod as it would be good practise……. a lighter would have been my first choice if I was in a real life threating situation. You should also carry at least two methods of starting a fire if you are going out in the hills or doing any outdoor activities, where the chances of you getting lost or hurt is high. There are other methods of starting a fire for example solar igntion, bow drill and flint and steel are all really good ways of starting a fire and it is good to practise these skills. If I was putting my life on the line I would put my ego aside and use the easiest method which is going to give me the best result and in my option that is a ferro rod and a lighter. I tried the bow drill with my broken wrist and found it nearly impossible and that was with a pre made set imagine having to try and make a set from scratch if you had a broken leg or arm, no thanks I will stick with my lighter, it is about survival not bushcrafting, two very different things. 

As you can see from the video above it doesn’t take me long to get my fire going using all the techniques mentioned above.

BCS Instructor Graham Melloy heads up onto the Arctic Plateau of the Cairngorms.

looking down into the Loch A’an Basin

After a very busy period at work prior to going out of the country for six months I found myself with some free time on my hands.  Apart from the normal family stuff on the calendar I decided that an overnight trip to the Cairngorms to shake off the cobwebs was just the ticket.  It was minus seven on the Moray coast when my son and I set off and it was still minus seven when we got to the ski centre car park so it was going to be a tester.

Between the pair of us we had more Fjallraven than the new Cotswolds in Inverness when we set off for our trek with the Kaipak 58 the bag of choice and having used it many times it still never fails to let me down.  Even though we were only out for one night with the temperatures as they were and the ever unpredictable weather that we have all experienced on the plateau we had to ensure we had all the necessary kit and this bag can take a fair amount without all the unnecessary straps and gubbins we find on gear these days.

The flat topped Shelter Stone Crag with Carn Etchacan above it

It was with relative ease that we headed up the hill skirting to the western side of Coire an Lochain with some detours due to ice patches up on to the plateau with striking views all round working our way across to Hell’s Lum Crag to get a good view of Loch A’an which was covered in ice with the plan to drop down to the shelter stone.  With the amount of ice on the ground and fast fading daylight the sensible decision was to backtrack and cross Coire Domhain towards Coire Raibeirt to find a nice spot to pitch the tent with good views.  We chose a nice spot to the south east of the Cairngorm summit overlooking the saddle with great views down towards the Fords of A’an.

The Keb Endurance 2 is a gleaming bit of kit and takes no time to erect though with the ground frozen putting the pegs in required some size 9 action!  Once that was up and our gear stashed we had a wander along the edge of Stac an Fharaidh along towards Ciste Mhearad taking in the views and enjoying the silence.  The temperature was still very low but the wind was definitely picking up when we got back to the tent in darkness to get some food on the go and my LED Lensor H7R.2 lit the place up like a football stadiums floodlights!  This sudden change of weather whilst not unusual definitely made us re-evaluate our plan for the next day.

Keb endurance 2 takes another pummeling, high on the Cairngorm Plateau. The summit of Cairngorm in the background

I had a Real Turmat beef stew tucked away in my bag left over from a previous training event with Rosker and having sampled these extensively in Afghanistan courtesy of the Danish Army I know how good they are.  My son though had to make do with a boil in the bag!  Once we were well fed and watered there wasn’t a great deal more to do apart from listen to the wind which was now howling and shaking the tent like crazy so it was an early night!  It was still cold and the Sarek 3 season down bag I have worked a treat with my home made silk liner. (Three panels from a

parachute…..try it!)   With the wind increasingly getting stronger I got up to check that the pegs and guy lines were still intact and I was nearly blown off my feet but all was well.  Sleep was interrupted by the wind throughout the night and at about 2am I thought the tent was going to take off but the guy lines held out and the poles stayed strong.  Daybreak brought a calm of sorts and the plan was to head off to Cnap Coire na Spreidhe and beyond to locate the El Alamein refuge but with a heavy fog and the wind picking up again it was the sensible thing to head down off the hill at our own pace.

So with plenty more excursions planned over the next few weeks before heading to warmer climates this was definitely a much needed shake out.  The Fjallraven gear never fails to amaze me and the Keb jacket was ideal for this trip with the Eco shell over the top when required.  The tent was excellent and the Primus Winter gas did exactly as it said on the tin compared to the normal Primus gas I also took along to conduct a comparison.

Here’s to the next one and a bit longer and hopefully more snow!

Ever heard of Ake Nordin? You’d be forgiven if  you haven’t.  Ake lived in a town called Örnsköldsvik in East Sweden, a keen scout and outdoors man that was not entirely happy with the rucksacks and outdoor equipment of the day.  At the age of 14 and prior to a trip to the Västerbotten mountain range Ake borrowed his mothers sewing machine, and after knocking up a satchel made of strong cotton, attaching it to a wooden frame (he knew that carrying equipment on his back required it to be close to his back with a high centre of gravity) he had produced one of the first multi-day hiking rucksacks.

Soon friends were commissioning him to do similar for them, orders from local Sami reindeer herders that spend weeks in mountainous terrain would soon follow. 10 years later he would register a new company at his familys 1 bedroom flat and name the company Fjallraven. Humble beginnings.

One of the things I love about this story is it perfectly illustrates that “Necessity is the mother of all invention”.  Many outdoors men and women of the day just accepted that the they would have to carry their equipment in ungainly, un-shapely, sagging and uncomfortable sacks strapped to their shoulders. Young Ake had other ideas.

There’s plenty of stories of similar pioneers in the outdoor world; from Yvon Chouinard, pioneering rock climber, environmentalist and owner of Patagonia clothing. The young Chouinard recognised that Pitons (metal spikes hammered into rocks for protection) were damaging the rock. Along with Tom frost he designed a new and “cleaner” way of protecting rock routes by producing chocks/stoppers/hexentrics.

Closer to home (Scotland) John Cunningham and Hamish Macinnes during the 70’s, were experimenting with curved ice axes and refining “front pointing” techniques for ascending steep ice. Hamish Macinnes was the inventor of the first technical all metal ice axe, along with the the Macinnes stretcher still used by MRT worldwide.

North Face of Ben Nevis, Tower ridge centre.

It’s easy to digress from the main subject matter, however, the point is that many of the pioneers in the outdoor equipment world designed their products as a direct reaction to problems they were facing whilst “out in the nature”. The Fjallraven Kaipak range has been designed using the same processes.

The Kaipak comes in three sizes the 28 litre (day trips and summer use) the 38litre (day trips summer/winter, 2 day trips low level) and the 58 litre (multi-day trips, summer and winter). All the guys at BCS use theirs as their main “teaching” rucksacks, as depending on the length of course that we are running there is enough room in the 38 and 58 for group as well as personal gear.

One of my biggest pet hates nowadays is finding a rucksack that doesn’t have hundreds of superfluous straps attached to it. There seems to be a gimmicky trend from some of the big rucksack producers to try and sell a pack based on the amount of equipment that can be strapped, attached and hung from the outside. These extra straps if not taped up can become your worse enemy in poor weather conditions, I’m sure many of you can identify with being repeatedly slapped in the face whilst trying to take a bearing.  The Kaipak range is simple, minimalistic and sticks with a small number of features that are “bomb proof” and won’t let you down.

First impressions of the Kaipak is that it’s clean, simplistically functional and almost utilitarian.  The Kaipak is made from G1000 heavy duty fabric, making it immensely hard wearing and can be treated with Greenland wax if necessary. Anyone familiar with Cairngorm Granite will testify to the fact that a single seasons use can trash most outdoor gear, yet after 3 seasons worth of personal and professional use the G1000 on our Kaipaks is still looking sweet…….a recurring theme for anyone that owns “historic” Fjallraven clothing.

An absolute must for me personally is a “floating lid”, which the Kaipak 38/58 both have, this allows you to stow the pack full to the brim without putting unnecessary strain on the fastening clips, it also keeps the Kaipak looking neater when fully packed . The top flap is surprisingly spacious for keeping headtorches, spare gloves, hat and anything else that need to be go to quickly.

Inside the top flap there is a waterproof cover in UN Blue, perfect for keeping the Kaipak dry in downpours, but as you may know UN Blue along with orange is one of the first colours picked out by the human eye…..be safe, be seen!

Bradley on the poorly protected/exposed 2nd pitch of January Jigsaw, Glencoe

The front of the Kaipak has a large full length zipped compartment for keeping water proofs in, minimalizing “faff” time.  The sides of the pack are equipped with clever cinches that allow you to attach walking poles autonomously from anything else you want to attach on the sides, the cinche itself is metal so isn’t affected by “icing up” during the winter.

The shoulder straps are the perfect width for spreading load across the shoulders and the Aluminium frame and padding on the back structure is spot on. Another great feature on the 38 and 58 is the large hip belt that is exceptionally comfortable, and the two small pouches attached to it are handy for keeping essentials in.

As companies get bigger they tend to lose touch with who their client base is, why they started selling outdoor equipment in the first place. There’s many big brands out there that are not selling equipment as a result of listening to what outdoor recreationalists need from an outdoor garment and are instead focusing on what the market determines from a sales point of view. Fjallraven, despite their growing popularity are still pushing for innovation, when you buy a Fjallraven garment you also buy into their “ethos”.

On a personal note out of all the Fjallraven gear BCS use the Kaipak is probably my favourite piece. It’s proven itself on many different occasions from woodland, mountain and winter use.