Just taught a one-day Urban Survival class at the Scottsdale Gun Club this past weekend. We had a full house of 39 students! Along with many good questions on pre-disaster issues, there were considerable, useful tidbits by several EMTs in the audience.
The class was a blend of lecture, group activities, and individual evacuation planning strategies. The focus was not on looking at each individual disaster type but on how to develop a self-reliant mindset and lifestyle by acquiring the necessary skill sets.
It wasn't hard to find a personal example as we, as a family, had to pull out of our home two weeks prior due to the annual, summer wildfire threat. This one caused by an arsonist on the loose who started 20 fires only 1/4 mile from where we live in the woods.
I led off with this and we delved into other areas listed below
-Planning and preparation as the keystone to self-reliance and a look at successful survivors
-When to stay put at home and when to bug-out
-The 7 critical priorities for surviving a disaster
-Home preparation involving food and water storage, meds, and more
-Evacuation planning for your neighborhood
-Bail out kits and shoulder bags for the office, home, and vehicle
-Water purification methods
-Sanitation and hygiene issues for long-term living
-Roadside survival
-First aid kits and common injuries
-Urban trapping
A question arose on how wilderness survival differs from urban survival. One could argue over the radically different environments and the obvious personal defensive considerations in a long-term urban disaster, but the fact is that the body needs certain things to stay alive. Dehydration, hypothermia, medical and hygiene issues, and caloric intake will rear their heads in both urban and backcountry settings. The body doesn't care where it's at! There are many parallels but the goal is the same: Surviving and extricating yourself from the immediate danger. More on this to come...
Thanks to SGC for hosting the course. They have hosted my 1-day Desert Survival courses in the past and are a pleasure to work with.
The next Urban Survivor, run by our company, will be on October 8 in north Phoenix as well as several others throughout the US in the coming year.
Stay safe,
Tony
Ancient Pathways, LLC
http://www.apathways.com/
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Survival for Travelers
This week's article is taken from Tony's reader-driven monthly column on survival at Outside Magazine- you can view the last few years of articles at http://www.outsideonline.com/ - under the Survival Guru (their wording).
I travel internationally and wonder how to be prepared for a disaster survival situation? I am thinking of the recent tsunami and what priorities one might have in the city versus the wilderness if you get stranded during a major crisis.
If you are a business traveler and spend a considerable amount of time flying around the country or globe, then consider carrying some traveler’s survival gear in case you ever have to weather out life in a disaster-riddled city. Such a kit should be lightweight and contain: cash, passport, relevant maps, small first-aid kit, a few meal-replacement bars like Met-RX or Myoplex, flashlight, cellphone and charger, spare clothes, and water purification tablets.
While researching my book Surviving A Disaster, I spoke with many survivors and first-responders about what they recommended as the most important survival items on their list. The most common item in all of these cases was the ability to purify water and the means of maintaining personal hygiene. At the very least, carry Potable Aqua Iodine or Chlorine Dioxide tablets which will enable you to purify 25 liters of water per bottle of tablets. A Steripen is also good for purifying but you will want to carry extra batteries. For hygiene, stow some sanitary wipes or purchase a bottle of hand-sanitizer upon arriving at your destination.
Lastly, you may want to add an innocuous multi-tool like a Swiss-Tech 9-in-1 which lacks a blade but has many useful features. This gear can fit in a small fannypack but remember to check airline regulations, particularly with a multi-tool, as they are constantly changing.
Stay safe,
Tony Nester
Ancient Pathways Survival School, LLC
http://www.apathways.com/
I travel internationally and wonder how to be prepared for a disaster survival situation? I am thinking of the recent tsunami and what priorities one might have in the city versus the wilderness if you get stranded during a major crisis.
 |
| A few critical survival items can make all the difference if you become stranded. |
While researching my book Surviving A Disaster, I spoke with many survivors and first-responders about what they recommended as the most important survival items on their list. The most common item in all of these cases was the ability to purify water and the means of maintaining personal hygiene. At the very least, carry Potable Aqua Iodine or Chlorine Dioxide tablets which will enable you to purify 25 liters of water per bottle of tablets. A Steripen is also good for purifying but you will want to carry extra batteries. For hygiene, stow some sanitary wipes or purchase a bottle of hand-sanitizer upon arriving at your destination.
Lastly, you may want to add an innocuous multi-tool like a Swiss-Tech 9-in-1 which lacks a blade but has many useful features. This gear can fit in a small fannypack but remember to check airline regulations, particularly with a multi-tool, as they are constantly changing.
Stay safe,
Tony Nester
Ancient Pathways Survival School, LLC
http://www.apathways.com/
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Dangers of Hyponatremia and the Need For Electrolyte Replacement
It's that time of year when things are starting to heat up in our Southwestern Deserts and daily water consumption rates for those of us in the outdoors will only increase.
One danger with consuming too much water is Hyponatremia- also called water poisoning or water intoxication. Like heat-exhaustion which results from not enough water intake, hyponatremia can be life-threatening (remember the lady in Sacramento who died in her kitchen during a radio-show contest to see who could consume the most water in 2 hours).
We see cases of hyponatremia all the time at our nearby "survival labratory" - the Grand Canyon. Here dayhikers venturing into the innards of the Canyon and contending with triple-digit heat, are consuming too much water without replacing lost electrolytes. A few hours into the hike, they are nauseous, have cramps, headache, and maybe an altered level of consciousness. In the wilderness medical community, you will notice what's called the "umbles" where the person is stumbling, mumbling, and fumbling as their thermoregulatory ability goes haywire.
Technically, you are hydrated and peeing clear fluid but internally your electrolytes have been diluted from over-consumption of water and that's where things can go downhill. Every time you pee, you are flushing the sodium and potassium out and in a hot-weather environment like the desert where water rates might be 4-5 gallons a day per person, you must replace those lost electrolytes!
The solution: get some quality electrolyte replacement powders (ie, not Gatorade which is low in sodium and has too much dye and sugar) such as GU2O, Vitalyte (my preferred), Clif Bloks, or Camelback tablets. The key is to balance your water intake with electrolyte replacement while you exert yourself.
Sometimes, I will just bring bananas and salty chips in the truck and use those if I am car-camping. For every hour of working/hiking in the heat, I will have a handful of the above snacks with my water. This is what a lot of my ranching friend do here in AZ.
At the end of the day, I will also add some extra salt into my dinner or campfire meals. We do this on all of our survival courses this time of year and during the summer when we are out, 'round the clock, for ten days in 110 degree heat. That's also why I recommend carrying Bullion Cubes in the survival kit as it helps with replacing sodium and spruces up nasty backcountry water sources.
Again, you have to compensate for lost electrolytes in the heat or your body will suffer. Most folks who venture into the heat of the desert or tropics, know they have to bring plenty of water and be aware of heat-exhaustion but often fail to include the all-important electrolytes and forget about the risks of Hyponatremia. Your survival and equilibrium are dependent on both water and electrolytes.
Get some different replacement powders from the local gear shop and try 'em out (some are tastier than others) and then stuff a bunch into your vehicle, BOB, and survival kit.
Stay cool,
Tony Nester
Ancient Pathways Survival School, LLC
http://www.apathways.com
One danger with consuming too much water is Hyponatremia- also called water poisoning or water intoxication. Like heat-exhaustion which results from not enough water intake, hyponatremia can be life-threatening (remember the lady in Sacramento who died in her kitchen during a radio-show contest to see who could consume the most water in 2 hours).
 |
| A lush spring that trickles out of the side of a cliff near Flagstaff, AZ. This was put in by the cowboys nearly a century ago. |
We see cases of hyponatremia all the time at our nearby "survival labratory" - the Grand Canyon. Here dayhikers venturing into the innards of the Canyon and contending with triple-digit heat, are consuming too much water without replacing lost electrolytes. A few hours into the hike, they are nauseous, have cramps, headache, and maybe an altered level of consciousness. In the wilderness medical community, you will notice what's called the "umbles" where the person is stumbling, mumbling, and fumbling as their thermoregulatory ability goes haywire.
Technically, you are hydrated and peeing clear fluid but internally your electrolytes have been diluted from over-consumption of water and that's where things can go downhill. Every time you pee, you are flushing the sodium and potassium out and in a hot-weather environment like the desert where water rates might be 4-5 gallons a day per person, you must replace those lost electrolytes!
The solution: get some quality electrolyte replacement powders (ie, not Gatorade which is low in sodium and has too much dye and sugar) such as GU2O, Vitalyte (my preferred), Clif Bloks, or Camelback tablets. The key is to balance your water intake with electrolyte replacement while you exert yourself.
Sometimes, I will just bring bananas and salty chips in the truck and use those if I am car-camping. For every hour of working/hiking in the heat, I will have a handful of the above snacks with my water. This is what a lot of my ranching friend do here in AZ.
At the end of the day, I will also add some extra salt into my dinner or campfire meals. We do this on all of our survival courses this time of year and during the summer when we are out, 'round the clock, for ten days in 110 degree heat. That's also why I recommend carrying Bullion Cubes in the survival kit as it helps with replacing sodium and spruces up nasty backcountry water sources.
Again, you have to compensate for lost electrolytes in the heat or your body will suffer. Most folks who venture into the heat of the desert or tropics, know they have to bring plenty of water and be aware of heat-exhaustion but often fail to include the all-important electrolytes and forget about the risks of Hyponatremia. Your survival and equilibrium are dependent on both water and electrolytes.
Get some different replacement powders from the local gear shop and try 'em out (some are tastier than others) and then stuff a bunch into your vehicle, BOB, and survival kit.
Stay cool,
Tony Nester
Ancient Pathways Survival School, LLC
http://www.apathways.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
