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It’s good to be back!
Sunday, 02 May 2021
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It’s good to be back!
Getting back into the swing of things as Lockdown eases
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]At the beginning of this year I pledged to stop moaning about the ‘C’ word and the associated restrictions on movement, business and, well, life generally. I have mostly been sticking to that resolution but I just wanted to quickly share a post about our experiences getting back up to speed as the Welsh Lockdown eases.Late last month we were able to confidently open up our public course dates again (i.e. not the work-related training we run through Outdoor Professional), as this was permitted under the easing of the most recent round of COVID restrictions in Wales.
As was the case last year in between the first and second Lockdowns – we have had to make some changes to our courses. Smaller group sizes, considerations on how to handle shared areas (even campfire brews) and planning routes and venues to allow for social distancing.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”13127″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”13125″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”13129″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”13131″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It’s been good to welcome people back to the fields, forests and green spaces of North East Wales. Everyone we have worked with so far has expressed the same feeling – it’s just good to be outside and exploring new areas again.We’ve got a busy summer ahead of us (my next full weekend off is in October…) but we’re raring to go, and looking forward to seeing you soon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][product_categories orderby=”rand” order=”ASC” columns=”4″ ids=”94, 93, 95, 490″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Mountain General
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Watching James Blunt get “Cold” in North Wales
Monday, 09 September 2019
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Watching James Blunt get “Cold” in North Wales
Behind The Scenes on James Blunts’ new music video
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Although Original Outdoors is primarily a training and adventure business, we get asked to help out with all sorts of projects that require our unique combination of skills, experience and connections. A recurring theme is helping out with location scouting, location safety and consultancy for media projects in North Wales.We took a call from a producer working with international music video and film production company Great Guns to help out with finding locations for their new production – the music video for James Blunt’s new song “Cold”. We launched straight into recommending, shortlisting and then recce-ing locations for them along the coastline of North Wales on Anglesey and the Llyn Peninsula.
We were also asked to come up with a plan and a team to keep everybody on the production safe – and as it involved thrashing around in the a (cold, obviously) sea, climbing on a sheer rockface (where bits kept falling off it) and working with a helicopter on a rocky headland – the team had to be good.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”10854″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”10855″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”10856″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”10867″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
We had two days of production to cover at multiple locations, landowners to liaise with and some very Welsh weather to deal with and I relied on the skills of Chris Jackson, Luca Celano, Gav Emmerson and Dilwyn Sanderson-Jones to keep everything running smoothly from our side.
We watched ex-Army songster James Blunt battle through waves, scramble over granite boulders and through dense vegetation and literally sing through a storm on the side of a mountain for the first day, then set up ropes and dislodged some unsafe rocks from a quarry above the beach for the climbing segments.
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There is always a lot to keep an eye on for jobs like this – the on-camera star who will happily put himself in harm’s way for the shot, the team immediately behind the camera ( DoP Max, Director Calum, 1st AD George and Producer Dale) plus the rest of the production crew (Sally, James, Tom, Gareth, Zac, Hannah, Sam, Ben, Luke and anyone else I have forgotten) who need to be kept informed about the likely hazards of the non-studio environment we are shooting in.
There is also a balance between keeping everyone safe and making sure that the shoot actually goes ahead – this means working closely with the Director and Assistant Director to ensure they get the shots we needed whilst managing their expectations about what we can do, where we can do it and how we can do it. When the cameras are rolling, the drone is in the air and the international music star is hanging around on a rope on a wet and loose rockface everything needs to happen quickly, smoothly and in a controlled manner.
For the first day Chris and Luca ran things whilst I led a foraging course and then attended a photo shoot for an upcoming collaboration with a brand. For the second day we split the roles between Chris keeping an eye on everyone for the last mountain shots whilst Dilwyn, Luca and Gav setup the quarry face with ropes, anchors and established safe zones for themselves, the crew and anyone else who needed to be there. [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”10851″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”10852″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”10853″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
For the climbing sequences James needed to be lowered down to a ledge, then climb back up via a greasy traverse and up onto a rib and corner. He was roped on and belayed by Luca and Gav with Dilwyn acting as coordinator between the rope team and myself as we worked with the director to get James into exactly the right place for the cameras and the drone (piloted by our friends Off The Ground). This took several takes, including a sequence where a sizeable chunk of granite detaches from the rockface and crashes down past James’ feet to the rocks below.
Next we needed to get Director of Photography Max Witting down onto the adjacent face to get shots of James climbing on the exposed rib, which was no easy task considering that he would also be holding an incredibly expensive RED camera with the associated lense, filters, monitor and everything else that shouldn’t really be dangled off a rope over a sheer drop. Max did a fantastic job though, and didn’t seemed to be fazed at all by the edge transition over onto a vertical face. Sideways….[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”10858″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
So did James Blunt do all of his own stunts? He certainly did – and without even the hint of a raised eyebrow or question about what we asked him to do. You would have had to pay me a substantial sum to clamber around on a loose quarry face in wet, floppy trainers and a pair of tatty old jeans, especially after day and a half of standing around in the rain or lying in the Irish Sea. He is also a thoroughly nice, polite and friendly guy to work with. He took time for a cliff-top photo with us all, listened attentively to all safety briefings and did exactly what Dilwyn, Luca and Gav asked him to when we needed him to.
And then it was all done, and the circus rolled on to their next production and we all went back to living in possibly the finest place in the world – North Wales.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/xU4wN8WbTfE” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Company News, Mountain General, Videos
Wild Camping Food – What should I take?
Wednesday, 22 May 2019
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Wild Camping – what are we going to eat?
A short guide to the food options for wild camping trips in the UK
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]This is a common question from clients who are heading out for their first ‘wild’ camping trips in the mountains and forests of the UK – what am I going to eat?We have normally gone through the laws of wild camping and taken a good look at the other parts of the equipment list, but food can sometimes be a bit of an afterthought. Wet or dry, bought or made – and just how much do I need to bring?
In this article I am going to look at two different aspects of packing food for a wild camping or UK backpacking trip – the type of food carried, and the amount. Pack weight and volume come into it, as do cooking options, access to water and just how much energy you are going to expend.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7663″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Camping Food Types
When I am looking at food for camping and backpacking it comes down to three things:
– Weight/packed volume
– Taste
– Nutrition
It’s easy enough to find foods that can be carried in a rucksack for a day or two and will be perfectly edible once reheated in a pan over a stove – but if they are the heaviest and bulkiest items in your kit then you won’t get very far. The food also needs to be tasty enough to eat when you are cold, wet or tired – it’s not unusual for an appetite to disappear when fatigued and a warm sleeping bag is calling to you, but food is fuel and your physical and mental performance may start to suffer when you miss out on the calories. The mountains and wilderness regions are not the places to take up intermittent fasting or the 5:2 diet.
Nutrition is another key factor; sugar and simple carbohydrates are both lightweight and tasty – but not much good for a slow, steady release of energy or for long mountain days.
If you can keep an eye on all three of those factors when considering the food on your kitlist then you can start to make decisions on which type of foods you’re going to choose. They can be broken down into the following types:[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
Pre-Prepared ‘wet’ Meals
These are the types often found in soft, foil pouches on racks in camping shops, or as components in civilian or military ration packs/MREs. They are pre-cooked and can be safely eaten cold, or heated up in the pouch by dunking the (unopened) pouch in boiling or hot water.
Because they are ready-to-eat when cold and without additional preparation (a bit like a tin of baked beans – edible unheated, but not the best) they are also heavy, and quite bulky. Sometimes referred to as ‘wet’ food, packs and pouches like this contain a substantial amount of water/fluid in the accompanying sauces which makes them fairly heavy. They are often about twice the weight of dehydrated/dry meal pouches, if not slightly more.
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Good because
- Can be eaten cold or with no preparation
- No mess, can be heated without dirtying a pan and eaten straight from the pouch
- Good selection available
- Long shelf life
Not -so-good because
- Heavy due to water/liquid content
- Often high in sugar and palm oil
Dehydrated and Freeze-Dried Meals
Over the past 20 years or so this type of camping meal has become more popular, and there are lots of new companies springing up every year. We reviewed the Firepot range last year, and a review of the TentMeals range is coming in a few weeks.
The two main methods for removing moisture from these meals are dehydration and freeze-drying. Dehydration involves passing warm air over the food and removes around 90-95% of the moisture, whereas freeze-drying involves lowering the temperature of the food, then removing the ice by sublimation – this removes about 97-99% of the moisture. Freeze-dried meals have a longer shelf life, but there is minimal weight difference between dehydrated and freeze-dried foods. A lot of people claim that dehydrated foods taste slightly better, but I personally don’t notice much of a difference.
Whatever the method for removing the moisture in the food, the method for rehydration is often the same. As the food is already cooked before being dried it can be safely rehydrated with cold water, but taste and consistency is always improved by using boiling or hot water. [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Good because
- Lightweight (roughly 100-200g per meal)
- No mess, can be eaten straight from the pouch once rehydrated
- Often healthier than ‘wet food’ pouches
- Long shelf life
Not-so-good because
- Requires some preparation and additional resources to be edible
- Gas/heat source consumables need to be considered
- Clean water needed for every meal
Supermarket Dried Meal Ingredients
Although broadly similar to the dedicated dried food pouches for camping and backpacking, these food types are sold for domestic use. With a bit of careful thought and creativity they can be used by wild campers and trampers – indeed, dried noodles and instant cup-soups have been a staple of my backpacking menus for nearly two decades.
The main drawback is the extra preparation and mess that comes with buying individual ingredients – they will need to be rehydrated in a pan or container of some sort, so you run the risk of accidentally welding it to the inside of a pan. There is also potential problem of calculating portion sizes and measuring it out at camp and avoiding the problem of inadvertently eating more than your daily allocation.
If you can live with that extra hassle then you can create some elaborate and varied meals with a short list of ingredients, and combining dried ingredients with small amounts of ‘wet’ food (such as adding a tin of tuna to cooked dried pasta) gives you even more variety. It is worth exploring the dried goods aisles of your local supermarket to see just what you can pick up easily – but always remember that you are limited to a stove and pan in your preparation equipment.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Good because
- Lightweight
- Much cheaper
- Variable combinations and portion sizes
Not-so-good because
- Requires some careful preparation and measurement
- Takes longer to shop/procure
DIY Camping Meals
Although combining various off-the-shelf dried and long-life foods is a DIY solution, there are plenty of other ways you can prepare your own camping meals – even if it’s just putting cooked leftovers in tupperware and throwing it into your rucksack.
Domestic counter-top dehydrators are surprisingly cheap and easy to use (something like this), so cooking meals at home and then dehydrating them to take with you on trips is a realistic option. If you combine a dehydrator with other gadgets such as a vacuum-sealer then you aren’t far off making your own long-life camping meals.
As well as the extra work involved in preparing and experimenting with your own camping foods there is another factor to consider – food safety. You may be quite happy eating leftover food two days after cooking it when it has been stored in a fridge, but what about when it has been festering in a ziploc bag in your rucksack for a day or two? This is much less of a problem when dehydrating food yourself, but when carrying fresh food and ingredients you should give careful consideration to how you are going to store and transport it.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Good because
- Cheaper (after initial outlay)
- Lots of variation and choice
- Comfortable/familiar food from known sources
Not-so-good because
- Experimentation and preparation needed
- Requires cooking skills
- Potential food-safety risks
Snacks
This is a little easier than finding main-meal options for backpacking and wild camping as bars, biscuits and nibbles often come in smaller packets and are made for reasonably long shelf-lives. Chococlate, cereal and biscuit bars are the obvious choice, along with dried fruits, nuts and small sweets. The infamous mix of those fruit, nuts and small pieces of chocolate and sweets has proven popular with many trail hikers and long-distance backpackers (me included…).
Homemade biscuits, bites and other small foods are easy to make and there are thousands of recipes online on blogs and forums – from peanut-butter balls to Lembas bread for the Tolkein fans.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9176″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
How much food will I need?
The very short answer is “slightly more than you expect to eat”…
There are many possible approaches to this, and my strategies for food and eating for a short or medium-length backpacking trip are very different to what I would take for a day trip into the mountains or forests. For single-day trips I tend to take food that I can nibble on at various points throughout the day – specially if I am going to be moving all day without stopping for longer than 15-30 minutes at a time.
When backpacking the pace slows right down, and I take advantage of the fact I have more time and don’t have to return back to the valley by stopping for a meal somewhere in the middle of the day.
With that in mind, I calculate how much food I will need by how many meals I will be consuming whilst walking/moving, and then work things out from there. If I am heading out for a two-night trip my food list might look something like this:[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_column_text]
Breakfast (x2)
- Breakfast bar
- Instant oats/porridge
- Coffee
Lunch (x3)
- Oatcakes
- Peanut butter (squeezy tube)
- Instant soup
- Dried fruits/nuts
Evening Meal (x2)
- Dehydrated meal pouch
- Chorizo (sliced) or tuna
- Instant soup,or noodles if a particularly long or hard day
Snacks and Drinks
- Cereal bars
- Peanut balls (homemade)
- Dried fruit/nut/chocolate mix
- Coffee (either instant or ground depending on weight and length of trip)
If you are working your way up to your first wild camping trip then you’ll probably have a good idea of how hungry you are, and how your body responds to more or less food. For your first trip it is better to err on the side of caution and carry plenty of food, but not enough to slow you down.
If you are concentrating on calorie intake then the previously recommended adult guidelines of 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men is a good starting point. How you acquire those calories does make a difference of course – too much sugar and you will be on a constant cycle of peaking and crashing on a glucose high, but your first overnight backpacking trip is not the time to experiment with the paleo diet. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][product id=”7606″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][product id=”7267″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][product id=”9519″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][product id=”7338″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Camping, Mountain General, Skills
Can I pick wild flowers in the U.K.? When is it illegal?
Friday, 10 May 2019
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Is it illegal to pick wild flowers in the U.K? Can I pick them to eat?
A brief explanation of the laws about picking wild plants, flowers and other items in the UK
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Well, this one won’t be easy.Maybe it is actually – the relevant laws/legislation that refers to the picking and use of plants growing in the British countryside is actually quite clear. The tricky bit is knowing which ‘side of the law’ you are actually on when you bend over to pick a particular flower, leaf, fruit or fungi.
In this blog post I will do my best to explain it, pick out the relevant parts of the legislation and steer a forager, bushcrafter or ethnobotanist in what is (hopefully) the right direction.
At the bottom of this blog post is the shortened explanation (a tl;dr), but for those who want to know exactly where that came from here are some blocks of legal text:[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
The Theft Act (1968)
Within Section 4 (Property) of the Theft Act (1968) you will find the following:
(3)A person who picks mushrooms growing wild on any land, or who picks flowers, fruit or foliage from a plant growing wild on any land, does not (although not in possession of the land) steal what he picks, unless he does it for reward or for sale or other commercial purpose.
For purposes of this subsection “mushroom” includes any fungus, and “plant” includes any shrub or tree.
This section is often quoted when discussing foraging and taking wild plants from the British countryside, and is fairly well known and easy to understand. What is less clear is the situation with regard to land owned and maintained by the local Council. Several blogs, newspaper articles and other sources have articles and posts online that mention something along the lines of:
According to the Theft Act of 1968 it is illegal to…
Pick cultivated flowers in public parks or gardens as well as plants and flowers growing on land which is maintained by the council (for example roundabouts and grass verges).
That particular quote was taken from the blog of online gardening retailer Primrose, but with no direct link to a relevant section in the Theft Act, or any other reference. Other websites will have a similar message as a byline in articles related to the legality of picking wild flowers in the UK, often following on from some related newsworthy incident.
The thing is – as far as I can see, and you should always conduct your own research of course – there is nothing in the Theft Act which specifically protects ‘Council maintained land’ when it comes to picking wildflowers or other plants. The illegal activity would most likely be the picking of flowers etc that have been planted deliberately or cultivated – for example from a floral display or flowerbed. If you were to pick one of these plants then you would be committing an offence (theft, funnily enough) – but it would be the same situation if you were to lean over into someone’s garden and pick something from their flowerbed.
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The Wildlife and Countryside act (1981)
There is much more to read in this act, and the parts that any forager, bushcrafter or ethnobotanist should pay attention to are:
Part 1, Section 13 (England and Wales, for Scotland see below)) states:
13 Protection of wild plants.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a)intentionally picks, uproots or destroys any wild plant included in Schedule 8; or
(b)not being an authorised person, intentionally uproots any wild plant not included in that Schedule,he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2)Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a)sells, offers or exposes for sale, or has in his possession or transports for the purpose of sale, any live or dead wild plant included in Schedule 8, or any part of, or anything derived from, such a plant; or
(b)publishes or causes to be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that he buys or sells, or intends to buy or sell, any of those things,he shall be guilty of an offence.
(3)Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of any act made unlawful by that subsection if he shows that the act was an incidental result of a lawful operation and could not reasonably have been avoided.
(4)In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2)(a), the plant in question shall be presumed to have been a wild plant unless the contrary is shown.
The Scottish version was amended by the creation of the Nature Conservation Act (Scotland, 2004). It added in the word ‘recklessly’ plus a few other minor changes:
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a)intentionally or recklessly picks, uproots or destroys any wild plant included in Schedule 8; or any seed or spore attached to any such wild plant; or
(b)not being an authorised person, intentionally or recklessly uproots any wild plant not included in that Schedule, he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2)Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a)sells, offers or exposes for sale, or has in his possession or transports for the purpose of sale, any live or dead wild plant included in Schedule 8, or any part of, or anything derived from, such a plant; or
(b)publishes or causes to be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that he buys or sells, or intends to buy or sell, any of those things,he shall be guilty of an offence.
(3)Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of any act made unlawful by that subsection (“an unlawful act”) if he shows—
(a)that the unlawful act was the incidental result of a lawful operation or other activity;
(b)that the person who carried out the lawful operation or other activity—
(i)took reasonable precautions for the purpose of avoiding carrying out the unlawful act; or
(ii)did not foresee, and could not reasonably have foreseen, that the unlawful act would be an incidental result of the carrying out of the lawful operation or other activity; and
(c)that the person who carried out the unlawful act took, immediately upon the consequence of that act becoming apparent, such steps as were reasonably practicable in the circumstances to minimise the damage to the wild plant in relation to which the unlawful act was carried out.
(3A)Subject to the provisions of this Part, any person who knowingly causes or permits to be done an act which is made unlawful by any of the foregoing provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence.
(4)In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2)(a) or for an offence under subsection (3A) relating to an act which is mentioned in subsection (2)(a) , the plant in question shall be presumed to have been a wild plant unless the contrary is shown.
Schedule 8 lists the protected species than cannot be picked or disturbed without special permission – even if you are the landowner. Happily for foragers there is nothing in there that will be of interest, but it is worth familiarising yourself with some of the more common species.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
The Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) did not create SSSIs – Sites of Special Scientific Interest, but it is the current legislation that oversees them. These are designated areas where extra protections exist to protect certain species or habitats, and there are almost always a list of ‘PDOs’ (Potentially Damaging Operations) that are attached to each site. These lists almost always include the ‘removal of plants’ as being a PDO – i.e. you cannot remove plants from the SSSI without other permission, no matter what the species.
This is why you will often see something along the lines of ‘you cannot pick plants from a SSSI or a nature reserve‘ in reference to foraging. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_single_image image=”10518″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]
The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations (1997)
Applying specifically to the ‘Royal Parks’ and similar designated ‘Royal’ spaces, this Act built upon existing laws governing users of these urban outdoor spaces dating back over a century.
Regulation 4 (Acts for which written permission is required) refers directly to plants and fungi:
Acts in a Park for which written permission is required
4. Unless the Secretary of State’s written permission has first been obtained, no person using a Park shall—(1) interfere with any plant or fungus;
There is a LONG list here of what you cannot do, with some notable highlights:
(12) camp or erect or cause to be erected any tent or enclosure;
(13) wash or dry any piece of clothing or linen;
(24) feed or touch any deer or pelican
So if you are camping in Hyde Park, whilst washing your clothes after they were soiled by your touching of a pelican then you should certainly then refrain from interfering with a plant.
[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Epping Forest Byelaws
There are a number of byelaws for the large public forest (and surrounding area) north of London. They date back to the Epping Forest Act (1878) but the most relevant part for foragers etc is:
Prohibited acts3. The doing of or attempting to do any of the following acts in the Forest is prohibited and shall be deemed to be an offence against the Epping Forest Act 1878:
Taking anything from the Forest
(4) Taking or moving any substance in or from the Forest, save with the previous written consent of the Conservators, PROVIDED that this byelaw shall not apply to the collection in any one day of no more than 12 kg of loose, dead or driftwood, of which no piece shall exceed 5 cm in diameter and 91 cm in length.Damaging trees or other growing things
(5) Damaging or injuring or climbing up or upon any tree or other growing thing in or from the Forest, save with the previous written consent of the Conservators.
Epping Forest has become notorious in UK foraging law discussion due to the annual news pieces about the actions of ‘commercial’ foragers hunting for mushrooms to sell to, or in, the restaurants of the capital. It is often, incorrectly, stated that it had ‘become illegal’ to forage in Epping Forest – in fact it has been illegal to forage there under the byelaws, and commercial foraging was already outlawed under the Theft Act 1968.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_single_image image=”10519″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]
Trespass and Land Access
Although often brought together with the above legislature (Theft Act, Wildlife and Countryside Act etc) the issue of trespass and access to the land has very little to do with the picking of leaves, fruit, flowers or fungi.
The only place where picking plants/removal of plants is specifically mentioned is the Countryside Rights of Way Act (2000). Under land designated as part of the CROW Act you can walk on open ground as if it were a public footpath etc, but you must behave within certain restrictions. There are several things that you ‘cannot’ do as a person exercising their rights under the Countryside Rights of Way Act, including:
SCHEDULE 2
Restrictions to be observed by persons exercising right of access
General restrictions
1(1)Section 2(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), section 2(1) does not entitle a person to be on any land if, in or on that land, he—(l)intentionally removes, damages or destroys any plant, shrub, tree or root or any part of a plant, shrub, tree or root,
This means that you can access the designated areas of land under the CROW Act, but as soon as you perform one of the prohibited activities in that list (including foraging) then your ‘right’ to be there evaporates and you are now trespassing.
A simpler guide to what you can and cannot do under the CROW Act can be found here.
Other than the CROW Act there is nothing else (as far as I can see) in UK law currently that refers to public access AND ‘foraging’ in the same document. This means that the question of foraging or picking wild plants ‘legally’ has two sides – what you are picking, and your right’legality to be standing in that spot to pick it.
Trespass is a very interesting topic in it’s own right (no really, I promise you) but it is worth creating a separate article – we already have explored part of it in this post about UK Wild Camping Law.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]
The Short and Simple Version
TL;DR
OK, if you have just scrolled down to the bottom of the article for a quick answer then here it is…
- Under the Theft Act (1968) you cannot ‘steal’ a plant that it is genuinely growing wild as long as you are not picking it/parts of it for commercial purposes
- This means that you can pick plants that are growing wild, but not from gardens, flower beds or other places where the plants are being cultivated or have been planted
- Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) you cannot uproot a plant without the permission of the landowner, you cannot pick a protected species and cannot forage from a SSSI or NNR (National Nature Reserve)
- There are places where byelaws and other laws exist that mean you cannot remove plants from those areas, no matter if it is planted or growing wild (Royal Parks, Epping Forest etc)
- Access and trespass is a separate issue
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- So if you are picking a plant or part of it but nor uprooting it, it isn’t a protected species, you aren’t within a SSSI, NNR or other ecologically protected site, you aren’t in a Royal Park or Epping Forest or similar site with special byelaws AND it is genuinely growing wild then yes, you can legally pick that wild flower.
The ethical side of all of this is a bit fuzzier – the charity Plantlife have a campaign encouraging people to go and pick wild flowers in order to improve the general knowledge and appreciation of them. They also have a very good Code of Conduct that is worth looking at and following. Personally I broadly agree with campaigns like this – if we are to appreciate the natural environment around us then we need to interact with it and learn to value it.
We have no interest in protecting the things we don’t value, and we don’t value that which is unknown to us.
- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, EST Framework, Flowers, Foraging, Gather, Law and Ethics, Mountain General
Examining a wild camp site – tracking and reading the ground
Wednesday, 05 December 2018
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Examining a Wild Camp – Tracking and reading the story the ground is telling you
A story of tracking, site interpretation and a lesson for investigators
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]So there I was, wandering through the woods with the dog. This is one of several woodland sites that we occasionally rent to run some of our bushcraft, survival and other wilderness skills courses in North Wales. I am far from any of the footpaths, both the public ones and the ones made by locals through the trees. It’s about 15 minutes after sunset and the light is poor – nearly time for the head torch.After ducking past a couple of low branches I come to a more open area near the top of a small hill. There are a couple of mature oak trees, a dead-standing Rowan and a surrounding screen of Western Hemlock Spruce enclosing an area roughly 5m in diameter. Something seems ‘different’ about this site, and I pause to quickly look around. I’m fairly sure that I haven’t visited this particular glade before, but something is tickling my senses in a way I can’t vocalise…
Down at the foot of one of the mature spruce trees is a short, blackened and partially burned length of wood. This isn’t unusual near the areas where we run courses, but out here in this relatively untouched corner of the woodland it stands out – there is a reason for it being here, and I am suddenly compelled to investigate further.
A little bit of background information
As I have mentioned on this blog before – a good portion of the work that I do as an instructor and consultant in various outdoor fields doesn’t end up on the website as a public course or event – we even have a seperate website for that kind of thing: outdoorprofessional.co.uk.
Something that we do occasionally is to create bespoke training events for clients who want to be trained in a particular skill or activity. Following a series of connections and conversations we were asked to create training events especially for AFOs (Authorised Firearms Officers – armed response Police officers) and those they work closely with. They specifically wanted to have some training in tracking of subjects through woodland and mountainous areas – and particularly how to perform Site Exploitation (SE, other common terms are also used depending on the force or role) on areas where people had created camps or bivvy sites in conjunction with other criminal activity. Anybody familiar with the Raoul Moat incident in 2010 will have an understanding of why these particular skills were of interest to these particular clients. My own experience in SAR/Mountain Rescue and subsequently teaching tracking for search operations combined with experience teaching people how to camp in the woods without leaving a trace probably puts me in a good place for this kind of training.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Other Notes
This is, of course, just a bit of fun and in no way is an example of how to examine a site like this. The photos taken are quick shots on a phone camera, illumiated by an LED torch. There are no in-shot reference items or scale, and no other records taken.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10017″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
The Tell-Tale Log
So this was the item which first drew my attention – other than that weird, tingly spidey-sense that trackers and searchers get when they get close to something interesting. It’s a small lump of wood, partially burned on one side and cut to length with a saw of some kind. The marks on the end of the log suggest a chainsaw rather than bow-saw or similar, so it was probably lifted from a log stack elsewhere in the forest.
Partially burned firewood is a common piece of evidence in these kind of sites and disposing of these blackened, charred logs is a key problem for disguising a camp fire site. Best practice to burn them all away completely, gradually reducing the size of the fire until only ash and small lumps of charcoal are left behind.
This log was my IPP (Initial Planning Point) for the site analysis, but I knew that I would probably change that once further evidence was uncovered.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10018″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
The Circumference Sweep
I look over at the dog, who is now whining gently in the softly-falling rain. It’s pretty dark now, so I break out a small-but-powerful LED hand torch and start walking slowly around the edge of the small glade that the log is on the edge of. I want to see what there is to find in the transition zone where the ‘clearing’ stops and the dense woodland begins. This is the area where something may be thrown to, or placed ‘out of the way’ whilst activity occurs in the camp.
On the opposite side of the clearing I find a few more charred logs – longer, thinner pieces that have been burned through at some point.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10019″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Gridding it out
The rest of the circumference sweep revealed nothing obvious, at least not in the conditions and using this search method. Now it’s time to move into the clearing and methodically move across the area to identify any key features that may remain – specifically the site of the fire that charred those logs.
The easiest way to do this is to walk directly across the site along one edge, carefully stepping on the leaf litter rather than pushing it to the side and potentially covering something that is lying on the surface. Once you reach the other side you move across slightly and sweep across in the other direction, parallel to the first track.
I repeated this, moving slowly and sweeping with the torch, until I had covered the entire width of the clearing. One area interested me in particular – where some stones were clustered together at one edge – but I wanted to sweep the rest of the area before starting to mess around with the leaf litter and uncovering the stones.
Next I repeated the series of parallel sweeping motions – but at 90° to the original tracks. This gave me a different perspective on the terrain and made it more likely that I would spot anything unusual – the ‘break in the pattern’.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10020″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Examining the Point of Interest
Nothing else was coming up in my cursory examination, so it was time to investigate that pile of stones. It was made up of shale, very common locally but not often seen in small piles like this. The pile is partially covered by fallen leaves, and easily missed.
Kneeling down to get a closer look I could see that some of the stones were fractured and had slightly blackened edges. Common advice is to “surround camp fires with rocks to prevent the flames from spreading”. This is terrible advice with rocks like shale – they have a tendency to explode like grenades when heated by fire. Whoever made this fire had probably never experienced it before – but evidently had some knowledge of how “things should be done”. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10021″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Digging deeper
Under the layer of stones I found the blackened soil and vegetation residue that is always found around fire scars like this – something well known to archaeologists looking for evidence of human activity in the layers of excavated soil. There was no residual heat, dryness or any other sign that this fire was recently burning. In fact there were insect larvae/egg cases under some of the stones and other evidence that these stones had been undisturbed for several months at least.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10023″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Spiraling Out
Satisfied that I have discovered the likely fire site I can create a new IPP (IPP2) in my mind and base my search from that. The most effective method here is to ‘spiral’ out from that focal point and uncover anything that may be left under the leaf litter – scraps from food packets, pieces of foil or discarded plastic or maybe something like a cigarette butt.
Or a knife…
Yes. A knife. A folding, locking-blade knife with wooden scales and brass trim. It was buried under the leaf litter, roughly 100cm from the centre of the fire scar. It was open, laid out as it is in the photo above.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10028″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Closer Examination
As this is not a forensic analysis (but a fun way of practicing skills for real) I can of course pick the knife up with my bare hand and take a closer look.
It’s an inexpensive, Chinese-made stainless steel knife with wooden scales and tarnished brass trim. It’s quite well made for the type, which suggests an older knife rather than one of the modern, flimsier types that you will find on the market today. Maybe mid-1990s vintage?
The blade itself has been modified by the looks of it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10029″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Modified Blade
It has been significantly shortened, and is now around 60mm in length. It looks like it has been re-shaped to make it into a slightly narrower profile, and a longer tip. There are scratch marks where it has been sharpened with something coarse, possibly a rough file or dry oilstone.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10032″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][vc_column_text]
Moving Out
Nothing else comes up after removing the leaf litter for the surrounding 3m or so, and the dog is still gently whining (in the way that only a German Shepherd can). It’s time to cast the net wider and look up rather than at my feet.
The spruces surround the clearing have been trimmed of their dry, dead lower branches – probably for kindling in the same way that I do it in this video. A little further out there are signs that larger branches have been snapped off, and marks where a few tentative swings with a hatchet or large knife have been made against a dead tree.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10025″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10027″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”zoom”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Reading the rest
A wider sweep reveals more of the same – broken or sawn branches and evidence of firewood collection. There is no apparent sign of shelter-building from natural materials, so if somebody did sleep out alongside this fire then they probably used a bivvy bag, tarp, tent or hammock. There was no obvious evidence of rope marks on the trees, but I only gave them a very cursory examination – there were certainly quite a few that were substantial enough to support a tarp or hammock setup.
Just how much detail one would go into for a site like this depends very much on the reason for you searching it. If it is a possible crime scene then a forensic analysis must be made and records taken of all associative, trace and transient evidence found. The records of the movements and actions of the initial searchers will need to be accounted for too – Locard’s exchange principle still holds true, even in the middle of nowhere.
If however the site is discovered whilst in active pursuit of a subject where time is critical then a rapid analysis to discover if it is relevant to the current investigation can be made within a few minutes. This will at least help those officers decide if it is worth further investigation and exploitation, or if it is just an unrelated or historic site.
This particular camp was probably made sometime between late 2016 and autumn 2017, judging by the depth of leaf litter covering both the knife and fire scar. This is based on my experience in this particular woodland though, and of course is a very vague estimate. As sites like this age it is increasingly difficult to accurately age them as time passes, especially without other evidence that could be used to date it (expiration dates on discarded food packets maybe, or algae/moss growth on items moved or used during the camp activity).[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Anybody missing a knife?
It looks like somebody has gone to some significant effort to modify or repair this knife, and if you think you know who owned it then please get in touch directly.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Our Courses
If you work in a law enforcement, investigation or security field and think that we could do something to help you do your job then please get in touch directly.
Not all of our tracking courses are open to the general public – but the courses and events with public dates should be listed below:[/vc_column_text][product_category per_page=”12″ columns=”4″ orderby=”rand” order=”ASC” category=”tracking-courses”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, EST Framework, Mountain General, Tracking
Survival Tips for Travellers
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
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Survival Tips For Travellers
Quick tips that SHOULD work for anybody travelling to anywhere
Earlier this week I was asked by a writer for an upcoming Lonely Planet book called Travel Goals. The request was for some simple tips on ‘wilderness survival’ and…, well I’ll let you read for yourself:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]As you have probably guessed – what Lonely Planet wanted was somebody to write some unique content for them (for free) and then for them to make money from selling that content as one of the ‘expert voices’ in the book. Apparently they “never pay interviewees (they benefit in terms of exposure)“. Well, quite. Exposure can be a dangerous thing – too much of it and it can kill you. That’s why our survival courses always include some training in awareness and prevention of hypothermia.I am getting in touch as I am currently looking to include an ‘expert voice’ in a feature I am writing for a new Lonely Planet book called Travel Goals.
The feature is on survival in the wilderness, including around five/six expert tips. I’m afraid, though, that there is a fairly tight turnaround and I would need your input by tomorrow, if possible – so sorry for the short notice!
These are the points I’d love to cover and have your opinion on:
– What would be your top tips for surviving in the wilderness? Please feel free to go into step-by step detail on everything from foraging (and what to watch out for) to lighting a fire without matches, building a shelter, using medicinal plants, using a map and compass, mountain navigation, river crossings, etc. Our aim is to present you as the expert here and hopefully give you (and Wales!) some great exposure.
I look forward to hearing from you.
However, it prompted me to write this post – are there any generic survival tips I can give for people travelling the globe? Something quick and easy to read and as applicable to someone travelling to Mongolia as it would be to Mali? Tips that would work in Belgium or Belize?
It turns out I can. So here are some of those top travelling survival tips – given away to you for free – but I like you, so it’s OK.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”7761″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Knowledge weighs nothing
It’s easy to get distracted by shiny equipment and expensive outdoor toys, but the really important survival skills rely on good decision making and improvisation. Basic first aid training is easy to access and the lifesaving basics of being able to clear an airway, stop a major bleed and perform CPR requires only a few hours of training and either very basic or improvised equipment. When I teach people about survival in different environments there is always a lot more time spent on learning how to make good decisions and plan well rather than relying on gear and equipment.
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Pay attention to maps
Unless you’re going out do something like climb a mountain or travel along a certain route it’s unlikely that you will be carrying a detailed map of the area with you. Smartphones and online map sources are great but rely on access to the internet, or at the very least a functioning device with a charged battery. You can at least retain a good idea of what is around you by paying attention to any tourist or information maps you pass – probably found at ‘hub’ sites like fuel stops, railway and bus stations and some tourist sites. You don’t have to memorise each one, but it’s worth checking where important places are relative to your current position – which direction is the nearest town where you are likely to find medical care? Is that waterfall more than, or less than, halfway along the next section of trail? Does this road head more to the north, or more to the east? It may seem trivial at the time but being able to quickly orientate yourself in the direction of the nearest help will remove a lot of confusion and uncertainty from an emergency situation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”7157″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Carry the fire with you
If you are travelling to somewhere where there is an outside chance that if you are stranded you may need to light a fire to save your life then carry some form of firelighting with you. This could just be a box of matches, but it would be better to carry something that’s easy to use, is reliable and doesn’t weigh very much. It’s also worth taking something to help get that fire going – dry firewood can always be gathered without cutting tools, but finding dry tinder can be very hard in some environments. When I travel to places like that I take several cigarette lighters (the type with a spark wheel) and scatter them throughout my kit along with some strips of bicycle innertube. They’re cheap, light and small and you can put one in your first aid kit, one in your rucksack lid and one in something you ALWAYS have with you – like the bag you carry your camera in perhaps?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”9043″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
File a ‘flight plan’
When travelling in remote places away from other humans and access to reliable communications the best chance of someone getting help to you when you need is from somebody reporting you missing or overdue. If you are planning on returning to a hostel or other accommodation after completing a hike or other excursion see if there is a facility for you to leave notes of your intended route, your details and when you expect to be home. That way if you don’t return then there is at least SOMEBODY who will send help to the right area. You MUST make sure that you check in with that person when you get back from your trip – plenty of SAR missions have been sent out in search of somebody who had just forgotten to tell their accommodation that they were back safely![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”8976″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
You don’t have to go far to get into trouble
When most people start to think about ‘survival situations’ they tend to picture themselves as a castaway on some strangely uninhabited island or shivering atop a remote mountain. The reality is more likely to come from doing something fairly ‘safe’, like hiking along a trail not too far from a busy tourist area or exploring an area away from where you left your kit. A broken ankle or just misplaced footwear can incapacitate you very quickly in a place where you thought was ‘just a short walk’. Don’t assume the survival situation will be a big, dramatic moment – it’s going to arrive dressed up as something fairly boring and ordinary. Consider the ‘penalty of failure’ for what you’re about to do – although considering and working within that risk are an important part of any adventure.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Make Good Decisions at the Right Times
Survival training is fun. It often involves knives and fire and learning weird and fun skills in the woods or halfway up a mountain. But that’s not the lesson that we hope our course participants take away with them – what we want is for them to take away one VERY important lesson:
MAKE
GOOD
DECISIONS
Good decisions before you go out. Good decisions whilst you are there. Good decisions when you are back at home and planning the next trip. That’s all it is really – and the single best survival tip I can give any traveller is to learn how to make good decisions. That might mean learning about the potential environmental risks of the country you are travelling to – or how to do some basic first aid so you can make good decisions about whcih way round D,R,A,B, and C go.
I can outline every potential survival situation here, but you can take a good look at where you’re going to, what you’re planning to do when you get there and then decide if you are equipped to make those decisions yet.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Some of our public survival courses
[/vc_column_text][product_category per_page=”12″ columns=”4″ orderby=”rand” order=”ASC” category=”survival-courses”][/vc_column][/vc_row]- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Emergency and Safety, EST Framework, Mountain General, Personal, Skills, Survival
Sharpening Bushcraft Knives and Axes – a 2018 update
Friday, 10 August 2018
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A guide to sharpening axes and knives for bushcraft and the outdoors
The equipment and techniques we use to sharpen our equipment at home and at camp
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]This isn’t the first article on the blog about the equipment we use for sharpening knives and axes. The last one was quite short and was mostly just a list of the equipment – but I have been meaning to write out a more in-depth guide. We cover knife and axe sharpening at different levels on our bushcraft and campcraft courses, and it’s one of those subjects where the course participants ‘lean in’ to the topic – most of those who attend the course have tried to sharpen their own equipment and had, shall we say, a variety of results? Sometimes at the end of that lecture or presentation I have been handed a knife or axe that could be a lot sharper than it currently is and have been asked for advice on how to improve it, and if we have time I will show that person how to regain the shape and edge they want. As one of the instructor team said during our most recent Woodcrafter course – “what the hell did you do that guy’s axe? Last time I saw it you could have used it as a spoon and now it’s shaving the hairs off a nettle!”I need to state a few things from the outset – first, I’m not a ‘knife guy’. I don’t collect knives, and I don’t buy knives to put in a display case. That is not to denigrate or to criticise those who do – it’s just that I have enough hobbies and collections to fill my time (and home) and knives, axes and similar items have been, quite literally, the tools of my trade. I use my cutting tools weekly, both on courses and for tasks at home – my morning exercise today was snedding, crosscutting and splitting several dozen kgs of firewood for the logburner in the office, using a chainsaw, forest axe and maul that have all been sharpened or fettled by myself recently. I use knives and axes, and teach others how to use them within an ‘outdoors’ context – but I know many other people who care much more about the subject than I do and will have strong opinions on everything that follows.
I also need to acknowledge that there are many different ways to achieve the same thing when it comes to tool sharpening, and a quick Google search would bring up dozens of techniques and variations – each written by somebody who swears that their way is the ‘true’ method.
This is, as with many things on the internet, complete cobblers.
When it comes to teaching a complex skill like sharpening any good instructor should acknowledge that there are often multiple ways of achieving the same thing. Generally speaking, if someone says that “THIS is the only way to do this…” then it’s likely that:
- They don’t know another way of doing it, because they have a limited range of experience
- They have an external pressure on them teaching ‘that way’ of doing things – i.e. they need to keep to a strict syllabus or lesson plan, often seen in military training
- They are selling you ‘that way’ of doing things, usually to go along with the equipment they are selling
In short – there are several techniques and methods that can achieve the same thing. Some are certainly easier for novice users, or work more efficiently with certain blade shapes – but if you find one method works best for you and your tools, you can repeat that process time and again and recognise when you have achieved what you wanted then that’s absolutely fine.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9255″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”9261″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”9260″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”9262″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Stage 1 – Shaping the Blade
In most cases you will only need to perform this stage if the knife or axe is VERY blunt, needs to be reshaped or has a dent/ding in the edge of the blade that needs to be removed (well, the material either side needs to be removed to match it). It is often performed with a file, either one dedicated for use with outdoor cutting tools or a general machinist/metalworking file.
This is the most aggressive stage in the sharpening process and care needs to be taken. All sharpening processes involve removing material from the blade, but when you are using a file or very coarse stone you can quickly grind away more material than you wanted to. Each stroke needs to be deliberate and assessed and done to a plan.
Remember also to only use hand tools unless you have access to dedicated grinding and honing machines for this stage – power tools like grinders will unevenly heat the blade, changing the chemistry of the steel and ruining the ‘temper’ of the steel. Cutting tools like knives or axes are made from steel or alloys that have been carefully heated and shaped to maintain a balance between hardness and shapeability – something that can be sharpened to a fine edge but is resilient enough to not chip or dent the moment it is used to cut something.
Knives
It’s rare that you will need to reshape or repair a knife blade with a file but it can be useful if you need to change a knife ‘grind’ from a convex to a bevel shape – it’s still unlikely that a general user will reprofile a knife in this way. I have repaired knife blades with a file though, removing material from across the length of the blade until it has dropped to the same level of the ding. It can also be useful for reinstating a point on the knife, and area that can be tricky to sharpen and easily dulled by repeated ‘stabbing’ of material or game/fish preparation.
A file can also be useful for ensuring the ‘spine’ of a knife has a 90° edge, vital for use with a ferro rod.
Axes
This is where you are more likely to use a file, as the force used to swing an axe can easily put a significant dent into an edge if it comes across a hard spot in the wood, or misses and hits a stone in the ground. I once managed to ding an axe when I hit a bolt that was buried in a small tree – at some point someone had bolted/screwed a sign to the tree and the tree had regrown around it.
Using a File on an Axe or Knife
I favour longer, flat files, such as those used for sharpening chainsaws (for dropping the height of the cutter guides, not the round ones used on the cutters themselves). I hold the knife or axe on a stump or other flat surface where I can hold it steady and push the file over the edge from behind – i.e. my hand stays behind the cutting edge and I DO NOT file towards the edge. It can be done that way but it does have a significant risk of slipping with the file and plunging your fingers into the blade.
Work carefully and steadily and be wary of removing too much material or making a gouge in the blade. Maintain the original angle of the cutting edge and replicate the effort on the other side of the blade – it is very easy to end up with an asymmetric blade when using a file.
I wear leather gloves when possible, and work in good light. A head torch can help, but there is no substitute for moving out from under the trees to a clearing where you can carefully examine what you are doing.
Cleaning a blade
If your knife or axe has seen some heavy use, particularly with woods or materials that can ‘stain’ the blade or leave deposits on the surface, then it’s probably a good idea to clean them from the blade before beginning to sharpen it. Depending on what it is you’re trying to remove it could prevent the blade from properly contacting with the sharpening stone, it could prevent the blade from cutting through material effectively or just carry on corroding into the steel.
There are several ways you can clean the blade, but my favourite is to use either an abrasive block (the Garryflex blocks are great) or an abrasive paper. Just be careful to not be too enthusiastic with your actions as you could end up dulling the edge of the blade or cutting yourself through a bit of careless finger placement. [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9291″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9286″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Stage 2 – Sharpening Stones
This is the stage in the sharpening process where most people begin, and with good reason – if you knife/axe is the right ‘shape’ but just blunt then you do not need to go through the heavy work with a file to regrind the blade.
As mentioned above – any sharpening of a blade involves removing material until you achieved the desired angle. The way you remove that material matters when it comes to cutting effectiveness, and there are a number of ways to achieve the desired level of sharpness.
All ‘sharpening stones’ (including stones plucked from a riverbed or shore) are an abrasive, and harder than the steel/metal of the knife or axe. By moving the blade across the stone you grind away material from the blade – although you may also remove material from the stone as well. Some stones require the use of a fluid or lubricant, normally water or some kind of oil, to aid the process. Some stones (increasingly difficult/expensive to obtain) are made from naturally-occurring material, others from a composite of materials, some artificial and some naturally-sourced.
Most stones are graded by ‘grit’, with a number denoting the grit. The smaller the number the more coarse the stone (and the more aggressively it will remove the material from the blade) – usually starting at about 250 for knife sharpening and moving on up to around 3-5000 or even higher.
The aim is to move from a coarse grit (small number) to a fine grit (large number) with several steps between. As you progress through the steps you remove some of the scratches/scoring made by the step before and create a uniform cutting edge.
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Sharpening Stone Types
There are several commonly available sharpening stones, and hundreds of commercial products making use of these types of stone within their designs.
Whetstones (Oil Stones) – can be made from natural stone (usually Novaculite, AKA Arkansasa Oilstone) or synthetically using an abrasive such as silicon carbide or aluminium oxide. The synthetic variety are often sold as double sided, with a finer grit on one side and a coarser grit on the other. They are relatively cheap and robust, although heavy. They do not necessarily NEED the use of a lubricant (I use 3-in-1 oil) but this does help with the movement of the blade across the stone and remove swarf (material removed from the blade that may prevent the blade touching the stone evenly or even blocking the ‘pores’ of the stone that have the abrasive effect).
Japanese Water Stones – these are mostly made as synthetic product using naturally-occurring stone and are seen by many as being the ‘ultimate’ way of sharpening a blade – but I’ve personally had as good a result with an oilstone. There is certainly a strong cultural association with these Japanese stones, and there is a whole world of nagura, Shapton, Debado and Ao Toishithat you could dive into if you so wished. The grit sizes range from around 400 up to 12000 which takes you well into ‘polishing’ territory. These stones tend to be quite heavy but robust, and most require immersion in water prior to use (using water as a lubricant – never use oil on a water stone).
Diamond Stones – diamond has been used industrially for sharpening and cutting applications for a long time now, making use of the hardness of diamond and the relatively low cost of it in granule form. It is usually a coating on top of a steel plate, often with a plastic or resin surround – they often look a little like a cheese grater. These ‘stones’ can be used to sharpen a blade directly or even used to ‘true’ a sharpening stone – i.e. make it back into a flat surface, removing the depression often formed by repeated grinding and sharpening. They do not require the use of lubricant and have a long service life.
Abrasive Paper – high-quality abrasive and polishing papers, often bonded onto glass or flat wood. This is the method associated with the term ‘scary sharp‘ and is inexpensive and simple to master. It works best with blades that have a ‘flat’ bevel and where the whole blade can be run across the surface. It works very well with woodworking tools (chisels etc) but can be modified for use with an axe or knife.
Sharpening Tools – these sharpening kits and items are often one of the above types of stone set into a jig or pre-defined shape. The best types are ones that can accommodate various angles and knife shapes and use good materials – but there are several terrible sharpening kits on the market – beware and read several independent reviews before purchasing if you can.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9284″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9296″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9297″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
Sharpening Stone Technique (Knife)
Fortunately, despite the slightly confusing array of sharpening stones available on the market, the technique for actually sharpening a knife on a stone is fairly simple and common to most types of stone. The key points are:
- Ensure that whatever you do to one side you do to the other – ideally in alternating strokes
- Be consistent with your angles, pressure and movements to avoid imbalanced blade shapes
- Be conscious of where the cutting edge of the blade is relative to your hands and body etc
Sharpening Strokes
- Position yourself so you can stay comfortably in that position for a while, and place the stone on a flat, stable surface. When in the woods/field it can be tricky to find such a surface – tree stumps, logs, rocks, equipment cases and even the bonnet of a Land Rover have all been used by me in the past. The key is stability, flatness and a comfortable working height.
- Start with the ‘coarse’ grit of whatever stone system you are using and place the blade edge on the surface of the stone so that the very edge is touching the stone. You will need to know what kind of blade ‘grind’ you knife has in order to decide where that final flat surface you need to lay on the stone actually is. A simple test is to see if there is a shadow or ‘gap’ between the metal of the blade and the surface of the stone – if there’s a gap you need to tile the blade a little further. The angle is key, as too shallow an angle will remove material in the wrong place, and too steep an angle will actually make the knife blunter.
- Move the blade across the stone as if you are trying to take a slice off the top of the stone itself. Start at one end of the stone, aiming to finish at the other end of the stone having moved the entire length of the blade over the stone in a single pass. This will require care and practice to ensure you maintain the angle of the blade throughout the stroke length – most outdoor-oriented knives have a curve at one end of the blade, requiring the user to lift the handle of the knife to maintain the angle.
- After completing the stroke you can repeat, or turn the knife and perform the same action on the other side of the blade. When sharpening a knife on a stone all actions have to be repeated for the opposing side. Most people end up with a sharpening ‘pattern’ – mine is outlined below.
Push or Pull?
There are several schools of thought about whether a knife should be pushed across a stone with the cutting edge as the ‘leading’ edge of the blade, or whether it should be dragged, i.e. the cutting edge ‘trails’ over the stone. There is also a debate about whether you should ‘push’ the knife in the same direction (normally away from you, swapping the knife from hand to hand to maintain direction and angle) or if you should ‘push’ it away from you on one stroke, then turn the knife and ‘push’ it back towards you to sharpen the other side. The consensus seems to be for ‘push’ over ‘pull/drag’, but with a split over which way to perform that ‘push’ action.
Knife grind/shape certainly comes into it, with scandi and convex grinds easier maybe to sharpen with a ‘push’ and other grinds with a drag. Personal preference and a host of other factors come into play – so if you find a technique that you replicate time and again, it works for your equipment and you understand WHY it works then I wouldn’t worry too much about it.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9281″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9282″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9283″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
Sharpening Stone Technique (Axe)
Most axes you are going to come across in a bushcraft, campcraft and outdoor context will have a convex grind, and also be a bit too cumbersome to bring to a bench sharpening stone. There are several versions of the ‘hockey puck’ axe sharpening stones on the market – I use the Gransfors Bruks Yxsten/Axestone but others are available.
The technique with these stones is to sharpen the length of the blade in a circular motion, being careful to keep fingers out of the way. Again – all actions performed on one side of the blade should be repeated on the other, and a progression from coarse to fine grit sizes will ensure a sharp edge free from scratches and abrasion marks can be achieved.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Stage 3 – Polishing and Stropping
Once you have progressed through the sharpening stones you have you SHOULD already have a sharp blade – but it could be sharper, especially for fine work with wood or for skinning animals and game preparation.
The point where sharpening stops and polishing begins with regards to cutting tools is a little… fuzzy. As you progress through to around 3000 and higher you should start to see a ‘shiny’ surface on the area you have been sharpening. Scratches left behind by the earlier sharpening steps have begun to disappear and the surface will be a lot smoother.
There may also be a burr that develops at the very edge of the blade – a strip of metal that is the result of the grinding process of sharpening. Stropping removes this without further grinding of the edge.
The next stage normally involves the use of a ‘strop’ – usually a piece of leather, often in conjunction with a polishing compound like Autosol or similar.
A strop can be free-hanging (i.e. not attached to any surface, or just anchored at the ends) or bonded to a surface, usually a wooden board. The leather needs to be thick enough to ‘hold’ the polishing compound and some people look for a thicker leather as it can ‘wrap’ around the edge of the blade. An additional layer of foam between the leather and a the board can help with this effect –
Technique for stropping knives and axes
As with using a sharpening stone, the technique for stropping involves putting equal work into both sides. It’s best to ‘drag’ the blade as this helps remove the burr. It’s also very difficult to do it any other way as the blade would cut into the leather.
You’ll get better results with more strokes, and 50-100 strokes across the strop is what I aim for. If your strop is mounted to a wooden board you can keep the blade still and move the strop across it – but be careful to maintain the angle and not ‘roll’ over the edge of the blade. It’s very easy to undo all of the hard work you’ve put in already!
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Aftercare and Oiling
If you have performed the above steps correctly you SHOULD have a sharp blade with a smooth and consistent edge. It’s good practice to finish the day with a sharp cutting tool, and often my work days end with a sharpening session. Starting a long day with a set of sharp and well-maintained tools is always a morale boost, and doubly so if you weren’t the last person to use that tool.
Corrosion Prevention
If you have a carbon steel axe or knife (i.e. something that can rust) then you will need to perform some kind of post-sharpening oiling or corrosion prevention before putting it away. There are a number of things you can use to prevent corrosion on a knife or axe blade:
- Oil – something that can be applied safely to the blade that won’t evaporate or solidify (or turn rancid). I use either 3-in-1 oil or a silicone gun oil on my blades, but you may want to consider using a food-grade mineral oil for blades that will be used for food.
- Wax – either ordinary candle wax, beeswax or a dedicated corrosion-prevention product like Renaissance Wax (used in museums etc).
The key thing is to ensure that you treat the whole blade, but not excessively. A small amount of oil on a rag or piece of kitchen towel is normally sufficient. If your knife has a leather sheath (or leather mask on an axe) then the leather will probably begin to be impregnated by the oil and help prevent corrosion when stored for a longer period.
I tend to use mineral oil on my knives that live in leather sheaths, gun oil (that creates a thicker, corrosion-resistant layer on an uncovered steel surface) on knives and axes that are uncovered or in plastic sheaths (like Moras, Hultafors etc) and wax on other carbon steel surface (saws etc).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9293″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9275″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9276″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9277″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1533897160026{padding: 5px !important;background-color: #eaeaea !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
My Sharpening Methods
The above is intended as a general guide to the separate stages of the sharpening process for most user types, and (hopefully) answers to some of the frequently asked sharpening questions. Below are my current methods for sharpening axes and knives for bushcraft and other outdoor activities at home and in the field.
Knife (at home/workshop)
The below steps are performed at a workbench with good lighting:
- Visually inspect edge for damage (looking for reflective spots along the edge, possibly with a loupe/jeweller’s lens if one is available). If no damage then proceed to Step 3.
- If damaged then begin to file back the blade to a level where the ding/dent is no longer visible
- 800 grit water stone – 10 strokes in one direction then 10 in other, then 10 alternating strokes. Repeat at least once.
- 1200 grit water stone – 10 strokes in one direction, one stroke in other, then another 10. Repeat for other side, then 20 alternating strokes.
- 5000 grit water stone – 10 strokes in one direction, one stroke in other, then another 10. Repeat for other side, then 20 alternating strokes.
- Strop the knife over a leather strop using Tormek paste. The strop is bonded to a thin layer of foam on a flat oak board.
Knife (in camp)
The below steps are performed on a tree stump or equipment case if possible, but the flattest, most stable surface I can find. If no flat surface is available then I will try and do it carefully by hand, but accept that it will be harder to get the same quality of sharpness. If I know that I will be performing a lot of carving and woodworking tasks at the camp then I will carry a more comprehensive sharpening kit, but I usually carry as a bare minimum a ‘pocket’ diamond or oil stone. there is always a balance to be struck between the amount of equipment you are willing to carry vs what you can realistically achieve with minimal equipment:
- Visually inspect edge for damage (looking for reflective spots along the edge, possibly with a loupe/jeweller’s lens if one is available). If no damage then proceed to Step 3.
- If damaged then begin to file back the blade to a level where the ding/dent is no longer visible
- 300 grit diamond stone (DMT folding type) – 10 strokes in one direction then 10 in other, then 10 alternating strokes. Repeat at least once.
- 650 grit diamond stone – 10 strokes in one direction, one stroke in other, then another 10. Repeat for other side, then 20 alternating strokes.
- 1200 grit abrasive paper on a board (if carried) – 10 strokes in one direction, 10 in other then 10 alternating. Must be ‘dragged’ or paper will catch and tear.
- Strop the knife over a leather strop (using Tormek paste if carried). The strop is either a dedicated strip of leather or even a leather belt.
Axe (at home or in camp)
The process for sharpening my axes is very similar in camp or at home – either way I normally take the sharpening stone to the axe rather than laying the stone down and moving the axe across it. The only difference may be that I use a (soft) vise or clamp to hold the axe securely if filing the edge at home:
- Visually inspect edge for damage (looking for reflective spots along the edge, possibly with a loupe/jeweller’s lens if one is available). If no damage then proceed to Step 3.
- If damaged then begin to file back the blade to a level where the ding/dent is no longer visible
- 180 grit axestone – careful rotational strokes along one edge, trying to replicate on both sides and maintain a balance in the shape.
- 600 grit axestone – as above, with extra care due to increasingly sharp edge
- 1200 grit abrasive paper on a board – use eye to estimate how much work you have done on one side, but use colour change in metal/reflection to estimate how much has been done in order to match on other side.
- 2500 grit abrasive paper on a board – as above
- Strop the knife using a leather bonded to an oak board using Tormek paste.
Essentially the stage are the same – progressive movement through from a coarse abrasive to a finer one and finishing with a ‘polishing’ stage using a leather strop. Consideration is given to how much equipment can be carried and, realistically how sharp you can get your tools when working from a camp. I can usually achieve a ‘shaving sharp’ edge using a diamond stone or axestone on a well-maintained blade with access to leather for stropping, but I am realistic about my expectations when it comes to working far from the trappings of civilisation (and my workshop…)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
How sharp does it need to be?
Depends on what you’re doing with it…
The point to where a blade is ‘sharp enough’ is subjective and varies from tool to tool, and is often dependent on the task you are going to perform with it. My wood carving knives are orders of magnitude sharper than my splitting maul, but my felling and woodworking axes are usually sharp enough to shave with (although I don’t recommend it). If my splitting maul was much sharper then I would likely dent the edge whenever I hit a knot in the wood (or miss and hit the ground), but my carving knives need to be that sharp so that I can remove fine layers of wood without much force and do so delicately and carefully.
As a very general rule I go and sharpen the blade of a cutting tool as soon as I find that I have to put in more effort than I expected to perform that task. A good number of the minor cuts and scars on my hands have come from using more force than was necessary with a slightly blunt tool. It’s a hard-won lesson, but it makes you appreciate the importance of a sharp tool.
For some tools that need a lot of force to use effectively (splitting mauls and larger axes normally, plus some machetes/parangs) there can be a point where the tool is too sharp. By this I mean that the edge could be slightly blunter and still perform the required task, but the consequences of a mistimed strike or swing could be at best a damaged tool – and at worse a damaged limb. I will leave it to the reader to decide how sharp their cutting tool should be, but does EVERY item in your kit need to be sharp enough to shave a gooseberry, or are you creating a potential safety issue by making everything that narrow/sharp?
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Testing the sharpness of a cutting edge
There are a couple of tests I use, although I will steer the novice user towards some rather than others. Any time you bring a sharp cutting tool into close proximity with your skin and flesh you are increasing the risk of an injury. Unless you are 100% confident in your abilities then stick with one of the methods that doesn’t involve testing the edge by shaving your arm or your fingernail!
We don’t have many disclaimers or warnings on this blog – but if you are swinging cutting tools around you need to be aware of the potential risks of things going wrong, and position yourself, your knife/axe and anybody watching accordingly.
- The Paper Test – take a piece of A4 printer paper (I use 80gsm stuff, straight from the printer in the office) and hold one corner, with the paper in landscape orientation. Holding the knife in your dominant hand (i.e. the had you write with normally) try and take a swipe at the corner of the paper. If you can take the tip of the corner off in one swipe without the paper bunching up or tearing then your knife or axe is sharp enough for most tasks, including carving. If you can take several (careful) swipes and remove stripe after stripe of the paper then you can be confident that your blade is sharp – although you may need to quickly perform the stropping stage again as paper is great for blunting a knife!
- The Onion Test – this one takes a little practice but is a good test if you are sharpening a knife for food prep, and it also works on ripe tomatoes and starchy potatoes. If the knife can ‘fall’ through the onion with little effort, cutting through the individual layers without crushing them together and no ‘notchy’ resistance then it’s pretty sharp. A slightly mad variation on this test is to put the knife blade-upwards on a chopping board and drop a cherry tomato onto it from about 30cm above. If the cherry tomato lands on the blade and cuts through, partially or wholly, then the knife is at the ‘scary’ end of the sharpness spectrum.
- The Wood Test – AKA the Featherstick Test. This is a good one when in the field and a quick test of a blade edge is required. Take a quartered log (i.e. something that has been split in two, then that half has been split again) and try to make a fine, curling shaving from the corner. If you can do this two or three times then it is sharp enough for most tasks.
- The Shaving Test – this works best on hairy forearms, and stay away from anywhere else on the body! If you can shave the fine hairs from the outside of a forearm with minimal effort then that blade is, of course, shaving-sharp. The potential risks with this method include cutting into the flesh (with possible infection as a result) and even the risk of hitting something VERY important, like a major blood vessel or a tendon.
- The Fingerprint Test – once again, a risky strategy. Turn the blade upwards and LIGHTLY place a fingertip on the blade. If you can feel the individual ridges of your fingertip ACROSS the blade edge then you are certainly holding a sharp tool – but DO NOT run your finger along the edge. I heard a story from a client about them watching an experienced ‘woodsman’ and outdoor gear reviewer at a trade show take a new knife from a vendor and go to perform this test – but instead absent-mindedly ran their finger ALONG the blade instead. The bloodstains apparently remained on that patch of carpet for the rest of the trade show.
- The Fingernail Test – as with the above, one of the outcomes of getting this wrong involves blood and missing/damaged flesh. Stick out your index finger and lay the knife on it perpendicular to the surface. If the blade leaves a mark without any effort required from the user then it is, again, at the ‘scary’ end of the sharpness spectrum. DO NOT slide the knife blade around or put any pressure on it – fingernails aren’t that thick and they are easily cut through.
With any of the tests above there is the potential risk of injury – but that risk is much lower when the material you are testing is not part of your body. The Paper Test and the Wood Test are probably the safest and most easily performed in a camp/outdoor environment.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Another Method
This is a video we shot with green woodworker Doug Don of Heartwood Treen a couple of years ago. In it he takes a factory-fresh Hultafors axe and brings the edge up to a razor-sharpness with a mirrored edge – all using cheap materials.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/39zvVKnFFao” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Some of our related courses
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Course report – Wild Camping Weekend June 2018
Monday, 18 June 2018
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Course Report – Wild Camping Weekend
Photos and notes from our June 2018 Snowdonia Wild Camping Weekend
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last weekend I was joined by Richard, Allan and Amy for our 2018 Mountain Wild Camping course in the hills of Snowdonia. This course has two learning outcomes – planning and preparing for a wild camping trip in the British mountains and going through one or more iterations of the essential skills of this part of mountaincraft – finding a camping site, sourcing clean water, dealing with weather, dealing with toilet issues and everything else.We keep the group ratios fairly low on this course to make sure that we don’t have too much of an impact on the mountain environment, and to ensure a better experience for the course participants.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9011″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9016″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9031″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Day One
We met up at one of our favourite North Wales eateries- the excellent and friendly Moel Siabod Cafe and sat down with the maps to discuss our options. This is an intrinsic part of the course, and route planning and the logistics of plotting a circular or linear route needed to be looked over. We went through the options of walking from the cafe itself, of catching a bus to a different valley or even some convoluted system involving shuttling cars back and forth to walk between two points. In the end we settled on a circular route, starting from a little further down the road. The combination of time available and a mixed forecast (rain/wind and poor visibility at either end of the trip with a relatively dry and settled overnight period) led us to choosing a route that kept us at a fairly low altitude for the first part of the day before climbing up to somewhere a little more remote later on.
After going through our respective kit choices – and a shake-down of my own kit to show how I could remove 300g or so of unnecessary weight (my pack weight as a leader was around 13kg ‘dry’, and about 16kg ‘wet’/including food and water) – we set off into the hills.
The first section followed the track (Sarn yr Offeiriad) over the hill from Capel Tan-y-Garth to Dolwyddelan, climbing up through oak woodland and skirting the remains of slate quarries before descending back down amidst deep, dark forests and mossy boulders. We diverted off into some overhanging trees for lunch, hiding from the rain and going through a ‘Hudsons Bay Start’ by testing out stoves, filters and a few other key bits of kit before we traveled too far from civilisation and the option to fix/solve any problems caused by faulty or missing kit.
As we arrived at the edge of the village of Dolwyddelan the skies cleared, the sun came out and we took the opportunity to dry our bags and waterproofs out for half an hour in the beer garden of Y Gwydyr. Years of walking in wet places have taught me that if you have the opportunity to ‘reset’ and dry off equipment you should always take it – you’ll be glad of it when you’re sorting through your kit inside an otherwise dry tent later that evening!
The next section of path took us up behind Castell Dolwyddelan and into the woods under the southern flank of Moel Siabod. We dodged fallen trees, performed a river crossing or two and started to discuss the plans for the evening – camp low alongside a lake and risk the midges but avoid the wind, or go high and hope to find a flat, sheltered spot? We chose the latter option and strode on into the bogs and tussocks of Cwm Edno.
We headed out for a small stand of trees partway along the cwm, hoping to find a flat spot in the lee of the pines. In the end we found a near-perfect spot; close-cropped grass, relatively flat and with a decent water source not too far away. Crucially we were also well out of sight of roads and habitation where we could practice a true leave-no-trace ethic and leave only some flattened grass as signs of our overnight stay.
With a few hours left until sunset we pitched the tents, cooked dinner and watched the clouds scud by over the Moelwyns and Moel Siabod.
Our camping spot was about 1 km short of the crash site of Douglas Dakota EI-AFL at Bwlch Y Rhediad. This airliner crashed into the side of the mountain here in 1952, killing all 23 passengers and crew on board.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9039″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9036″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9015″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Day Two
The night passed peacefully, with some gentle rain at around 5am finally forcing me to close the tent porch. The weather was deteriorating though, with the forecast rain and stronger winds looking almost certain. The visibility had also dropped down to a few hundred metres and the low clouds scraped over the top of Carnedd y Cribau just to our north – time for a quick breakfast and careful packing of kit to make sure everything important stayed dry!
After striking camp, and making sure that we had left nothing behind, we set off once again into the marsh and tussocky grass on the floor of the cwm, heading for the sanctuary of the sides of Carnedd y Cribau – dry ground, shorter grass and easier walking with heavy packs.
Next up was a gentle rollercoaster of rocks, small ponds and handrailing a fenceline over to Bwlch Rhiw’r Ychen in slowly worsening weather and visibility down a dozen metres or so. This continued as we climbed up to the summit of Moel Siabod, strong winds buffeting us from the south-west and turning this section of the trip into something verging on Type-2 fun.
We topped out on the 872m summit, hanging around long enough to touch the top of the cairn and grab a photo before starting the descent back to Capel Curig, dropping below the clouds and enjoying the views down over Plas y Brenin and the rest of the valley.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9042″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9013″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9043″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Mountain Wild Camping Course is slightly unusual in our range of skills courses in that most of the content is not taught in the abstract – it’s done for real. We’re not discussing key subjects with theoretical scenarios, we’re doing things in the same environments that the course participants will be visiting and working in. We’re plotting a route into the mountains of Snowdonia, responding to the conditions that are presented to us and practicing good mountaincraft to keep ourselves safe.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]- Published in All Blog Posts, Course Reports, Mountain General
2018 UK Knife Law Changes
Tuesday, 01 May 2018
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2018 UK Knife Law Changes
Changes to UK Knife Law and what it means for the outdoor enthusiast
In the past weeks the news has featured several stories on UK knife crimes, knife law and the perception of knives as weapons as well as tools. This was followed by the announcement of a new Offensive Weapons Bill which will begin the process of changing of what is considered a legal knife, where they can be used/carried by the general public and how they can be acquired.
Last year a consultation on offensive and dangerous weapons was published, which caused a lot of discussion online from knife makers, owners and collectors from all sectors.
Whilst this is currently a bill (not yet an Act of Parliament, see the differences here) it is likely that some significant changes are coming for those who collect knives or purchase them for outdoor use.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
Knives Purchased Online
The big changes are mostly about the types of knives and ‘weapons’ that can be owned in private and where they can be carried, but one change that is likely to have an impact on an outdoor user is a ban on knives being bought online being shipped to a residential address. Exactly how this will work and what workarounds can be created (shipping to a work address, pickup from a nominated place and so on) remains to be seen, but it will add a layer of complexity for those buying knives online.
Flick Knives and One-Handed Opening
Something mentioned in the original consultation document was an update to the definition of what constitutes an (already banned in the U.K.) flick knife:
England, Wales and Scotland
The current definition of flick knives in the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 is
outdated and refers to the mechanism that activates the blade being in the handle. We will
delete the reference to the switch blade mechanism being in the handle, as manufacturers
now place the mechanism in a part of the knife that can be argued is part of the blade.
This means the prohibition on the sale, manufacture and importing of flick knives cannot
be circumvented through changes in their design.
Will this include knives with a thumbstud that can be opened with one hand? If so this will include knives that are very useful as rescue tools for climbing, mountaineering and canoeing/kayaking where one-handed operation could be crucial for a lifesaving cutaway from a rope entrapment.
UK Knife Law and EDC
This isn’t the first post we’ve put together on UK knife laws for the outdoor user, but it’s important in a country with strict knife-carry laws to be aware of any changes made and, potentially, how your useful outdoor tool is perceived by someone else.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
UK Knife Law video on the Original Outdoors Youtube Channel
[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/01yHH7iZuvU” align=”center” css_animation=”none”][/vc_column][/vc_row]- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft, Bushcraft General, Foraging, Law and Ethics, Mountain General, Personal, Skills, Tools and Equipment, Videos
Outdoor Fashion Shoots in Snowdonia
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
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Outdoor Fashion Shoot in Snowdonia
Location Scouting and Location Safety in the mountains of North Wales
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It seems like 2017 was the summer of location work for Original Outdoors. We have been putting our experience of working in the world of outdoor adventure in North Wales to use as consultants and location scouts for several years, but this was a busy summer for us.We were contacted by Claudia from German production company Natural Born Explorers for a project they were working on for a European outdoor clothing and equipment retailer. They had already chosen Snowdonia as a general area for their shoot but wanted some help finding locations, gaining permissions and just the logistics of shooting in a different country. After several Skype conversations and emails we narrowed it down to some key areas in the mountains and forests of Northern Snowdonia.
Then it was down to the usual pre-shoot planning – working with landowners to gain permissions for commercial photography on their land, timelines to make sure we had enough time on location to get what the client needed and be in the right place for the ‘golden hour’ at sunset. We also needed to keep an eye on the weather and make sure that the entire crew were equipped for several days in the mountains.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7885″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7900″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7890″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Any plan that relies on the weather behaving itself or natural light falling in a certain way cannot be too rigid, especially in the mountains. In a few hours we can go from 5 metre visibility, to blue skies then back to heavy cloud and rain. If you only have a few days to get the shots required then you need to be flexible and respond to the challenges thrown up. So that’s what we did – we bounced back and forth between locations, chasing the best of the light and hiding from the weather when it came in and making the most of the sun when it showed itself.
The photographer, Lars Schneider, and the rest of the Natural Born Explorers team all showed that they were not only comfortable in the mountains but they were competent outdoorspeople. The locations chosen were not just footpaths and flat ground easily accessible from the roadside, they included rocky scrambles and ridges requiring a walk-in of 2hrs or more.
The Original Outdoors team was also there as a safety backup in case anything went wrong (or to spot the calamity before it occurred) but the only medical or rescue assistance we had to give was to a member of the public who had suffered a lower-leg injury after a rockfall nearby. They literally hobbled down to the middle of our group, where I offered and delivered some first aid and called in mountain rescue to meet them. Other than that the safety kit stayed in the bags and we spent the days eating biscuits and occasionally looking out for incoming clouds![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7908″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7911″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7902″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Snowdonia and North Wales as a whole is a smart choice for outdoor adventure brands looking for locations to promote their clothing and equipment. 30 minutes drive from a central point like Betws y Coed could take you to a raging river, rocky mountain top or deep and mossy forest. The diversity of locations, good access and landscapes that look a lot wilder than they might actually be works well for international brands too. If you frame a shot just right, or make sure the background is neutral then that rocky ledge or forest trail could be in Oregon, Patagonia or New Zealand. We have a few days doing similar work lined up for 2018 already, and I suspect that we will be seeing more in the next few months.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7887″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7907″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7910″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid element_width=”3″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1513168937192-fc2cda18-8608-8″ include=”7911,7910,7909,7908,7906,7905,7904,7903,7902,7901,7900,7899,7897,7896,7895,7894,7893,7892,7891,7890,7888,7885,7884,7886″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Behind The Scenes, Company News, Mountain, Mountain General, Skills
A Private Adventure on Anglesey
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
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A Private Adventure on Anglesey
We pulled together a private ultramarathon for one of our clients
Every year we are asked to put together a private training day or adventure for somebody. This particular client first came to us in 2016 and asked for a 50km day in the mountains of Snowdonia for him and his friends – which we put together and executed one cold day in November.
This year he wanted to push it a little further, and asked for something a little more exciting. After compiling a few route options they picked a run along the Anglesey coastal path – but how to get them to the start?
We had spoken to the team at Rib Ride earlier in the year at a North Wales outdoor tourism event where we were both delivering sessions. After a bit of planning and holding out for the weather we came up with a plan – a dawn pickup on the Menai Straits and then hooning it over to a point 51km further up the coast where we could jump (literally) ashore and start the run.
The morning of the trip promised calm weather on our side of the island and everything was set for the trip. We climbed aboard and set off along the Menai Straits out past Beaumaris and Penmon before turning westward, the sun breaking through low clouds over the Carneddau behind us.
As we pulled away from the relative shelter of Red Wharf Bay and Moelfre the sea became a little rougher, crashing over waves and steering into the swell as we neared our destination – Point Lynas and the hidden cove of Porth Eilian.
We motored into calmer water as we entered the cove, and our skipper carefully placed the bow on the beach, giving us a short window where we could disembark and get safely ashore before the waves carried him over to the rocks. Once on dry land we set off – retracing our outward route on through the fields, dunes and beaches of the western shore of Anglesey.
The rest is a bit of a blur, as they put down a good pace from the very start. We dodged falling pheasants and were showered by lead from a shoot next to the Dulas estuary and fought through overgrown paths above Moelfre. We hit the halfway point at Red Wharf Bay in good spirits, refuelling on everything from chicken soup to marzipan stollen (doing events this close to Christmas does make food shopping a little more interesting). I had thought that the big climb from Traeth-coch to the hillfort of Bwrdd Arthur was going to be one of the most challenging sections – but I hadn’t reckoned on the energy-sapping boulders of the beach section before Beaumaris.
With only 6km to go and a 10.5hr finishing time in sight they put on a burst of speed that neither myself or fellow guide Jan could match (both of us no strangers to endurance work over rough ground). We jumped into the support vehicle and shadowed them as they powered through the final few miles to the finish at a hotel in Menai Bridge, metres away from where we had boarded the rib.
Private events like this always stick in the memory for us – probably as much as they do for the clients. There is a lot of planning work that goes into pulling something like this together, especially when weather forecasts and liaising with outside partners comes into play. They really are special days, and we’re glad that those clients come to us with the grain of an idea that we can help breathe life into.
If you think we can help you with your own challenge or adventure then please get in touch.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-5Kqny18mk” align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7788″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7789″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7790″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7791″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7795″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”7792″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Course Reports, Microadventures, Mountain General, Videos
We’re part of the TGO Blogger Network!
Tuesday, 05 September 2017
The Great Outdoors Blogger Network
I have been reading TGO magazine since I first started drifting towards the mountains and forests nearly 20 years ago, and I’ve always valued their unique content and honest reviews and editorials. So I was interested to see that they had launched a blogger network – complete with featured posts from outdoor adventurers across the U.K. and beyond.
So imagine my surprise to discover that we are featured on that list! So thank you to TGO magazine for featuring us – there’s even more pressure on to keep putting out some (hopefully) quality content! It puts us alongside other outdoor writers such as Alistair Humphreys, Alex Roddie, Chris Townsend and Lucy Wallace.
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Company News, Mountain General
Tracking Training and Awareness with North Wales Police
Thursday, 31 August 2017
Track and Sign Awareness with North Wales Police
A training and skill-sharing session with the NWP Rural Crime Team
A few months ago I was joined by police officers from the North Wales Police Rural Crime Team for a session on track and sign awareness and to discuss techniques and strategies for using tracking in their work in the countryside of North Wales.
I’ve worked with other police forces as a trainer and have run tracking courses for SAR teams and other professional users and it was a pleasure to pass on some techniques they will find useful in their work in the farming and rural community of North Wales – and also to learn a little more about how this team works.
Learning how to interpret the signs left by human activity is like learning a language – you can quite quickly pick up the basics and understand key words and phrases but it takes time to fully understand everything that is being communicated to the reader. Even a short session with an experienced tracker can start to show new things in familiar ground.
We also had the opportunity to discuss subjects such as foraging and wild food, ecology and even the equipment used by outdoor enthusiasts and how a rucksack with an ice-axe or bow saw strapped to the side might appear to an unsuspecting member of the public.
We run a one-day tracking introduction course for the general public:
http://backup.originaloutdoors.co.uk/tracking-courses-uk/
If you or your organisation would like more information or think that we can help put together a bespoke training package then please get in touch:
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Company News, Mountain General, Private Training
How to save yourself – a tale of survival from a friend
Monday, 03 July 2017
How to save your own life
A tale of everyday survival from a friend
If you have attended one of our courses or engaged me in conversation about the idea of survival training or prepping for potential survival situations then you will probably remember my having some fairly robust opinions on the whole subject. One of the points I often try to raise is that real survival situations – as opposed to heading out to ‘rough it’ with minimal gear – sneak up on you. You can’t see the situation building up in the distance, with a sweeping fanfare of your personal inner soundtrack heralding the arrival of your ‘moment’. The time when you get to put your training and preparation into action will probably just blindside you and throw you deep into a world of hurt – sometimes literally.
If you read up on real survival situations and those who have survived them (and more importantly, those who did not) then there is the common theme of being in denial about the whole situation. It isn’t just panic, although that plays a part – there is also an element of lethal familiarity.
If you spend extended periods in and around dangerous and life-threatening environments then the psychology of denial will help bury those risks and lead you to actions and behaviour that will betray you when the ‘bad thing’ actually happens. Inappropriate actions under threat can be anything from driving headlong into the raging river because it’s your regular route home and the water “can’t be THAT deep” to actively trying to push your rescuer underwater when your drowning reflexes kick in.
The way to combat these potentially lethal responses to danger is via two routes – awareness and training.
Survival Awareness
By being aware of your surroundings, the potential hazards and being realistic about how likely the various potential calamities are you can develop an appropriate response. Live in an area prone to earthquakes? You can read up on the current advice on what to do in case of a quake and what items you should have in your ‘earthquake survival kit’. Do you regularly travel in remote and wilderness areas? Then remote-area first aid training and equipment specific to wilderness first aid should be high on your list of priorities.
Survival Training
Television shows and gear manufacturers would have you believe that survival training is all about running up and down mountains, swimming in icey waters and knocking up a pile of useful equipment entirely from twigs and berries – but in nearly a decade of survival training with civilians, businesses, SAR, emergency services and the military the truth is a little less exciting.
Survival training can be split into two areas – prevention and reaction. Prevention is everything you do to make sure that you don’t end up in a survival situation, from ensuring your navigation skills are up to scratch to having a realistic approach to equipment and personal admin. Reaction is what you do in the seconds, hours and days following the ‘bad thing’ occurring. That kind of training is about building constructive automatic responses to life threatening situations and re-coding your brain so that your reflexes save your life and don’t kill you or endanger those around you.
Very recently a friend sent me an article she had written for somewhere else, and with her kind permission I have included it in this blog post. It perfectly illustrates all of the points raised above:
- Survival situations hit you quickly and often with little warning
- You won’t be as prepared as you think you might be
- Training and constructive reflexes will help you get past the inital adrenaline-filled moments
November 2015 – somewhere alongside a canal in the south of England
It was about midnight, -1ºC, nobody around, and I was due on an early shift the next morning. I’d spotted it was getting frosty so went out to the car to cover the windscreen so I could get away quicker in the morning.
I was wearing jeans with long boots underneath, a heavy fleece top, and was carrying my handbag.
As I returned to my boat, walking pretty briskly, my foot skidded on an icy metal panel and I fell flat with one arm – the one holding my bag – out in front of me. The weight of the bag and the fact that I was on a wet frosty wooden pontoon meant I just kept sliding. Strangely, I had two clear thoughts that I can still remember – 1) “I’ve fallen over”, closely followed by 2) “I’m under the water”.
Thankfully my keys were in my hand and I managed to fling them up onto the pontoon so that was one less thing to worry about.
It took a second for the feeling of cold to kick in, but sure enough, off went the gasping. I clearly owe a lot to my Wilderness First Aid training as we’d covered the gasp reflex and I knew in theory that it should stop soon – but now that I was actually in that situation did I risk waiting, or try to get out?? Because my clothes were so heavy with the water and there was no straightforward way out, I decided to test the theory. I held onto the pontoon, which thankfully I could just reach, and waited.
Sure enough, my breathing gradually came back under control.
Right then, I thought. NOW I’ll get out.
My first decision was that I needed 2 hands. Bye bye, handbag… Ideally I’d have got rid of my shoes but they were long leather boots which were under my jeans and it would have taken too long to struggle with them, so they stayed.
Even with both hands free it was far less easy than I’d anticipated. I was trapped in a small triangle of water between the bow of the boat and 2 pontoons at right angles to each other. The boat has smooth high sides, and the metal was frosty and there was no way I could climb up. I couldn’t touch the bottom of the canal – and frankly probably wouldn’t want to…
The pontoon was a floating one and when I tried to heave myself up onto it my legs just swung up underneath it, so I had nothing to push off. I tried that 3-4 times, and was aware I was getting very cold and tired and probably didn’t have the strength to try again if I failed again.
Over my head I could just reach the rope that moors the boat to the pontoon. I held onto it for a few seconds’ rest while I considered my options.
I could shout for help, but it was very late and I probably wouldn’t be heard, plus I was so cold I doubt I’d have got much noise out, yet I could end up out of breath or swallowing water. I decided this was last-resort Plan C.
I could go under the pontoon because I knew there was a ladder on the other side. However, having got my head above the water, I didn’t fancy going back under again. It was very dark and I didn’t want to risk being stuck under the pontoon or attempting to surface in the wrong place. That route became Plan B.
That left me with the option that did get me out – a gargantuan effort to flick my legs out of the water and cling sloth-like upside-down to the rope overhead. I managed to do that, and then to flip myself from there onto the pontoon.
Relief!! I made it!!
The relief didn’t last long, though. I was shivering violently, and realised I needed to get the wet clothes off fast. With numb and trembling fingers I managed to strip the heavy fleece off on the front deck, retrieve my keys (Yes!!) from where I’d managed to throw them earlier, get inside, and towel down and get a dressing gown on.
This being a boat, the indoor temperature was about 10ºC so I needed to get a fire lit in the stove, which took a little bit of doing in the chilled and weary state I was in.
As the room warmed up, I took stock. My arms, legs and ribs were bruised, battered and pretty sore from the various attempts to climb out.
I couldn’t phone anyone because my phone was in my back pocket, full of water, and useless.
I’d lost my purse and all my bank cards, driving licence etc, plus my work pass, as they were in the bag. I went back out with a net and fished for it, but no luck. In fact, despite the canal being only about 7’ deep and the bottom visible depending on the weather, and knowing precisely where I let it go, I’ve never found it – mystery!
I was about to head to bed when I heard a funny noise, like someone blowing a loud and prolonged raspberry. Just to add insult to injury, the ‘Key Buoy’ keyring I had attached to my keys suddenly activated, and shot out a huge flashing orange balloon which proceeded to mock me for the next 3 days. “Well, that’s a lot of use NOW!”, I shouted at it. I may have added some other words too.
I was on time for my early shift…
[divider]
The RNLI is currently promoting a safety campaign that should be required reading for anybody who ever goes near water (so, pretty much everyone): How To Float
- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Emergency and Safety, Mountain General, Personal, Skills
How to put together a first aid kit for the outdoors
Tuesday, 20 June 2017
How to put together a first aid kit outdoors
Wilderness personal medical kits
How do you put a first aid kit together for the outdoors? Or a bushcraft first aid kit? Are first aid kits for mountain biking different to ones for kayaking?
Carrying a first aid kit in your rucksack or in your personal kit is pretty difficult to argue against. The problem is – how much do you carry, and what exactly do you carry? Once you start going down the road of visualising every possible emergency medical scenario and wanting to ‘be prepared’ for it. Before long you end up carrying several kilograms of equipment that in all likelihood you will never use – but you somehow feel that you need to.
The reality is actually a lot simpler. There are two important points to remember for outdoor emergency first aid:
- Training is the absolute most important thing you can put your time and money into. Knowledge weighs nothing and the most important lifesaving techniques require good personal skills but little to no equipment.
- If you are on your own in the middle of nowhere then the options open to you self-treatment are actually very limited.
With that mildly-sobering thought in mind – how do you put together a first aid kit for the outdoors?
The answer is dependent on several factors:
- The environment you are travelling too/through and specific hazards it may contain
- The length of trip
- Distance/time to evacuation and medical care in case of emergency
- The number of people (and animals) in the party
- The existing medical conditions of those in the party
- The training and skill level of those in the party
- The activities you are performing
- Your carrying capacity (rucksack, canoe, vehicle, porters etc)
For example – the medical kit for a 5-week sailing voyage to the Lofoten islands would be different to that of a solo lightweight backpacker on a 3-day summer trip in the Cairngorms. For the former a Bag Valve Mask (BVM) and full suture kit would be appropriate but would a little ridiculous for the solo hiker.
I have used various medical kits in my work over the years. In my time in a Mountain Rescue team I carried a small personal first aid kit that contained a minimal number of items and drugs – but it was designed to be pooled with the other kits carried by fellow rescuers to form a larger and more comprehensive kit. I supplemented this with items purchased myself such as Tuffcut shears and nitrile gloves. When working as a remote-area medic as support on long-distance races and outdoor challenges I was either carrying a very comprehensive kit issued by the company employing me, or I was given a budget to supply my own equipment at my own specification. I have also put together my own for various trips, plus also kits for Original Outdoors staff and freelance contractors to use when working with our own clients. Each case has been slightly different…
The easy answer to “what’s the best outdoor first aid kit?” is – they all are. The real skill is choosing or building one that suits where you are going, what you are doing and what you’re doing when you get there. To that end I’ve put together a video on the decision-making process that I go through for any trip or scenario, and the items I carry in one of my personal kits:
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First Aid Kit Contents
The list below is based on the items shown in the video, with links to buy them directly from Amazon. Some of the brands or sizes are slightly different or only a few representations of what I carry. The items are not listed in order of importance, just to roughly match the order from the video.
I’ve also put a link to the Lifesystems first aid kit which is a very similar off-the-shelf kit that I can personally recommend – even if it’s used as a base to add other items to.
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Nitrile Gloves
Get them in any colour other than red or black – you need to be able to see if blood suddenly appears on them when giving a primary or secondary survey as it will steer you towards a major bleed you may have missed.
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Resus Face Shield
An item of personal safety that should be somewhere easy to reach but can also make your CPR technique more effective.
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Anti Bacterial Wipes
Great for cleaning up after dealing with a minor wound and preventing your kit contaminating everything it touches.
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Alcohol Hand Gel
Be aware that carrying alcohol in your first aid kit may cause issues when travelling to countries where alcohol is banned or severely restricted
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Normasol Sachets
Sterile topical solution in sachets for careful application over wider areas.
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Sterile Eye Wash Pods
Sterile topical solution in pods for washing foreign bodies from eyes.
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Fabric Adhesive Dressing Strip
Adhesive dressing strip on a roll for making custom plasters/band-aids for tricky areas like between fingers.
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SteriStrips
Temporary adhesive suture strips for wound closure.
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Blister Plasters
Being able to treat or manage a blister can make the difference between carrying on or turning around to go home
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Non-Adherent Dressings
General use dressings without any adhesive.
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Triangular Bandage
I have yet to use one of these as a sling, but they are quite useful for holding other dressings on or wrapping over wide areas.
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Wound dressings (Various sizes)
Absorbent wound dressings in various sizes
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Travel Mirror
Great for reaching places that the eyeball can’t!
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Glucose Gel
Glucose gel for hypoglycemic emergencies.
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Round-Tip Scissors
Small scissors with rounded ends for safety
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TuffCut Shears
Tough shears for emergency clothing removal
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Tweezers
For removal of small foreign bodies
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Microlance Needles
Tiny sterile needles for making small holes to drain blisters etc
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Disposable Thermometer
Of limited use in a first aid environment but helpful for long-term monitoring of a patient
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Tick Removal Card
For safe removal of ticks
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CAT Tourniquet
Not for general carry and must be trained in use
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SAM Splint
Useful but heavy and other items can be improvised to replace it.
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Lifesystems Mountain Leader First Aid Kit
A comprehensive and well-designed outdoor first aid kit.
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- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Emergency and Safety, First Aid, Mountain General, Personal, Skills, Tools and Equipment, Videos
UKH Review – MSR TrailShot Microfilter
Friday, 02 June 2017
MSR TrailShot MicroFilter Review
Compact pump microfilter for fast-and-light travel
It looks like a medical appliance and promises impressive performance – how does it hold up in the field?
I reviewed it for UKHillwalking.com, and you can read the full review here.
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- Published in Bushcraft General, Mountain General, Videos
UK Knife Law Explained
Sunday, 05 March 2017
UK Knife Law Explained for the Outdoors
UK legal carry law discussed with a former police officer
What can I carry in the UK? Is my knife illegal? What knife can I carry for bushcraft?
The above is a good example of questions we’re asked with regards to knives, axes and what we can carry for working in the outdoors in the U.K.
We of course discuss all of this on our bushcraft courses, but sometimes it’s easier to listen to a discussion than a lecture. For that reason I got one of our instructors, Kevin Field, to talk through his understanding of the current UK knife laws and how they might affect a bushcrafter or other outdoor enthusiast or professional.
Kevin was formerly a police officer, and I am an experienced outdoor instructor – but neither of us is a solicitor and we cannot give formal legal advice. The content in the video is our best understanding and interpretation of the current laws, but it is down to each one of you to do your own research and make sure that what you have in your pocket or bag is legal for your situation.
UK Knife Law Key Points:
- The legal length for a non-locking, folding blade is 3inches/7.62cm
- A knife with legal length can still be deemed an offensive weapon if it can perceived as such by someone else
- Locking folding knives, fixed blade knives and knives longer than 3inches/7.62cm are all illegal for carry in a public place without a further defence
- It is the duty of the person carrying the knife to know and understand the law – ignorance is not a defence
- Access land and public footpaths are also public places
- More information can be found on the gov.uk website
So what can I carry?
Well, the broadest answer is a folding blade, without a locking mechanism of no more than 3inches/7.62cm. That leaves you with something like the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife – however, even though it is not illegal necessarily to carry this as a knife, you could still be accused of carrying an offensive weapon.
The actual wording is:
“It is an offence for any person, without lawful authority or good reason, to have with him in a public place, any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except for a folding pocket-knife which has a cutting edge to its blade not exceeding 3 inches.” [CJA 1988 section 139(1)]
There are specific defenses listed for the carry of knives outside of the definition above – including use for work, for religious reasons or as part of a national costume. The crucial part here is “without lawful authority or good reason”. What constitutes a ‘good reason’ is very subjective, and can depend on everything from how you act and behave with that item in public to how a member of the public perceives it. It is also not limited to knives, but hatchets, folding saws, ice axes and other sharp/bladed articles that an outdoor enthusiast may use.
Whilst it is impossible to give cast-iron guarantees and advice on what knife or other item you may carry, and how you can carry it, there are some generic situations where it is common for knives to be carried in public space:
- A small, folding locknife with a serrated blade on the harness of a climber or the PFD of a canoe/kayaker for the purpose of cutting through rope, webbing or line in an emergency
- A fixed-blade bushcraft knife being used by somebody camping on land where they have legal permission to do so, and ensuring it is being used safely and responsibly
- A multitool with a locking blade in the toolkit of a mountainbiker at a trail center
- A long filleting knife in the tacklebox of an angler on a pier where the public has access
All of those are fairly common scenarios, and there is a very good chance that a police officer, the Crown Prosecution Service and potentially a judge agreeing that it is a ‘good reason’ for that item to be carried or used in public, in that way, at that time.
But what if that climber still has that knife in their pocket when they sit down to a bowl of goulash in the Siabod Cafe later that day? Or if that bushcrafter forgets they have a knife on their belt when they pop into Tesco on the way home? Could the mountainbiker get into an argument with a stranger whilst adjusting their derailleur and threaten the stranger with the knife on the multitool? Can the angler drop into the pub when walking back home, dropping their tacklebox under the table?
The short answer to all of the above is that they are much more likely to have committed an offence. By making poor decisions, not paying attention to how they are handling the potentially illegal item in their kit and being complacent or just foolish they have moved outside of their (potential) legal defence.
One also needs to consider if they are trespassing, which in itself is a civil matter not a criminal one – but if you are found to be in possession of an offensive weapon then it can possibly become armed trespass.
There are so many variables that it possible to turn any hypothetical scenario into a situation where a law has been broken.
Seriously, what can I carry?
The best advice I can give – as an instructor and somebody who was once the victim of knife crime – is to make sure that the knife, axe, saw or whatever you are carrying is:
- appropriate to the activity you are conducting, or about to/have been conducting and there is no other practical way to transport that item
- not being used or carried in a manner which can cause distress or alarm to a member of the public
- not likely to be accidentally carried on from your place of lawful use and activity to a public place (on the belt of your trousers etc)
- not an item otherwise prohibited from being carried or owned (including flick knives, butterfly knives etc)
- transported and stored in a way that cannot be misconstrued as being a weapon (i.e. in a rucksack in the boot of a vehicle, not in the cupholder next to you)
You also need to ask yourself if you REALLY do need to carry that item. Is there a ‘good reason’ for carrying a machete-like survival tool on the PYG Track of Snowdon? Do you need to have a £500 craftsperson-made bushcraft knife on your belt at the local game fair? Do you actually need a knife to go foraging, or will a pair of scissors or secateurs be more appropriate? There is a world of outdoor media, from Instagram to old episodes of Ray Mears shows on Youtube that may trick the unwary into thinking that anything is allowed because you’re being ‘outdoorsy’…
So please, make sure that if you are carrying a knife or bladed item in the U.K., no matter what the style or length, that you are aware of the rules and laws around the use and carry of those items. More importantly, you should also be aware of how your behaviour and actions could be seen by another person. You know that you are a safe, responsible person who is a student of wilderness skills and want to try out your new knife and axe – but has the person walking their dog just seen a threatening-looking scruffy person heading into the woods with camouflage gear and a Rambo-knife?
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Axes and Saws
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Zombie Killer Knives
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- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Foraging, Law and Ethics, Mountain General, Videos
Gift ideas for an outdoors person!
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Gift ideas for outdoorsy people
Christmas present ideas for that tricky adventurous person on your list
There’s always one. That person who is always a bit untidy, always either just off on or back from an adventure. They are always a pain to buy for, and you are never really sure what they would actually want… but we’re here to help!
We are in the lucky position of getting to play and try out dozens of outdoor gadgets, pieces of equipment and other useful outdoor ‘things’. We know which ones are really good – and which ones are a bit… rubbish. We can be pretty confident that there is something in the list below that will be suitable for the person you’re buying for.
And if you’re the outdoorsy person looking to put something on your wish list then you might find inspiration here!
The items below are some of the best outdoor gadgets we can personally recommend – even if some of them have been around for a few years now. This isn’t one of those blog posts where a website just lists the last five things they saw at a trade show or in a press release – each and every thing on the list is something we use ourselves regularly and are happy to put our name to.
Finally, may we also suggest a gift voucher for one of our ever-popular Foraging, Bushcraft or other outdoor courses?
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Aerobie AeroPress Coffee Maker
I’ve been using one of these for around a year now and I can honestly say it’s one thing that I will always try and find room for in my kit bag. It can be used pretty much anywhere you have access to recently-boiled water and a mug. The simple piston action and filter discs are really simpel to use, and make some great coffee. It’s also lightweight, rugged and doesn’t take up much room.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
PEDCO Ultrapod 2
We reviewed this a little while ago and it impressed us all. It’s a small, folding travel tripod that supports a hefty weight and is suitable for most cameras up to and including DSLRs. It’s small enough to throw into the rucksack and really makes the difference when it comes to getting ‘the’ photo on a day in the moutains.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Life Venture Thermal Mug
Vacuum flasks have been accompanying people on adventures for decades, but they are not all created equal. Some of the metal ‘travel’ ones only work for a few hours, and you don’t necessarily get what you pay for. These thermal mugs are basically mini flasks, just enough for one person or a day trip. The solid design and lack of a handle makes them easy to slide into a pocket or the side of a bag – I was using one this morning taking sunrise landscape photos on Anglesey, stowing it in the lens pouch of my camera bag.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Ruffwear Webmaster Dog Harness
Dogs love mountains, forests and mud. A dog collar does the job, but it’s no help for lifting over stiles, into boats or just grabbing onto if they’re being a bit TOO adventurous. Most of our instructors and friends use a variation on the Ruffwear harnesses for their furry friends and they’re pretty much faultless.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Black Diamond Spot Head Torch
Not only is this a head torch I recommend, it’s the one I use almost daily! It’s powerful enough for running mountain tracks at night but light enough to be carried anywhere and not be noticed. It’s pretty much waterproof (up to 1m) so suitable for the finest British weather and has a simple button arrangement for different power levels. I don’t know what else I would want in a general-use head torch…[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
DD 3mx3m Tarp
This might not look like much, but it’s all anybody would need with a tarp. A tarp can be used in many different ways, as a shelter in its own right or as a cover for an outdoor ‘living space’ in front of a tent or strung between two trees (or even trekking poles). The DD tarps are not the lightest or most agile on the amrket, but they are rugged, simple and relatively inexpensive.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Kungix Tent Pegs
Again, not the sexiest of items but very useful! The pegs that come with even quite expensive tents bend and pull out under tension – these triangular-profile ones are suitable for stamping in with a boot and have a handy cord loop for easy removal.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Harveys Maps Jigsaw Puzzles
Harveys are famous for providing a high-quality and easily-read alternative to the OS maps for the popular walking areas of the UK. These jigsaw puzzles of their most popular mountain areas (Snowdonia, Lake District, Cairn Gorms, Glencoe and Skye Cuillins) are both infuriating and addictive at the same time. Whenever we have one out at home and friends come over they always end up engrossed in trying to match fiddly contour lines up…[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] [two_third]
Go Pro Hero Session
I acquired one of these cube-shaped adventure cameras about 6 months ago to replace a much older model and it’s done several trips with me and has yet to show any signs of abuse or maltreatment. It records 1080p HD footage at 60fps – which means good quality video clips at the push of a button. It can also be paired with a smartphone or tablet for fine control of the settings and as a remote control.[/two_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [divider] If that isn’t enough we have a whole category of blog posts about outdoor books that you need on your shelf!
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Mountain General
RSBC on Ben Nevis – with Jon Culshaw
Tuesday, 08 November 2016
RSBC 2016 Ben Nevis Trek
Raising money for RSBC – featuring Jon Culshaw
Back in October we helped organise a trek to the summit of Ben Nevis with RSBC – the Royal London Society for Blind Children.
This is the accompanying video of the trek, featuring RSBC ambassador and celebrity impressionist Jon Culshaw:
- Published in All Blog Posts, Company News, Course Reports, Mountain General, Videos
The role of Mountain Rescue
Saturday, 05 November 2016
The role of Mountain Rescue?
What job should UK mountain rescue teams be doing?
Below is a quote from the wife of a UK Mountain Rescue team member, posted on the Facebook page of a regional newspaper on a story about Police pay:
[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”]They farm more and more of the “unpleasant” work out to organisations such as mountain rescue teams who have to pick up the dead bodies from farm and road accidents. If they are not happy, leave and become self employed and find out how hard the real world is.[/pullquote]It’s an interesting one. Should MR teams be retrieving bodies from farm accidents? Are police forces ‘farming out’ work to unpaid civilian volunteer teams?
The history of UK mountain rescue teams is usually rooted in a community response to incidents happening in their area. The first teams came about following the rise in popularity of mountaineering without a system of rescue and medical care being in place that could deal with the inevitable accidents. Mountaineering clubs gradually improved the skills and equipment they held through the early 20th Century, formalising first with the First Aid Committee of Mountaineering Clubs, which later became the Mountain Rescue Committee. The efforts of groups of mountaineers and clubs, often working alongside the RAF Mountain Rescue teams set up to deal with the rescue and recovery of downed aircrew, became the MR teams that are busy in the hills and mountains of the UK still. The underlying principle that linked them all is that they are “saving lives in wild and remote places” – the mission statement of Mountain Rescue England and Wales (although now missing from their website).
The role many of the teams under the Mountain Rescue England and Wales banner today is varied. The busiest teams in the U.K., such as Llanberis MRT work almost solely on callouts involving lost, missing or injured walkers, climbers and other mountain-goers. Occasionally they deal with other incidents in their are where their technical expertise is crucial in accessing those areas. The gradual rise in callouts over the last decade have been attributed to many things, from the increased popularity and success of tourism promotion or the new possibilities for finding hiking friends and groups that social media has allowed. Mobile phones, cheaper outdoor equipment or just more people wanting to experience the mountains for themselves have also been blamed. Whatever the reason, the busiest teams are generally getting busier.
The quieter teams tend to be away from the popular mountain and outdoor recreation areas. They may have hundreds or thousands of square miles of wild and remote terrain in their ‘patch’, but the operational tempo is a lot lower, numbering in single figures for some teams. However these teams still work to a professional standard, with the same equipment and the same unpaid volunteers trained to a level unmatched anywhere by a salaried job in the U.K.
UK rescue teams have become involved in high and low-profile incidents away from the mountains for many years now. Missing person searches in rural and urban areas, flooding and severe weather events, murder inquiries, technical rope and water rescues, crashed aircraft and a lot more besides that isn’t always public knowledge. A quick read through the newsfeed of Mountain Rescue England and Wales shows a number of non-mountain incidents peppered amongst the usual lost or injured walkers and climbers. Like the fire service, UK mountain rescue has evolved into a set of teams that perform a role the other emergency services cannot. Where this started is difficult to unpick though – how and why did mountain rescue drift away from the mountains and onto the streets and fields?
I think for most teams they could see something happening in their community, and they knew they had the skills and personnel to help. It may be a missing child or vulnerable person, or somebody in a situation that could be resolved using techniques honed in the wilderness. In the first instances at least. For some teams (and I must stress the ‘some’) the potential diversity in their role was a way of improving their awareness and getting some publicity for their relatively quiet teams. It’s all a question of cash…
Like all modern charities each mountain rescue teams have to run like a business, even if everybody involved is an unpaid volunteer giving dozens of hours each month (or week!). Their customer is the general public, whom they rescue without charge and (normally) without criticism. The customer pays for this service through fundraising and donations. Not everybody pays, but those who do drop a pound coin into the collection tin or bequeath hundreds of thousands of pounds to rescue teams essentially fund their operations. A small amount is now given to teams by various government funds, but the vast majority of rescue teams in England and Wales does comes from the general public. The problem is – who are you giving money to? Is it the team that you see fundraising in the local town centre but have otherwise never heard of, or the one you saw on the evening news the night before as the reports came in of a daring rescue of a family in terrible weather? I bet it’s the latter. If you live somewhere decidedly flat and travel to climb, hike or otherwise play in the mountains then you may donate to a team that covers the are you visit more often, but generally speaking the teams that receive the most donations are the ones with the highest profiles.
Some teams are quite literally millionaires, or very close. The operational costs of a rescue team can be from £50,000 to over £100,000 depending on what that team needs and what they buy for team members, and that is usually without the hidden costs that are absorbed by team members and their families. Fuel, personal equipment, lost work time and so on. All teams need those donations and you can donate to a more central fund, but this is a relatively new concept still and you can still see the differences in the funds each team raises on the Charity Comission website. It must be said however that the busiest team is not necessarily the richest – Llanberis Mountain Rescue team and Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation share a border and have a similar number of incidents when averaged out over a number of years – but OVMRO are decidedly better off than LMRT. So is it public profile or incident frequency that leads to more donations? Or is the type of incidents responded to that tips the balance?
And does it matter? No. A team isn’t raising money to buy a yacht or to give back to shareholders – a team raises money to buy equipment, train personnel, maintain buildings and do something that nobody else can do.
I have some (limited, and gradually becoming less relevant) experience of this. I was a team member, then Training Officer then Deputy Team Leader of a North Wales Mountain Rescue team, and briefly Operations Officer for the regional association. During the time I was there the team evolved from mainly performing missing person searches in rural and semi-rural areas with the occasional rescue or recovery of a hiker, climber or other person in the mountains. The team actually covered the biggest area of any team in England and Wales, and also responded to requests for assistance from police forces in neighbouring English counties. A quick calculation gives me an area of approximately 8,000km² at the time I joined – later shrunk by the formation of lowland SAR teams in those counties. During my time there the team developed and improved it’s technical rope and water rescue skills and got involved in some ‘interesting’ incidents as a result – flooding and water incidents, rope rescues in quarries and steep slopes on the edge of town centres, major missing person searches that dominated the headlines for months and sever weather incidents like heavy snow. For a couple of evenings one winter the North Wales Mountain Rescue teams were effectively the only ambulance response available for most areas – the local ambulance trust just didn’t have vehicles that could respond. Another evening I sat for hours (snowed in) in the farmhouse, an Airwave radio set in one hand, a couple of phones in another and a laptop on my knee and coordinated the response of several teams in North Wales as they were rescuing stranded motorists from cars on lonely mountain passes, evacuating residents from remote houses and generally being selfless and saving lives. Other colleagues spent days in the North Wales Police control room acting as a point of contact and giving expert advice to all other agencies and performing a role nobody else there could do.
And that’s the answer – Mountain Rescue teams (and their Lowland equivalents) do work that the other emergency services just cannot. If every MRT in the UK decided to close up tomorrow there would be hole in the provision of care, rescue and emergency response that the other services cannot fill. By proving time and again they cannot be matched and by doing what they do well, with professionalism and with virtually no cost to the taxpayer they are bound to be called on to work away from the mountains – and they will respond because that’s what they do, and it helps them continue to do it. You cannot blame emergency services for calling on a resource that is professional, trustworthy, versatile and, crucially, free to fill in the gaps of what they can do. You cannot also blame teams for capitalising on the increased and diverse range of callouts to raise their profile and get more donations. It’s a symbiotic relationship that both parties created – if mountain rescue teams hadn’t continually offered their services and proven that they could do what others could not then they wouldn’t be called to do those things now.
To close, to be critical of frontline emergency services officers because they have expressed concerns over the way they are being used is missing every point. Their disquiet with the role they perform has little to do with the role that UK Mountain Rescue teams have come to perform. Responding to events away from the traditional theatre of mountains, crags and moorland IS the modern face of Mountain Rescue in the UK, it just varies from team to team. To tell them to “leave and become self employed and find out how hard the real world is” ignores the fact that nobody is forcing MRT members to be part of their team – just as nobody forces you to run your own business.
Mountain Rescue teams do something incredible, and so do police officers. If you attack either because of your (voluntary situation), you’re an idiot.
- Published in All Blog Posts, Articles, Bushcraft General, Mountain General
VIDEO: The new Paramo Velez Jacket
Tuesday, 01 November 2016
Paramo Velez Jacket
Having a closer look at OTS 2016
Last year I spent a bit of time speaking with Helen from Paramo at their stand at OTS 2016 about their Alta 3 jacket, and we were drawn back over their for this year. The new Paramo Velez Jacket looks like a good heir to the legacy of the tried and tested Velez Adventure Smock that I’ve used for years (to the point where it’s faded from UV damage on mountains and torn from climbing but still going strong).
As well as a full-length zip and different pump-liner there are a few other refinements that bring it in line with the recent changes we’ve seen to the Paramo range.
- Published in All Blog Posts, Bushcraft General, Mountain General, Outdoor Gear News and Reviews, Videos