Wilderness Survival School
pc: John Lindner

Wilderness Survival School

The Wilderness Survival School is designed to provide the skills and self-confidence to increase your odds of survival in an unexpected stay in the wilderness.

Our goal is conducting the school with the well-being of our students and instructors as a priority.  We intend to safely conduct the class within the then current AMC/CMC and government COVID guidelines at that time. Classroom scheduling and our field session location reservation are reflected here.  For these reasons we are only able to conduct the WSS once yearly.

Student on-line enrollment will open in March 2025 on the CMC website.
If COVID conditions and restrictions worsen we’ll immediately notify all students.
 
The Wilderness Survival School is designed to provide the skills and self-confidence to increase your odds of survival in an unexpected stay in the wilderness.  Topics covered include, but are not limited to, preventing a survival emergency, psychology/attitude, shelters, signaling, fire craft, and hypothermia. Survival related medical emergencies, case histories and other priorities will also be covered.  This course includes three weeknight evening lectures and one overnight field lesson that provides practical training/ experience in a simulated survival situation.  This school is particularly informative to the novice/intermediate hiker, but even very experienced CMC members have found this school valuable.

Enrollment is open to all CMC members (only) with ANY level of backcountry experience or hiking classification.

The overnight training is not a “sink-or-swim” field trip, and we will NOT be surviving off of roots, berries, wild mushrooms or killing and eating bugs/wildlife. The goal is to learn from a simulated survival situation and to practice skills with the equipment we should normally carry in our daypacks.  Students may bring tents, sleeping bags and other backup equipment if they desire.  Overnight session will be held close to the parking area.  There are no physical stamina requirements to attend the field session. 

Our dedicated team of instructors have all been instructing in WSS annually for many years, as well as teaching in numerous other CMC schools and other outdoor courses. They have collectively many dozens of years of experience/training in survival, rescue and related outdoor/mountaineering fields.

The CMC has very recently relocated to a new building and the facility is not yet set up to accommodate any school classes.  All Denver Group CMC schools, seminars and programs are using alternate locations to conduct sessions for an indefinite period.

The three 2025 WSS classroom sessions will be held at Jefferson Unitarian Church at 14350 West 32nd Avenue in Golden on Thursday's May 8th, 15th and 22nd.  This location is 1.0 mile east of the new CMC offices on 32nd Avenue.  Times will be from 7 pm to no later than 9:30 pm.  Signs will be posted with directions to the room we will use. 

The overnight field session is scheduled for firm dates of June 7th & 8th 2025 (will be all-day Saturday with a return to town Sunday morning). 

Tuition is $89.00.  A textbook and some supplies will be provided.

Enrollment will open about two months before the first session. (mid-March 2025). 

The Wilderness Survival School (WSS) does not overlap with scheduled dates for the Wilderness Trekking School (WTS) for those desiring to enroll in both Spring schools.

Once enrollment opens, please go to the main CMC Schools page for WSS link to register: Wilderness Survival School - Denver - 2025 — The Colorado Mountain Club (cmc.org)

For more information, contact the WSS Director:

John Lindner at 303-431-7575 or at hautesnow@yahoo.com

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