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.

This year's session was completed in June 2024.  This school is conducted annually.  There has never been a demand to hold this school more than once a year and rarely there is a 'wait-list' to enroll.  

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 Group Use Permit are reflected in dates here.  For these reasons we are only able to conduct the WSS once yearly.

Student on-line enrollment will open in March 2024 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 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.

Planned dates for the 2024 course are as follows:  LECTURE SESSIONS: Mondays, May 6th, 13th & 20th from 7 pm to no later than 9:30 pm at the American Mountaineering Center in a main floor conference room.  The overnight field session is scheduled for June 1st & 2nd 2024 (will be all-day Saturday with a return to town Sunday morning). 

Tuition is $84.00.  A textbook and some supplies will be provided.

Enrollment will open about two months before the first session. (mid-March 2024). 

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.

For enrollment, please go to the main CMC Schools page for WSS link to register: Wilderness Survival School - Denver - 2024 — 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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Badge Earned:

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