Originally Posted By ohiohiker
I think survival knowledge, skills, and experience are important for any backpacker, and especially so for one who goes solo. It's your safety net for when people, gear, or the weather forecast fails.


The problem is that the "bushcraft" sort of skills die quickly and are not often practiced.

Contingency planning is what I encourage... Prevention, prevention and prevention, with a healthy respect for edges, steep slopes, fast water and gnarly weather.

Convincing people who have survived bad conditions to reconsider hiking into the night in the driving rain up a high pass while wearing shorts and tank top is a lost cause, since their "experience" tells them you're just making unnecessary noise. Convincing them they need survival skills would be about that hard...
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