There are always dangers associated with off grid living. There are things we cannot foresee, things we cannot plan for. The wilderness can be a very dangerous place even for the most experienced outdoorsmen.
That is exactly what 29-year-old explorer David Austin when he set out from a small town in England to survive for one year on his own in the wilderness. He was far from a novice adventurer. For years prior to his expedition, he had taken numerous bushcraft and survival classes. His skills were well above average so much so that he headed out with no more than his knife and a daily journal.
His last stop was Rannoch Station, a tiny spot on the map consisting of a train station, three houses and a hostel. With only four permanent residents, Rannoch Station is one of the most secluded areas in Scotland, with the nearest town a full 65 miles away. If Austin was looking for a secluded location to test his skills, he certainly found it. A hostel employee reported Austin stopped by to chat and said he was headed to the loch to camp. That was the last anyone ever heard from him.
Not much is known about the brief period between his chat at the hostel, and when his body was discovered on Dec. 31. Authorities later reported he died of hypothermia and had perished weeks before being discovered.
A sad tragic story. So what can we learn from this? Anyone that is heading off-grid, or about to place themselves in a similar survival situation keep reading for some very important survival lessons.
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I feel filthy from the article referencing Dave Canterbury and Bear Grylls. Both are fakes. Name recognition should not be the point. Actually teaching solid skills should be.
Are you broken?? Canterbury is not a fake. He’s the author of the 10 C’s and eats and breathes bushcrafting 24×7. The man probably wouldn’t notice the difference of you stuck him out on an island all alone.
He did exaggerate his military service, which he apologized for quite a few years ago. Get over it.
Die Hard: I realize that writing original content is a new concept to you, and I applaud the effort. It makes the ‘next page’ click baiting barely worth the effort. However, pay attention to your formatting. You have tips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7.
LOL! Broken? Hah. If writing a book is your gauge then so be it. Just keep in mind with the Internet anyone can write a book. Canterbury does not live it. He takes people out on adrenaline junkie “expeditions” to areas of the Appalachians. Have you actually looked into his “school?”
I’m not going to argue with you, merely point out the facts. Canterbury is almost as bad as Grylls. He takes unnecessary risks and doesn’t bother to explain them as such (evidence: Dual Survival). This is a terrible way to teach. Even when you don’t think you are teaching you are. If you have children, you know this to be true (evidence: life). That is the difference between a Dave Canterbury and a Cody Lundin.
Cody really lives it. If you did any investigating, you’d know that the difference between Canterbury and Lundin is night and day.
I am a big fan of knives in off-grid survival. And a whole lot of other things. He forgot the whole lot of other things.
Bear Grylls isn’t that big of a fake. Yes, his tv show kinda was, but the man definitely knows some things on survival.
Eric Thames I don’t see it as degrees of progression. I see it as binary – you either are or you are not.
When the cameras are shut off and you crawl out of the shelter and go soak in a hot tub in a hotel, you are a fake. When you are intentionally taking unnecessary risks you are not an instructor, you are an adrenaline junkie. Bear Grylls is a terrible example for these reasons.
Hazards cannot be helped, risk can be. When teaching survival one should always be teaching risk avoidance. This is what Cody Lundin does. Otherwise you are playing games with other people’s lives.
Well Grylls is surviving better than most of us for sure. After a day of drinking his own piss, is say he deserves a bubble bath.
A Michael Gautreaux I think there was something lost in the explanation. In the show he portrayed himself staying in an improvised shelter overnight. In fact he was leaving the shelter and staying in a hotel instead. That is dishonest.