Survival Priorities

Should you find yourself in a survival situation, you may be looking at enduring the ordeal for 24-72 hours until SAR personnel can get to your location. This assumes you left that almighty travel plan and that the weather is cooperative. I recall one story of a stranded hiker who was talking with searchers on his cellphone only to have them say that they couldn’t get to him for the next four days due to high winds and an impending snowstorm! 

There are 7 priorities you must take care:

1. PMA – Positive Mental Attitude
2. Shelter
3. Fire
4. Water
5. Signaling
6. First-Aid
7. Sleep

From the above list, you can see that your priorities are few but this is where a quality survival kit comes into play. Yes, it is possible to make fire by rubbing two sticks together and fashion a lean-to but do you really want to play Jeremiah Johnson when the sun is setting, hypothermia is at your back, and you are coping with injury?! Carry a good survival kit and you will be ahead of the game should Murphy’s Law befall you on the trail.

Why isn’t food on the list? Because we are talking about a narrow window of 1-3 days and your body is hardwired for fasting from our hunter-gatherer heritage. One survivor in the Himalayas went an astonishing 43 days without food and survived because he had shelter, water (melted snow), and the will to live in abundance.

In survival courses I teach for military special operations units, we delve into gathering wild plants, trapping, and food procurement but these are long-term wilderness skills and not something a stranded dayhiker should expend precious calories and sweat on. Stay put, hydrated, and keep warm.

PMA is listed at the top for a reason and I will discuss survival psychology in-depth in a future article. One thing that will help and to consider carrying in your survival kit is a photo of your family or loved ones. Pulling that out, when the cold night is upon you in the wilds, will help bolster your willpower and nourish the survivor mindset.