Wilderness Training Course

Lesson 1 • Understanding Wilderness Environments

Introduces terrain types, climate zones, and ecological hazards common to remote areas. Establishes the environmental context that underpins all subsequent safety decisions.

Lesson 2 • Risk Assessment and Decision-Making

Covers systematic hazard identification and probability-consequence analysis for outdoor settings. Connects risk literacy to practical pre-trip and in-field decisions.

Lesson 3 • Physical and Mental Fitness Standards

Defines fitness benchmarks and psychological resilience traits needed for wilderness travel. Helps learners self-assess gaps before entering demanding environments.

Lesson 1 • Topographic Map Interpretation

Teaches contour lines, map symbols, and scale to extract terrain information. Provides the foundational map literacy required for all route-planning tasks.

Lesson 2 • Route Planning and Execution

Integrates map, compass, and GPS skills into complete route plans with contingencies. Learners practise translating plans into field execution under realistic conditions.

Lesson 3 • Compass Skills and Orienteering

Covers compass anatomy, declination adjustment, and bearing techniques for field navigation. Builds the manual navigation skills that back up electronic tools.

Lesson 4 • Natural Navigation Techniques

Explores sun, star, and terrain-based orientation methods for use when instruments fail. Reinforces situational awareness as a core navigation competency.

Lesson 1 • Water Purification and Treatment

Covers boiling, chemical treatment, filtration, and UV purification methods with their limitations. Ensures learners can produce safe drinking water from any available source.

Lesson 2 • Emergency and Improvised Shelter Building

Covers site selection, insulation principles, and construction of debris, tarp, and snow shelters. Directly addresses the leading cause of wilderness fatality: hypothermia.

Lesson 3 • Water Sourcing in the Wild

Identifies reliable water sources by terrain type and teaches collection methods including rain and dew harvesting. Establishes hydration as a primary survival priority.

Lesson 1 • Caloric and Nutritional Demands

Quantifies energy expenditure during wilderness activities and maps macronutrient needs to learner performance. Provides the nutritional science behind food planning decisions.

Lesson 2 • Food Storage and Waste Management

Addresses bear-safe storage, hang systems, and waste disposal to prevent wildlife conflict. Reinforces leave-no-trace principles introduced in Chapter 1.

Lesson 3 • Trapping, Fishing, and Hunting Basics

Covers primitive trapping, basic fishing techniques, and small-game hunting as emergency food sources. Emphasises legal and ethical considerations alongside practical skills.

Lesson 4 • Wild Plant Foraging Basics

Introduces edible plant identification, safe harvesting practices, and common toxic look-alikes. Builds a supplemental food-sourcing skill for extended or emergency situations.

Lesson 1 • The Survival Stress Response

Explains physiological and psychological stress reactions including fear, panic, and tunnel vision. Provides the scientific basis for all mental performance strategies in the chapter.

Lesson 2 • Cognitive Performance Under Stress

Covers decision-making degradation, task prioritisation, and mental rehearsal techniques. Directly improves the quality of field decisions made under fatigue and fear.

Lesson 3 • Will to Survive and Motivation

Examines case studies of survival success and failure to identify motivational factors. Helps learners build personal anchors that sustain effort during prolonged hardship.

Lesson 1 • Patient Assessment in the Field

Teaches the scene survey, primary survey, and SAMPLE history for wilderness patients. Establishes a systematic assessment process used throughout all medical scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Evacuation Planning and Decision-Making

Teaches urgency classification, improvised litter construction, and communication with rescue services. Integrates patient assessment skills into actionable evacuation plans.

Lesson 3 • Trauma Management

Covers wound care, haemorrhage control, fracture stabilisation, and spinal precautions for remote settings. Addresses the most common traumatic injuries encountered in wilderness environments.

Lesson 4 • Bites, Stings, and Envenomation

Covers identification and treatment of venomous snake, insect, and marine animal encounters. Prepares learners to manage anaphylaxis and envenomation without hospital resources.

Lesson 1 • Electronic Communication Devices

Introduces satellite communicators, personal locator beacons, and two-way radios for remote use. Connects device selection to trip planning and emergency communication protocols.

Lesson 2 • Search and Rescue Coordination

Explains how search and rescue operations are organised and what rescuers need from survivors. Helps learners act in ways that accelerate their own rescue.

Lesson 3 • Trip Planning and Communication Protocols

Covers trip itinerary filing, check-in schedules, and trigger points for activating rescue. Integrates communication planning into the pre-trip preparation process.

Lesson 1 • Expedition Planning and Logistics

Integrates navigation, nutrition, medical, and communication planning into a unified expedition framework. Applies all prior chapter skills to a single, coherent planning process.

Lesson 2 • Dynamic Risk Management in the Field

Teaches real-time hazard monitoring, plan adaptation, and escalation protocols during active operations. Builds on Chapter 1 risk frameworks with field-level complexity.

Lesson 3 • Capstone Field Expedition

Learners plan and execute a multi-day expedition applying all course competencies under facilitator observation. Serves as the summative learner performance assessment for the entire course.

Lesson 4 • Post-Expedition Debrief and Improvement

Covers structured after-action review, incident documentation, and continuous improvement cycles. Closes the learning loop and builds professional practice habits.