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“Don't make the decision to survive too late.”
— Bruce Zawalsky
The Boreal Wilderness Institute (BWI) is dedicated to ongoing research into wilderness survival training, cold weather travel, and cold weather survival equipment. This is carried out through reading, researching, publishing, informational articles, practical scientific experimentation, and ongoing field testing of equipment and clothing. We are continually looking for better ways to share information and skills that will keep people alive in the wilderness. Due diligence before we travel is both part of what should occur before your travel into the wilderness. Lack of due diligence often causes a rather Darwinian ending to many survival situation. The knowledge is here, grasp it, but remember you must practice it in the wilderness in a controlled situation to really have a chance to master these survival skills or navigation skills when you require them in a real survival situation.
Anyone who spends time in the wilderness will remember occasions when the drive for success, the unwillingness to quit, poor weather, or sickness has clouded your judgement. I have fought that battle in my own mind; whether to push on in spite of the condition or stop short of the original trip objective. Those objectives are often only a rough plan when laid out…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 16 September 2010
My name is Trina Jackson. I took your survival weekend course with the SARDAA group a couple of years ago. This September long weekend my husband, David, and I went for a day hike in Waterton Lakes National Park. We started our hike at 10:00 A.M. had hiked in about 10.5 Km and done approximately 1280 meters of elevation gain. The weather had been a bit sketchy in that we had sun, sprinkles of rain, and even the odd snowflake, and then it would go back to sun again. As we made it past the scramble and up on top of Akamina Ridge, an unexpected snowstorm blew in when we had just reached the top…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 09 September 2010
Learning to survive in the wilderness can be a life-changing experience. A survival situation is a challenge that you confidently survive or an ordeal that saps your energy and overpowers your brain with stress. Each year at least one person dies in the Canadian Wilderness because they did not know how to light a fire or…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 17 August 2009
It is essential that the items you take into the wilderness are useful. Most people think only of taking a small wilderness survival kit when they should instead consider taking proper critical wilderness survival items. Fishing or sewing kit will help you survive, but will not save your life. They will only allow you to fish or sew. It will be proper clothing, matches, a survival knife, a whistle and a First Aid Kit that will save your life not…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 24 June 2010
I am asked at least a half a dozen time a year “How can I become a Survival Instructor” or “Can you teach me to be a Survival Instructor”. My answer is to quote Paul McCartney; it is a “Long and Winding Road”. It is neither a one course nor a one-step process. I believe that it is a multi step process to become a Professional Wilderness Survival Instructor. Over two decades of working in the outdoor industry I have seen many…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 28 September 2009
Modern Wilderness Survival teaches the skills need to survive through Short-Term (1 to 4 Days) and Medium-Term (4 to 40 Days) Survival Situations. The skills taught are scientifically based and designed to eliminate potentially life threatening survival situations that are likely…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 14 September 2010
Vehicle survival is often overlooked because if our vehicle starts in the driveway many believe they will have no problems driving through remote wilderness roads. This is a fortress mentality where we hope we never get stuck instead of preparing for the eventuality of getting stuck on a road way in the wilderness…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 31 August 2009
A Wilderness Survival Situation after abandoning or losing your small water craft can be very dangerous. When canoeing, kayaking, sailing, or in a motor boat the danger of capsizing or losing a boat is always present in any waterway. Picture yourself standing on the side of a wilderness river or lake: cold, wet, possibly injured, and likely hypothermic; you have a real challenge ahead. With this scenario in mind I have always carried some critical survival items…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 19 September 2008
The Survival Immediate Actions (IA's) are a simple way of dealing with a survival situation in a well-organized manner. Survival IA's are meant to be a series of easy to memorize steps that can be followed in times of crisis. They allow you to organize your mind and fight off boredom and fear…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 25 May 2008
A Striker can be used to produce a spark by shaving it with steel. Ferrocium is an alloy and Zirconium a rare earth metal are both used for this purpose. Various types of Striker are available commercially, most use Ferrocium today. Many are still called Steel & Flints, but the use of flint is very rare today because of its brittleness. Use of a Striker takes practice, but it is worth the effort. The Video below shows…Click to Read Entire Article and View the Video
Posted: 26 December 2007
Bushcraft or Bushcraft Survival is the combination of Modern Wilderness Survival and useful Primitive Survival Techniques. It is a hybrid survival science that emphasizes both ancient knowledge…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 05 November 2007
Primitive Survival Techniques are the skills need to survive over the Long-Term. Its teachers emphasize living in harmony with nature and building the ability…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 05 November 2007
We are often asked at BWI how we breakdown or categorize Survival Situations. We have used this breakdown for over a decade. Survival Situations in the modern world can be broken down into three groups…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 16 October 2007
Water is the elixir of life and the most common element in our body. Your body can survive a maximum of 3 days without the intake of water, assuming you are at sea level, at room temperature, and a relative humidity of above 50%. These conditions are unfortunately very rare during wilderness survival situations and non-existent during most Canadian winters. Do not underestimate the bodies…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 16 September 2010
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British Antarctic explorer and expedition leader. He was knighted by the King for his leadership of the “British Antarctic Expedition” of 1907 to 1909. He was born in Ireland and after a rather basic education he joined the merchant marine and learned the both seamanship and leadership skills travelling the world. Shackleton along with Amundsen and Scott were the important explorers of golden age of Antarctic Exploration. He certainly was an expedition leaders who had the ability to rise to the challenges presented him in the field and make tough life saving decisions. Many of which were hard decisions like…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 02 December 2009
Roald Amundsen was a key expedition leader during the so called Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Amundsen along with his British rivals Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton were the three most celebrated explorers of the time. Amundsen was certainly the most professional and successful of the three. Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who grew up in a nautical family and learned his initial exploration skills as 2nd Mate on the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899). By his estimates this poorly equipped expedition only survived though…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 01 December 2009
Vilhjálmur Stefánsson was born in Gimli Manitoba and received his University Education in the US including Harvard University. Stefánsson's accomplishments are widely recognized as an explorer. He went on three expeditions into the Arctic, travelling extensively into both Canada and Alaska. He was also the last…Click to Read Entire Article
Updated: 19 August 2008
Cold Weather Stove and and Equipment testing is ongoing. We are continuing to test various combinations of the…Click to Read Entire Article
Posted: 20 January 2000