Take Survival Training This Winter
"I loved the fire starting, learning to start it as well as keeping it going. I enjoyed learning how to spot materials in the forest and I know it will come in handy." — CWSC Graduate
The Winter Boreal Survival Course (WBSC) is a One-of-a-Kind World Class and Professionally Taught Modern Winter Survival training course. It is the second part of our two-day Online Survival Core Seminar, making this seven incredible days of world-class instruction in Canadian Winter Wilderness Survival. This course, was formally called the Complete Wilderness Survival Course (CWSC) has been taught successfully over 35 times since 1995.
If you are a Winter Traveller, Guide, Instructor, Outdoor Educator or GSAR Volunteer in Canada, then this is the Professional Wilderness Survival Training you need to take. If you are a bushcrafter, but have never spent time in the Canadian Winter, then this course will provide the right mix of knowledge and hands-on practice you need. It will provide you the skills and ability to survive comfortably when stranded in the Boreal or Montane Forests of Canada or the Taiga Forests of Europe or Asia.
"Practical, Effective, Hands-on Learning. Likely the best Outdoor Related Purchase I've Ever Made." — WFT Graduate
"Your Training has given me the Confidence to do a lot more in the Wilderness with a lot less. One of my long-time friends and back country partners paid me the ultimate complement the other year. He said that I am changed man in the backcountry and hell of a mountain man. This has a great deal to do with your ability to teach and the great course you put on and how it empowered me to think and do things differently in the Back Country."
— CWSC Graduate (Writing about his experience a few years later)
This 5-day winter boreal survival course emphasizes extensive fire lighting, fire management and shelter building training. Knifecraft, proper survival tool use, dealing with the winter forest, useful winter forest resources, cooking fires and melting snow will be practiced and learnt. In this survival course, you will gain confidence in modern wilderness survival techniques usable anywhere in the Canadian wilderness.
In this course, you will develop and practice winter survival skills to a high level in a relaxed hands-on learning atmosphere. It will allow you to take on the challenges of the Canadian wilderness in winter over multiple days and nights. Participants will build at least five winter survival shelters and sleep in three shelters. You will learn to use various survival tools including scandi-bladed Survival Knifes. Firecraft practice will be extensive, with an emphasis on using natural tinder and a Ferro Rod. Mastering the Ferro Rod to light a fire in poor conditions will be part of fire lighting.
On day four, we will leave our base camp on foot to build a new rustic camp and spend the night in different terrain with minimal equipment. In our boreal forest travel, we will see the differences location and forest aspects make to camp selection. Here you will prove you can survive and thrive if stranded. To register for this course, you need to first complete the two-day Online Survival Core Seminar and read Canadian Wilderness Survival before the course starts.
Daily Field Training Syllabus
This rough daily syllabus is provided to give you an idea of the depth of the training and what to expect on the course. Instructional staff will make changes to the syllabus due to the weather conditions, number of participants or the training level of the participants. Many activities during the course will be completed as a group, so cooperation with other group members is essential.
WBSC Day #1 Syllabus
- Walk to Base Camp
- Safe Winter and Boreal Travel
- SAFETY BRIEF
- Urination & Defecation in the Wilderness
- SAFE KNIFE HANDLING
- Basic Knife Handling
- Area Brief & Tour
- Trees of the Boreal Forest
- Useful Plants of the Winter Forest
- Build & Use a Baton
- Build a Staff (Optional)
- Using a Bow Saw
- SAFE FALLING OF DEADFALL TREES
- NIGHT 1 SHELTER: Single Super Shelter
- Boreal Camp Setup
- Build Wooden Tools
- Building a 4-Finger Bough Bed
- Lighters Use
- Standard and Survival Twig Bundles
- Collecting Wood
- Getting a Fire Started
- Keeping a Fire Burning
- Cooking over a Fire
- Daily Discussion: Winter Water, Gear & Tool Storage
WBSC Day #2 Syllabus
- Useful Knots
- Setting up a Guyline
- Drying Gear, Clothing & Boots
- Drying Sleeping Bags
- NIGHT 2 SHELTER: Double Super Shelters
- Build an Improvised Sawhorse
- Selection of Proper Fire Wood
- Using Artificial and Natural Tinder
- Match Use
- Basic Ferro Rod Use
- Overnight Fire Management Skills
- Notches & Try Sticks
- Sharpening Board & Knife Sharpening
- Daily Discussion: Cougars, Rodents & Other Wildlife and Food & Garbage Storage in Winter Forest
WBSC Day #3 Syllabus
- Build a Survival Lean-to Shelter
- Natural Shelter Covering
- Natural Wall/Roof Coverings
- Example Evergreen Bivouac
- Finding Natural Fire Lighting Aids
- NIGHT 3 SHELTER: Tripod Lean-to or Quinzhee
- Improvised Shelters
- Parachute Shelter
- Advanced Fire Lighting with a Ferro Rod
- Wood Splitting with a Survival Knife
- No-Evergreen Fire Lighting
- Building Cooking Cranes
- Collecting and Melting Snow
- Collecting Natural Cordage
- Making Natural Cordage
- Daily Discussion: Safe and Realistic Survival Hunting, Trapping, Snaring & Bush Scavenging in the Boreal Forest
"If you want Real applicable Survival Skills & No Survival TV Crap, Take this Course, it Might Save Your Life." — CWSC Graduate
WBSC Day #4 Syllabus
- Camp Reclamation & Wood Storage
- Reclamation of Base Camp
- Build & Light a Signal Fire
- Packing for Winter Travel
- Walk to Rustic Camp
- Bushwhacking and Safe Forest Travel
- Safe Ice Crossings
- Use & Identification of Aspect/Slope (N/S)
- Survival Camp Locations in the Boreal Forest
- No-Trace Cooking Fires
- NIGHT 4 SHELTER: Improvised Shelter with Limited Materials
- Daily Discussion: Winter Equipment and Survival Gear for Safe Travel
WBSC Day #5 Syllabus
- Reclamation of Rustic Camp
- Build 15-Minute Snowshoes
- FINAL FIRE LIGHTING EXERCISE
- Daily Discuss: Winter Survival in the Boreal Forest
- Certificates Ceremony & Debrief
"Instructor is great, very good way to take the skills learned and apply them." — WFT Graduate
Winter Boreal Survival Course Fine Print
- Cost Includes: Instruction, Course Materials; a Survival Knife, Fire Lighting Kit and the use of various materials, shelters, tools and cooking pots during the course.
- NOT Provided: Transportation, Food, Personal Gear, Winter Boots and Clothing.
- Please Ask Questions before you arrive to Avoid Problems.
- Day 1 starts in the Boreal Forest South Central Alberta and we are out in the forest until Day 5.
- Locations Change Yearly and vary depending on Snow Conditions, Road Conditions, Weather, Location Availability, and Fire Bans, etc., normally Central Alberta near Caroline, AB.
"Course was a Wonderful Learning Experience with Knowledgeable Instructors, which allowed lots of time to Actually Practice the Skills we were Learning." — CWSC Graduate