ADVANCED SURVIVAL

Honestly, while I have most everything for my upcoming classes, I found that the quality and price to be excellent. Highly recommend for anyone!

If your thinking about taking it to the advanced level and taking the course my advice is start at the basic level and go through the basic, intermediate, then advanced. It well give one a great feeling of accomplishment but also set you up for success knowing what's expected of you and how hard your going to have to work outside of the classroom to pass. It's a great program I've been to alot of training programs schools etc for alot of others things and this is the place you want to be if your wanting to learn survival. This program will give you self pride and achievement. At the end of the day it comes down to do you want it or not no one can teach you that but this school will give you the tools to succeed that's for sure. 5 stars for the school and for every class they put on. Money well spent.

This last week I have been in Ohio for the Pathfinder Advanced course. It's a survival course and it's meant to be a true test of self. Over the last several months, I've been working up to this and it's the 7th course that I've taken between Pathfinder and Flint and Steel. During this course you bring no food, no water, no redundancies, no fire starters... You are coming to the woods of Ohio to learn what it is like to be truly self-reliant in a "controlled" environment. I put quotes because you are out in and around the property, but you are not in the presence of instructors or safety for many hours of the day as you navigate the terrain, gather resources, and build the tools you need for the course. You will get very little sleep, very little comforts, and well depending on the season... very little time with dry feet and a warm corpus.

This class is a culmination of all the survival classes taught at the Pathfinder School. If you have not prepared yourself physically through fitness training and mentally by gaining confidence and proficiency in the basic skills, this class will be difficult if not impossible. You need to accept ahead of time that you will be very physically engaged while completing your deliverables and will most likely endure some periods of dehydration, lack of calories, insufficient rest and mental stress. While all this sounds rough, when you are in it you learn to push yourself to the next level and beyond. I believe that is the whole goal of this class, to push you beyond what most people would ever push themselves. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in this class and that I completed it successfully. There was a time or two That I thought I may have to tap out, but the instructors would not give up on me and that was just the motivation I needed to push on to success. When you enroll in this class just know that you will be challenged and be prepared for whatever challenges (and surprises) the instructors have in store for you. When you do complete this course, you will have a feeling of accomplishment that you will not soon forget and the overall experience will be one you will never regret.

I would like to take the time to write about the Pathfinder Advanced Class I just recently completed.

As an Australian and due to my work, I am very fortunate to have been able to travel to many different countries and have the opportunity to visit and attend various survival/bushcraft schools and courses worldwide.

I had already completed a Pathfinder Primitive Skills Course and the Basic Survival Class and was impressed with the school's emphasis on putting newly learnt skills under pressure through the implementation of timed deliverables (tasks).
The Advanced class was a continuation of the basic skills of survival/bushcraft, utilizing these timed deliverables except at a more advanced level and at a faster pace, combined with food and sleep deprivation.
The 5 day course saw a huge range in temperature from 68 F (20 C) down to 20 F (-6C) which is bloody cold for an Aussie who just stepped off the plane from Hawaii.

The first day of the course was revision of core skills through demonstration; bow drill fire, navigation (PAUL method), natural containers and cordage, bow making and using trash as useful resources.
Sun up on the second day saw the beginning of the 4 day test phase, commencing with a shake down and stripping of any equipment not on the kit list, no water & no food, then it was go go go.

After a long navigation exercise in our two man teams and arrival at our first base camp, the deliverables (tasks) began and they came at a continuous pace. New tasks were added all the time, regardless of whether or not the last one was completed in time. An 80% pass rate was needed to pass the 40 plus deliverables assigned. One by one the 5 C's (cutting tool, combustion device, container, covering, cordage) were taken away and substitutes had to be found from around us. Groups who did not succeed at friction fire at first were not able to purify/boil water to drink, have fire for warmth or complete other deliverables that fire was needed for.

That’s how it was for the 4 days, with no food or sleep except in 2 hour pickets to man the fire.
The last night was particularly cold and on the last day it snowed, a novel experience for an Aussie.
The course was grueling at times and the lack of sleep and food really took their toll on energy levels and by the 3rd day we were all knackered and the simplest things became a chore.

Every team had their own instructor to aid and guide them through the course. All the instructors (Chris, Darin, Brian, Jimmy and Jamie) were great and worked patiently and tirelessly with all teams.

I learnt a lot on the course and a lot about myself. The course and its timed deliverables really did put our already learned skills under pressure and to the test which is exactly what would happen in a real scenario. These timed deliverables from my experience are unique to the Pathfinder School. I would strongly recommend any of the Pathfinder School courses to anyone wishing to learn reliable, retainable and practical survival and self reliance skills.