It seems that survival experiences, or even life in general is filled with dichotomy, things that seem so opposed to each other, unlikely associations. I have written several blogs and a video or two where I comment that it is wise to look at changing conditions or some new difficulty in a way that is [...]

It was a clear bright day in early February, the first in a while, and though the sun was blinding it was still a nippy 43 below zero. Ralph Flores the owner and pilot of the five seater aircraft had already fueled up and was ready to go. Ralph lived in the San Francisco area [...]

I was so fortunate to grow up close to my Grandfather, and could be along with him on many adventures, exploring the high deserts of central Utah where he grew up, looking for interesting rocks, or twisted cedars, or just enjoying being out there alone, no crowds, no highways, and usually no people. Grandpa had [...]

Most likely you’ll only really need your survival gear when you don’t have it, so if you ALWAYS take it, it’s kinda like insurance against Mr. Murphy and his crazy law.   Well I was all set to write a blog on another subject when my automatic web search plopped a story in my lap [...]

When I was young what is today most often called an Emergency Blanket, was invented and it changed the world of survival and preparedness. NASA developed the material in 1964 for use in the space program. The plastic film is PET, the same material used in water bottles, aluminum vapor is bonded to the film [...]

Survival, Thankfulness and Hope It’s still dark, just after five a.m., the air is freezing, a biting breeze scours my face as I walk the two miles to the bus stop, and as is often the case my mind wanders to assorted thoughts. This morning I seem to be captivated by a certain theme, thankfulness. I’m [...]

In the world of survival and preparedness the most popular topics are such things as knives, guns, fire starting, shelter building, and food procurement, these are all valuable topics which we address as well. Astonishingly, almost no attention is paid to sleep, as if it’s something we don’t need or can do without. There is [...]

In the my last blog I talked about how travel can be much easier at times on snowshoes. I also mentioned how I like to get not only off road, but off trail. In the photo at right we are close to 9000 feet elevation looking down on a lake frozen and covered with a [...]

When I was a kid, well a teenager, I loved the outdoors much as I do today, and I had back then as well an intense love of the winter season. I grew up skiing all the time, nearly every weekend. While in High School I decided to try something a bit different for winter [...]

FOAM is both a material and an acronym to us. We love to use open cell Foam as an insulation material, it is unparalled in its abilities. When we use all caps as in FOAM it refers to what we call Fully Optimized Arctic Management, as such it is a system approach to clothing, shelter [...]