Holidays are a bit like an IT or transition project, only better!
At Pythéas Organization and Barbar Stage Survie we are specialists in Travel, Nature and Adventure.
Here are some little techniques to help you out in the event of a problem, during your holidays at sea or in the mountains for example.
There are 3 main types of survival situation that can, unfortunately, happen:
Vital survival, accident
Example: a fall from a cliff, on a mountain bike, a diving problem, a chainsaw injury while gardening.
You must go directly to the Protect, Alert, Rescue method for which the PSC1 first aid certificate prepares you. The ideal is to take 2 days to pass this training which will serve you all your life at home, in the family, in the workplace, in the city.
Survival by progressive degradation of the situation
Example: this is the classic case of summer news items; a lone swimmer at high tide, a family lost on a hike, a mountain outing that turns into a storm
This is what we will see below with different techniques following the acronym PHASOP: Prevention/Preparation, Hydration, Food, Signage, Orientation, Protection
Preparation
You are going on long car trips, and on vacation you may be going hiking or doing other activities.
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It is therefore necessary to always have at hand the bottom of the bag with 5 objects:
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Water bottle: ideally metal, at worst take plastic bottles for your hike
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Survival blanket or poncho: in case of bad weather or to be spotted from the sky. It's very difficult to do without.
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Lighter: if the night stops you, you can rest with the warmth and soothing light
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Telephone: this is the base, it can save you in a few minutes, in a well-loaded waterproof bag. The risk is to use it to take photos or follow your route and to run out of battery at the crucial moment.
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Knife: there it is if the rest was not enough, to last. But for your hikes or summer explorations, we would rather offer you the Lamp. Because in general, being able to progress at night will save you precious time.
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The advantage is that it makes a small, inexpensive kit that you can have in several copies, in the car, in sports bags, etc.
For your current activities
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Appropriate clothing and equipment : fleece, rainwear, map, diving signal buoy, mask, snorkel, flipper, towel,_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b -136bad5cf58d_etc.
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Before leaving :
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Level: be careful, you may not have done any sport for a long time, a pass at 2,000m or a dive at 15m will be a bit hard to start with. And as a family, the outing should be fun for everyone. Otherwise, the stress you will put into managing the atmosphere may increase the risk of a problem.
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Weather: this is the basis, go to several sites to be sure of your day, and don't forget that they are sometimes wrong...
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Refueling: see below in food
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Suitable material: see above + the bottom of the bag + small holes
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Notify someone: very important, if you go alone or even in a group, send a text message to your brother, your best friend, your parents, at worst the gendarmerie. They are the ones who will have to be the first to worry and direct help if necessary.
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Also very important, a garbage bag. To leave nothing in nature, and it can be used to carry water, protect yourself from the rain, keep your things dry, etc.
For your drive to the vacation spot, which is sometimes an Adventure in itself
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It's the same for the car, you have to prepare in advance and take a minimum of equipment for a comfortable and safe trip.
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Vest, warning triangle, water, mobile phone charger, sunglasses, first aid kit and prepare your car properly for technical inspection, fuel levels, windscreen washer, oil, and your trip with breaks, taking into account any traffic jams.
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Also watch out for your cigarette butts, in addition to the garbage bag, a pocket ashtray is welcome, on hikes and in the car.
Hydration
Hydration is very important. If you lose 1% of your weight in water, for example 600ml that you haven't drunk, you lose roughly 10% of your intellectual abilities and concentration. 2%, 20% etc
It takes 1.5l / day and up to 3l in summer for an athlete.
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How to change the potability of water?
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Transparency, stagnation, beast or city upstream, presence of insects or footprints of animals that may have polluted the water.
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If bacterial contamination, it must be boiled or tablets used.
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If only impurities,
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simply filter into a t-shirt, a hat
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if very dirty, look at the bottom of the page, you will see a small installation which transforms muddy water into transparent water. Using a plastic bottle and a piece of cloth to make a filter wick.
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On the road, do not forget to drink very regularly. The ideal can be a small bicycle water bottle to grab it easily and not take the risk of unscrewing the cap.
Power supply
Take simple things to eat, otherwise sometimes you skip it and this negatively affects your ability to concentrate and make decisions
And rest assured, you can walk for a very long time, several days, without eating. The problem will be mainly psychological for you and the members of the group. So take the time this summer to learn to recognize a few edible plants that will make you confident on your trail the day you go: dandelion, blackberries, thyme, rose hips, pears and wild apples, cricket, it goes fast!
Signalization
In an emergency, the laptop is your best friend, by far.
So take care of it by keeping it in a waterproof pouch, accessible and charged. Do not take photos with all the cameras in the group!
You have to call 112, European and multi-rescue and works without a pin code and on all networks.
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The alert message:
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group presentation
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venue
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accident
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number of victims
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actions taken
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possible risks
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DO NOT HANG UP UNTIL EMERGENCY HAS TOLD IT
On the highway there are orange terminals, every 2 kilometers The interest is that the operator knows where you are and that there is a “place” to park.
Orientation
Think about buying the map of the place where you are going on vacation, even at the last moment on the highway or in a newsagent.
Learn more by reading the legend of the map, to understand it the day when.
In advance, you can print the area that interests you from the site www.geoportail.fr
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Reading a map does not revise "the day before the holidays", but just in case, the base:
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North is conventionally at the top of the map, in the direction of the map. In the case of some tourist plans, an arrow will indicate if they had to turn the map for layout issues.
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North of the compass is represented by the red needle.
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Reading an azimuth allows you to know precisely where you are on the map, or to go straight ahead to fall, for example, right on the refuge, in the middle of the forest, caught in the fog.
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If you really want to know how to do all this, come see us and do a forest survival course
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By car it's the same thing, remember to prepare the routes well on the GPS, to plan your breaks on the areas, such as hiking stages. Use the Ulys app to choose the right areas. Also remember to have a paper map if you go to places where the GPS may not pass.
Protection
Remember to protect yourself during your activities, and before the situation gets complicated.
Physical protection against the elements, hot and cold: fleece, poncho rain jacket, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen...
And psychic protection that we often forget: not to be pressured by the group, to take advantage of things at your own pace, not to let yourself be imposed on an itinerary that you had not planned, not to attempt "a record" when there are baïnes and that we have just started surfing again.
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In the worst case, when night falls, it's time to make a bivouac with your survival blanket, poncho or tarp:
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Warmth, protection from the elements, and cocoon effect.
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We stretch the tarp in Canadian form, we make turns around the trees and we fix the edges to the ground with stones or ideally small strong sardines cut in green wood.
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The most important thing is the height, to have a good volume/warmth/slope compromise.
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On the road it's the same, the spirit of the bivouac is at two times:
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To rest, regularly take a nap in the playground or on the beach.
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In the event of an accident, you must also protect yourself: shelter / hard shoulder / safety barriers.
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Tarp + pegs green wood + stones
We hope that all this will be useful to you, or not too precisely!
If you have any questions, do not hesitate: contact@survie-stage.com or contact@pytheas-organisation.com
Happy Holidays, beautiful Adventures and enjoy Nature.
This article is about: survival techniques, problems in the natural environment, having a good holiday, making a bivouac, finding water, lighting a fire by friction, fire in survival, edible plants, first aid in survival, orienting your map, preparing his hike.