Summer Wilderness Skills School

Summer Wilderness Skills School

A true arctic survival journey modelled on Survival Guild Finland's benchmark course — living off the land, eating only what you hunt, fish or forage, with 2, 3 and 7-day options.

Our summer course is a complex mixture of skill acquisition and true survival, modelled after Survival Guild Finland's benchmark course. It incorporates an A-to-B journey through true arctic wilderness. Participants rely almost solely on food they can find from nature and sleep in self-made shelters without sleeping bags (apart from the pre- and post-course nights, spent in a traditional farm kota).

  • Modelled on Survival Guild Finland's benchmark course
  • Live off the land — hunt, fish & forage
  • Self-made shelters without sleeping bags
  • 2-day, 3-day and full-week options
  • Must be healthy and not require regular meals/medication

Living off the land

Following the Finnish survival guild model, you will literally live off the land, eating only what you hunt, fish or forage. You will no doubt go hungry and feel your body adjust — lightheadedness, headaches and hunger pangs — while acquiring core survival skills: making shelters the traditional Lappish way, accessing safe water, making fire from different materials, and finding food.

FYI: Since your nutritional needs are unlikely to be met during the week, you must be healthy going in and not require regular medication or meals.

The journey

We are dropped at a trail head to hike into the remote Palojoki cabin for a gentle introduction to being out in the wild. The waters here are pure and rich in salmon, trout, perch, pike, grayling and white fish, and the swamps and backwoods are home to vitamin-rich superfoods like blueberries, lingonberries, cloudberries and cranberries. You won't cover a great deal of distance, but you will discover an ever-changing landscape as you hike from primeval boreal spruce forests into open arctic tundra. This is a world far from television, smart phones and other devices (although instructors carry sat phones for emergencies).

Course options & prices

1 Week Summer Bushcraft Course (5-day course): 7 day package, Price €1200 — 2 nights on the farm, 3 nights in nature, 1 night in a local family-run hotel.

3-day course option: 5 day package, Price €595 — 1 night on the farm, 1 night in nature.

2-day course option: Price €350.