27 A2+ survival guide

CHAPTER 1 Getting Lost IMAGINE BEING LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS. Imagine you are in the French Alps. Maybe you are skiing or snowboarding down a mountain. Or perhaps you are a hiker on a walking tour, or even a skilled mountain climber. It starts to snow. Suddenly, you don't know where you are. You can't find the people you are with. You are cold and lost in the Alps. What do you do? Every year, people get lost in the Alps and other mountains around the world. Some people die, and others get hurt. Mountains can be very dangerous, especially when there's snow. Avalanches happen often. In one year, 80 tourists died in avalanches in the French Alps. About 35 people die in avalanches each year in the United States.

But avalanches aren't the only problem. Some people don't plan well. They don't have enough food or water. Others fall off the side of a mountain or into cold water. Sometimes people get caught in a bad snowstorm and die from the cold. However, if you stay calm and have the right skills, you can survive. If you are lost, just remember the word STOP. S = Stop. Stay calm. T = Think. How did you get lost? Can you get back? O = Observe. Where are you? Does anything look familiar? P = Plan. What do you need to do to survive? In 2011, Brock Besner and Craig D'Allessandro survived for three days during a terrible snowstorm in high mountains. Keep reading to learn how they did it and how you can survive if you are ever lost in the mountains.

CHAPTER 2 Getting Water HOW WILL YOU GET WATER IF YOU ARE LOST? If you are planning to be in snowy mountains, you need to bring water or have ways to get it. You should drink more than one liter of water every day. If you are on a day hike, skiing, or snowboarding, you should bring a two-liter bottle of water with you. If you are planning a longer stay, you should still only bring two liters. More water will make your pack too heavy. When you need water, you can get it from lakes and rivers or by melting snow. You should boil the water before you drink it, so don't forget to bring a lighter or matches to start a fire. You can also bring tablets that you put in water to make it safe, or you can bring a water filter.

You may be asking, "Why is water unsafe? Water in the mountains is cleaner than water in the city, right?" This isn't always true. For example, in the lower part of the Alps, there are many animals, and they can contaminate the water. Drinking unsafe water can give you stomach problems. It can make you sick for a day or two or even for a few weeks. Water can be clean, especially high in the mountains. But even if the risk is low, you don't want to be sick when you are hiking or doing sports in the mountains. And you really don't want to get sick if you are lost in the mountains, so it is always best to purify water before drinking it.

How do you purify water in the mountains? First, get some water from lakes or rivers, or use snow if there is no water nearby. Next, make a fire and heat the water until it boils. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But it's not so easy to make a fire in the mountains. Here's how to do it: 1 Find a place that is dry and out of the wind. 2 Put down some dry tree branches. 3 Put tinder (twigs, dead leaves, dry grass) on the branches.

4 Light the tinder with a lighter or matches, and then add kindling (small, dry branches). 5 When the kindling is burning well, add some more dry wood. If you don't have matches or a lighter, you can start a fire with a dry branch and a flat piece of wood. Turn the branch around and around really fast on the wood until it gets hot and starts to smoke. Then hold your tinder close to the branch until it catches fire. It's not easy, but keep trying, and it will work in the end. If you're lost in the mountains with no water and you can't make a fire, then you should use your body heat to melt snow. Put some snow in a water bottle and leave it under your jacket while you walk or sleep at night. The snow will melt, but the water won't be purified. If, however, you have no other water to drink you should take the risk and drink it. If you don't drink enough water, your body becomes dehydrated, which is a serious problem and can even cause people to die.