When it comes to survival experiences, its great fun and a amazing test to match your wits with someone else. That's a given. But if you want to experience the ultimate in survival experiences, then go up against Mother Nature herself. She will teach you a thing or two or three.  In fact, if there's a great lesson for making sure you know what you are doing before you leave, it would be good to get some training from not only some of the books on the subject, but also from one of the many survival training courses that are taught in colleges and private institutes across the country. The good news is that not only will you learn how to stay alive in one of the most dangerous of all environments, but you might even have a blast while you're doing it. After all, there aren't too many places where you will learn so many different skills in such a short time.

Staying Alive in the Cold

The number one problem that most people encounter when they find themselves alone in a cold weather environment is that they underestimate the power of the cold and overestimate their ability to deal with it. These two factors lead to more deaths in survival situations than anything else. Another important factor is that most people who find themselves in a cold weather survival situation never expected to find themselves there. The truth is that even the most basic of survival knowledge will make the difference between coming back alive or dead.

This is the basis of many survival books and courses available today. The good part is that even if you never find yourself in an actual survival situation, being able to start a fire with even the barest of materials, snare an animal to eat, create a survival shelter with nothing more than the available resources can be great fun. And it's easy to do too. Learning survival skills will also teach you to have a huge amount of confidence in yourself. 

Hot, Dry, Cold or Wet

Another important factor that's good to remember is that wherever you might find yourself stranded, survival skills can be very useful. In fact, many of them are the same, regardless of the environment in which they are put to use. Even the basics will not only keep you alive in the worst of circumstances, but they will keep you comfortable in the best. Either way, you win.