Survival

Surviving is mainly about decision making and personal attitudes than about carrying particular safety equipment.

Survival begins with planning and every back-country trip plan should include the 'what if' scenario.

The Seven Steps to Survival were developed by the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) as a plan to survive.  The Seven Steps are as follows:

Recognition
You must recognise that you are in danger and start acting and planning based on that from the earliest opportunity.

It's human nature to deny these events. We try to justify them away and under-react. Announcing that you may have a problem can save valuable time in a search and rescue. Without recognition, you will not be able to move on to the following six steps.

Part of recognition is being aware of the psychology of the situation.  Avoiding panic and avoiding an attitude of despondency is vital.  In our day to day lives hope keeps us alive so remember to actively keep hoping.  If you see despondency in a group member work with them, not against them, to change that attitude and restore their hope.  Knowing that we have prepared ourselves well helps our functioning, so spending some time memorising the following seven items will help our chances of surviving.

Recognise that you need to maintain motivation to survive and that probably the single most powerful driver of this is our desire to be re-united with our loved ones.  Keeping a photograph of your loved ones in your survival kit or about your person might help you find the energy you need to be active in your survival efforts.

Inventory
What do you have with you that will help you.  Think very carefully about the equipment you have and how it might be used to assist in the other six steps.  This step really starts before you find yourself in a survival situation.

Shelter

Protection from the environment is very important.  Either immediately if necessary or as part of an ongoing plan.  You thoughts around shelter need to start early.

Ideally getting off the ground, in the dry and out of the wind/sun.

If you are wet and it is cold (or going to be cold), getting dry is urgent.  Getting naked may aid this, whilst you try to dry your clothes in the wind or sun.  Waiting to light a fire to do this is usually not a good plan.

Signals
Signalling to aircraft is important and difficult.  Any signs you make will appear very small from the air, so make them large.

Movement is the thing that catches our eye best, so waving something large and bright at a passing aircraft is helpful.  'Royal blue' (rather than yellow,  orange or red seems to be a colour better seen from the air when on a background of green vegetation.  Searchers from aircraft tend to look forwards or at best sideways, so you need to signal early which might mean posting a 'watch' so that the group can respond quickly to an aircraft.

Fire is a good form of signalling if it is controllable, be very careful about starting fires in area of dry vegetation.  Sparks from fires can travel a long way.

Mirrors reflecting sunlight work very well for signalling to aircraft.

Whistles are a good audible signal.  Protect your ears when sounding them so that you are able to hear any response.

Water
We cannot function well when dehydrated and death can quickly follow.  Sourcing water is important if we are likely to be in a situation for more than a few hours.  Treating water to make it potable should be done if possible.  Options are chemical treatment (easiest) or boiling.

Food
We can survive for a long time without food.  Initial hunger wanes a bit with time.  

Be careful not to eat food that is not safe. It is not safe to 'guess' about berries and other vegetation. Knowing about edible vegetation/animals in your area of operation is preferable.,

Usually the amount of energy expended in finding food is greater than the energy from the food.

Eating in the absence of water can increase dehydration, so we should drink if we are eating.

Play
Make light of your situation - keep you mind active with positive thoughts.  Remember that you have survived up until now and that you can probably continue this.

Playing games with group members improves mood and passes the time.  Boredom is an enemy of hope.

Think about loved ones, think about telling the story afterwards, think about your return to your safe environment.

Summary

Survival is a 'head game'.  Keep yours and you will maximise your chances of rescue.