I joined up a Meetup group in Portland called "Wilderness Survival & Intuition in Nature". I went to my first event today: "The Bush Knife: Safe Use in the Backcountry".
The class presenter is Alex Leavens, he's a great instructor, really knows what he is doing. Some of his professional experiences are:
- Eagle Scout
- Backcountry Ranger and Climbing Assistant in the Hoh River Valley, Olympic National Park.
- Wildland Firefighter in Arizona, California, and Washington.
- Instructor for the Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS). Boss is America’s oldest and most respected survival school and provides the most authentic desert survival training in the world.
- Over ten years of study in Aikido, a Japanese martial art. Alex earned a Second Degree black belt, and teaching certificate from Portland Aikikai, a school with direct ties to the Aikido headquarters in Tokyo. Alex also trained extensively all over the US, Japan, and Europe.
- Student of Jon Young, a prominent naturalist and tracker, and instructor at Jon Young’s school, Wilderness Awareness School, in Duvall Washington.
- Intensive study with Cody Lundin, the Southwest’s best-known survival teacher, survival author, and co-host of the TV show, “Dual Survival.”
- Founded the Portland School of Survival and Tracking in the early 2000’s and created a small community dedicated to the continual study of primitive skills and tracking.
http://www.meetup.com/Wilderness-Survival-Intuition/events/50625522/
Here are the pictures from the class:
http://www.meetup.com/Wilderness-Survival-Intuition/photos/6954522/
Alex sharpens knives/axes and sells a video on how to properly use an ax. His web site is at:
http://oldfedco.com/index.php
Thanks Alex!
