I used the Heck out of my Camp Tramp during a Survival Coarse I took back in July 2002. Its one hell of a tuff blade. Here is a brief review:
Let me begin by saying that my week at Simply Survival was an amazing and life-changing experience. I became educated in wildlife, edible plants, fire starting, signalling, shelter building and wilderness navigation. I also learned alot about survival being a "mind over matter" choice. By pushing myself to new physical and mental limits, I learned alot about myself and that I am capable of being as strong as the situation warrants.
Greg Davenport was a United States Air Force Survival Instructor. His sense of humor and professionalism, coupled with his love of teaching and his passion for the outdoors, helped to create a positive learning atmosphere. Each day the course became progressively harder, as Greg pushed us to new physical and mental limits. Simply Survival was challenging and very self-rewarding.
The first 2 days, we stayed at the Simply Survival base camp and learned basic and essential skills necessary for our wilderness outing. Monday morning, we headed to the Trout Lake area of Washington, where we saw snow-covered mountains, Mt. Saint Helens, and gorgeous scenery. Without giving away too many details (you've got to go experience it for yourself), I will tell you that we built many types of shelters,(tarp and natural), drank water from creeks and streams, ate huckleberries, various plants, and even some oh so tasty black ants.(The ants actually taste like lemon drops). Be sure to ask Andrew about his worm-eating. We made several wilderness hikes, one of my favorites was to Sleeping Beauty, which is a giant rock formation with an elevation of 4907 feet. We ended the trip with a survival challenge game that was alot of fun. The winners received a bag of beef jerky and a Hostess apple pie. (It was the best food I've ever tasted.)
During the wilderness treks, my new Camp Tramp knife(which I won along with the trip), was a true and trusty friend. It cut through vines to make hiking paths, chopped trees and thick logs to build fires. It cut very thick sticks to build my shelters. I even used it to hammer stakes into the ground for a poncho shelter. I used my knife to pry, dig, and cut just about everything you can think of. I'll admit it's not looking so pretty anymore after a week of hard use, but the blade remained so sharp that I didn't have to sharpen it until I returned home. At first I wasn't too thrilled about the rubber handle. But it didn't take long to change my mind. It fits my hand very well and the rubber absorbed alot of shock.
Ron