Has anyone actually been in a real life "survival" situation? If so what knife did you have and how did it work?

I get the impression you mean an emergency survival situation, not a self imposed survival situation, like a camping trip. I do lots of outdoors things in remote places, but I think I've only been in 1 actual emergency survival situation in the mountains. It was around 2015 I was stuck on a mountain by myself on the "wrong side" I went up with another person, we chose to ascend on the difficult face, the hard route, we got over halfway up and the person I was with decided to head back down because the terrain is getting dangerous, I was determined to reach the snow line so I continued on my own. I came to a fork of sorts and decided to take the left "path" there was a series of ledges and it started to decline as I went from ledge to ledge. I slid down to a larger ledge and I didn't realize it was a vertical slope down to the next ledge, and I had a big heavy pack on me. I got stuck on that ledge a few thousand feet up a mountain in Wales, it was about 6 ft by 15 foot of surface overlooking a valley and this was now my home. I had a knife, it didn't help me, what I really wanted was about 100 ft of rope, and some warmer gloves, also ear muffs, or one of those Russian hats, the cold wind was going through my ears and giving me a headache.
As we went up the non authorized route, that only stupid people go up, there was nobody around, so that made me less concerned about looking like an idiot when I shouted for help, because there was nobody to hear me anyway. I accepted my fate, set up my pack in a more comfortable position and rolled a smoke. Then I looked around and saw nothing but rocks and mountains and thought ok I have to get down, I slung my backpack off the ledge and watched it fall onto a lower ledge about 30ft down, then i slid down after it, and took a very painful route down to where it met back with a portion of the mountain I remember, that lead back down to the route I knew my friend would have taken.
Finally I get back down to the bottom and follow the only road in the area, and I saw my friend with his jeans and coat and shoes on the engine of the car drying off. I said what happened, he looked at me and said "I fell in a water hole up to my neck" I replied "I almost died" then we started laughing.
 
Not really a survival situation but definitely a sketchy scene from the early 90's.
I had a bandana around my neck get stuck in a rappel device while in the middle of a 100+ foot free rappel (The Monkey, Smith Rocks, OR). I used my little Gerber LST to cut said bandana while spinning way off the deck and unable to use one hand (had to hang on to the rope). I couldn't see where I need to cut but I knew I didn't want to touch the rope or my throat. I had a small lanyard on the knife which allowed me to flick the blade open one handed (whew!). I never wore anything loose around my neck again, while climbing.
 
Michaelyogi said:
Not really a survival situation but definitely a sketchy scene from the early 90's.
I had a bandana around my neck get stuck in a rappel device while in the middle of a 100+ foot free rappel (The Monkey, Smith Rocks, OR). I used my little Gerber LST to cut said bandana while spinning way off the deck and unable to use one hand (had to hang on to the rope). I couldn't see where I need to cut but I knew I didn't want to touch the rope or my throat. I had a small lanyard on the knife which allowed me to flick the blade open one handed (whew!). I never wore anything loose around my neck again, while climbing.
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I once had my hair get caught in my rappel device while rappelling the New River Gorge Bridge in 1984. Fortunately (?), before I had a chance to reach for my knife, my hair pulled out of head and I continued on down the remaining 870'. Started carrying a scissors after that.
 
I got myself extremely close to being lost in an isolated area of the northern Boreal forest years ago. Because I am a genius and know it all, I ended up staggering out badly spooked, physicaly wasted, luckily finding a remote homestead who drove me out to my vehicle. I came out with ripped clothes, after wading through several large thigh deep swamps of tea coloured bog water. I was scooping the water and draining out the back swimmers for a drink (I had a military canteen) through sheer exhaustion, in the ice cold water. I had to force myself not to panic several times as I wasn't sure if my body could get me out before the low sun had set. I was eaten by bugs and I scared up a moose that went crashing through the brush. I had a Cold Steel large Tanto Voyager in a pocket and a tin of sardines with a lighter or two. I wasn't really under any death threat but spending the night in bear country with very little was a real "this is going to suck" experience. I was physicaly moving all day going in and out of an overgrown 100 year old trail with my metal detector. I was worried about my wife panicking, and had to keep a lid on doing it myself. Being very wet, cold, exhausted, hungry, disoriented takes a toll. This was a big deal for me. It got me to take being outdoors in remote spots a lot more seriously. I got much deeper into Bladeforums and survival skills/knowledge/experience. Not a whoop de doo to many here, but the experience really changed some of my perspectives. The water that I brought in was gone fairly early in the day. Ya, that whole experience was a big eye opener.
 
J85909266 said:
Honestly, any time I have been confronted and attacked physically, and I'm just a civilian that trained martial arts a bit, so I see far less action, it never even occurred to me to pull out my knife. My mind immediately went to my boxing fundamentals and easy chokes like the rear naked or guillotine. But I'm also not trained in knife combat. I also wouldn't ever want to cut a person unless I thought me or someone else might be hurt or killed.
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Much better to do it that way. Fist fights typically aren't a big deal to most cops unless one person goes seriously overboard. Pull a knife on someone, and you are looking (usually) at deadly force options for cops or civilians. Pull a knife up close and personal, and if the cops are called you have a much higher possibility of going to jail.

I've pulled a knife twice in confrontations. Once was a guy who had two large GSD. He was up on his roof and thought it was funny watching his dogs come after me. I pulled a Kukri out that I had on my side with the assumption that I was going to get bit pretty bad, but that I was going to kill the dogs (which I hate because I have always owned GSD). The guy no longer found it funny once the Kukri came out, and began frantically screaming at his dogs.

The second time was coming out of a lounge with my wife and another couple at night. We walked towards our vehicles, and I saw 5 or so guys who were at the front of an all night convenience store, 3 sitting and 2 standing. The two standing guys saw us, and must have figured us for an easy mark. They said something, and all of the guys sitting down turned and looked at us, then got up slowly and started to drift our way. We were about a half a block away, and I pulled my knife, and kept turning it back and forth the same way that you would use a signal mirror. They stopped, turned around, and went back to their previous positions by the store. I never would have used the knife for defense, if things had gotten to the level of fearing for our lives, I would have shot them.

On a side note, if you ever deal with homeless people, the majority of them keep flathead screwdrivers on their person for defense. A sharpened flathead screwdriver is a wicked thing to get slashed or stabbed with, especially if you see what the tips usually look like. The reason they use a screwdriver instead of a knife is that a knife is more valuable and cops are more apt to hassle them for illegal weapons. A screwdriver is a just a tool....

That little revolver you just got is a great weapon, make sure you get a good holster for it.
 
barleywino said:
I once had my hair get caught in my rappel device while rappelling the New River Gorge Bridge in 1984. Fortunately (?), before I had a chance to reach for my knife, my hair pulled out of head and I continued on down the remaining 870'. Started carrying a scissors after that.
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I had a buddy who would rappel and never wanted to lean back. We were going off the side of an abandon RR bridge (no where near the NRG size), and I yelled at him to lean back and quick leaning up against the rope. Seconds after he yelled a smart reply up to me, his shirt got caught in the rescue 8, and you know there is no way its coming out. He hung there for what felt like forever, but was probably 30 minutes before I was able to get inside the bridge and near where he was. You would think he would have learned, but on a basic simple climb in the Gunks (The Pines is the climb name), he did the same thing again. Thankfully that climb is an easy one, and he had lots of handhold and footholds.
 
000Robert said:
If you were in good shape, you would've made it. You'll be surprised what you can do if your life depends on it. My left leg cramped up two times and my right leg once during the ordeal. I almost drowned each time. If both legs would've cramped up at the same time, I would have drowned for sure.
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when I've been in that situation (just swimming far from shore), I rolled on my back, as its pretty easy to float that way, and then try to stretch out the cramp... not very easy if it really gets locked in... I have been lucky/sensitive and usually am able to stop it before the cramp gets stupid crazy high intensity

+ not panicking is the single most important thing
"... fear is the mindkiller" - always loved dune for that, thank you mr. herbert
 
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dirc said:
when I've been in that situation (just swimming far from shore), I rolled on my back, as its pretty easy to float that way, and then try to stretch out the cramp... not very easy if it really gets locked in... I have been lucky/sensitive and usually am able to stop it before the cramp gets stupid crazy high intensity

+ not panicking is the single most important thing
"... fear is the mindkiller" - always loved dune for that, thank you mr. herbert
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It was stupid crazy. My leg would lock up and all I could do is hold my breath and try to rub it out. Maybe it was the saltwater I drank or just the strain. I would swim on my back sometimes to rest some.
 
Stickgunner said:
Much better to do it that way. Fist fights typically aren't a big deal to most cops unless one person goes seriously overboard. Pull a knife on someone, and you are looking (usually) at deadly force options for cops or civilians. Pull a knife up close and personal, and if the cops are called you have a much higher possibility of going to jail.

I've pulled a knife twice in confrontations. Once was a guy who had two large GSD. He was up on his roof and thought it was funny watching his dogs come after me. I pulled a Kukri out that I had on my side with the assumption that I was going to get bit pretty bad, but that I was going to kill the dogs (which I hate because I have always owned GSD). The guy no longer found it funny once the Kukri came out, and began frantically screaming at his dogs.

The second time was coming out of a lounge with my wife and another couple at night. We walked towards our vehicles, and I saw 5 or so guys who were at the front of an all night convenience store, 3 sitting and 2 standing. The two standing guys saw us, and must have figured us for an easy mark. They said something, and all of the guys sitting down turned and looked at us, then got up slowly and started to drift our way. We were about a half a block away, and I pulled my knife, and kept turning it back and forth the same way that you would use a signal mirror. They stopped, turned around, and went back to their previous positions by the store. I never would have used the knife for defense, if things had gotten to the level of fearing for our lives, I would have shot them.

On a side note, if you ever deal with homeless people, the majority of them keep flathead screwdrivers on their person for defense. A sharpened flathead screwdriver is a wicked thing to get slashed or stabbed with, especially if you see what the tips usually look like. The reason they use a screwdriver instead of a knife is that a knife is more valuable and cops are more apt to hassle them for illegal weapons. A screwdriver is a just a tool....

That little revolver you just got is a great weapon, make sure you get a good holster for it.
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Thank you for the stories and advice. I am definitely researching a good holster.
 
barleywino said:
I once had my hair get caught in my rappel device while rappelling the New River Gorge Bridge in 1984. Fortunately (?), before I had a chance to reach for my knife, my hair pulled out of head and I continued on down the remaining 870'. Started carrying a scissors after that.
Click to expand...

Stickgunner said:
I had a buddy who would rappel and never wanted to lean back. We were going off the side of an abandon RR bridge (no where near the NRG size), and I yelled at him to lean back and quick leaning up against the rope. Seconds after he yelled a smart reply up to me, his shirt got caught in the rescue 8, and you know there is no way its coming out. He hung there for what felt like forever, but was probably 30 minutes before I was able to get inside the bridge and near where he was. You would think he would have learned, but on a basic simple climb in the Gunks (The Pines is the climb name), he did the same thing again. Thankfully that climb is an easy one, and he had lots of handhold and footholds.
Click to expand...

I would consider loose clothing and loose hair as dangerous while climbing than while being arround powertools (say lathes, grinders, drill presses). I have had two friends getting caught in their 8figure rappel devices. One was a guy who ended up with half the tshirt stuck inside while hanging below an overhang, so he couldn't even reach the wall. I hurried up from other route, set up another rope, abseiled down to where he was hanging and proceed to cut carefully his shirt (he didn't have a knife). In the second situation it was a girl who got stuck. We were teaching a few friends how to rappel in a 4-5 m wall (urban environment), it was her first time. She didn't lean back enough (scared I guess) and her tshirt... her bra... and probably a pinch of her right boob got stuck in the 8 figure. This time cutting was out of the question, so with the help of a friend we hauled her up (45kg wet... thank God she was SO skinny...) and freed up from the 8 figure as soon as she unweighted it. Not funny!

No, don't ask me about her boob, I didn't have the chance to check it out (I did offer assitance, I promise!).

So no loose hair, no loose clothing, lean back while abseiling, carry a secondary break device such a prusik/machard knot below the 8figure/reverso (so if you slip or get KOed by rockfall or pass out, you don't fall to the ground), carry a knife AND... just in case, carry a second machard/prusic/ropeman in the harness so as to set up a hold above the 8figure to unweight it if you happen to get stuck or whatever. Cannoying is a different sport, so this only applies to climbing/alpinism... no drowning risk involved.

Mikel
 
Yes. Twice working at a convenience store in Kansas.
I had no knife for SD.
I had a 1911 in .45 ACP.
First time: Robber had a knife. Decided he didn't want to "play" anymore after I drew my 1911, and he left.
No shots fired.
Second time: Different robber had a gun. Return shots fired. He will never try to rob again.
 
Mikel_24 said:
I would consider loose clothing and loose hair as dangerous while climbing than while being arround powertools (say lathes, grinders, drill presses). I have had two friends getting caught in their 8figure rappel devices. One was a guy who ended up with half the tshirt stuck inside while hanging below an overhang, so he couldn't even reach the wall. I hurried up from other route, set up another rope, abseiled down to where he was hanging and proceed to cut carefully his shirt (he didn't have a knife). In the second situation it was a girl who got stuck. We were teaching a few friends how to rappel in a 4-5 m wall (urban environment), it was her first time. She didn't lean back enough (scared I guess) and her tshirt... her bra... and probably a pinch of her right boob got stuck in the 8 figure. This time cutting was out of the question, so with the help of a friend we hauled her up (45kg wet... thank God she was SO skinny...) and freed up from the 8 figure as soon as she unweighted it. Not funny!

No, don't ask me about her boob, I didn't have the chance to check it out (I did offer assitance, I promise!).

So no loose hair, no loose clothing, lean back while abseiling, carry a secondary break device such a prusik/machard knot below the 8figure/reverso (so if you slip or get KOed by rockfall or pass out, you don't fall to the ground), carry a knife AND... just in case, carry a second machard/prusic/ropeman in the harness so as to set up a hold above the 8figure to unweight it if you happen to get stuck or whatever. Cannoying is a different sport, so this only applies to climbing/alpinism... no drowning risk involved.

Mikel
Click to expand...
For footloop purposes, I have started carrying a Petzl Pantin (replacing the foot harness on the Pantin by a simple skinny sling) as an alternative to a prusik footloop:

20210706_141054.jpg
Just 1.8 oz weight
 
Next thing you know we are going to be trading stories from Accidents in North American Mountaineering. Loose object in devices is a pretty common thing unfortunately.
 
afishhunter said:
Yes. Twice working at a convenience store in Kansas.
I had no knife for SD.
I had a 1911 in .45 ACP.
First time: Robber had a knife. Decided he didn't want to "play" anymore after I drew my 1911, and he left.
No shots fired.
Second time: Different robber had a gun. Return shots fired. He will never try to rob again.
Click to expand...
I love a story with a happy ending. Not to minimize the pschological trauma that you probably went through by any means, but I am glad you are around to tell the tale.
 
irsh said:
I would have pissed myself at that point and probably passed out and drowned. Sharks are my kryptonite.
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I think I was too dehydrated to piss at that point. A couple of times I thought about just going under and taking a deep breath. But I just couldn't let myself die that way. I made my mind up that if a shark bit me and took me under, I was going to drown myself.
 
Triton said:
I love a story with a happy ending. Not to minimize the pschological trauma that you probably went through by any means, but I am glad you are around to tell the tale.
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I was just about to post that I love happy endings when I saw your post and had to laugh.

Regarding having to shoot someone, I don't think that for most people it is as bad as you think if someone is actively trying to kill you. Its a different deal with having to kill people for other reasons, but a guy trying to stab you, or a guy shooting at you, and I think most sleep well at night. If its someone going for a gun, or knife, or other terrible things you see in war or as a cop, I believe its different. Then again, it is different for each person. Its actually something I teach a course on for our recruits. In no way am I diminishing PTSD for the guys who have had to drop the hammer on someone and have problems with it. Each of us is unique, and my heart goes out to them. For me, if I see faces its the children that have died while I've held them and similar things.

Sorry for the thread derailment.
 
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