Naked and Afraid - Nicklas Lautakoski

For some time now I've had the pleasure of being Nicklas Lautakoski's Survival Coach during his inspiring adventures. A fun mission I must say cos Nicklas is a wonderful and sparkling personality spreading joy with his warm and crazy curiosity.

One very interesting project is now to be launched; this weekend Discovery Channel US will air the episode of Naked and Afraid where Nicklas is one of the participants. The mission is to survive butt naked out in the Australian outback only equipped with a few objects.

Pic from Nicklas' FB page

The adventure took place in the Southern Australia during Fall 2015. The place as well as most other details were kept secret even to Nicklas prior to the adventure. So therefore it was a challenge to figure out what survival skills we should focus on during Nicklas' training prior to the adventure. The mental aspect is always the most important thing in a survival situation, therefore we focused a lot on the psychological scenario of being paired with a complete stranger during these difficult 21 days. Nicklas also practiced on his skills in fire making, water collecting, hunting and fishing. You can see more from the preparations by clicking HERE.

Nicklas quietly reflecting by the camp fire. It's important to combine both laughter and seriousness when preparing for a survival adventure.

The one object Nicklas choose to bring was a knife; Fällkniven model NL2 Odin. Nicklas' partner in this adventure brought a fire tool and the production added a pot. These three objects got to be a nice combo. This challenge truly became an adventure Nicklas will remember for the rest of his life. I hope you'll be watching the episode this weekend at Discovery. In Sweden the episode will be aired this Fall (2016) but you can already now take a look at some teasers via the links below.

Link to teaser No.1:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/i-dont-have-a-problem-being-naked/

Link to teaser No.2:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/we-must-split-up/

Link to teaser No.3:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/naked-confessions-after-the-outback/

Link to the bio of Nicklas:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/bios/nicklas-lautakoski/?utm_source=Facebook.com&utm_campaign=Naked%26Afraid&utm_medium=social&sf26176418=1

I hope the full episode will inspire as many as possible to reflect on the subject of Survival as well as generate more outdoor adventures. I'll be writing more about Nicklas' preparations here on the blog after the program has been aired. You can also follow Nicklas' naked adventure by visiting his website Naked Afraid Viking and the Facebook page Nicklas Lautakoski Naked and Afraid. Nicklas also will speak about his Naked and Afraid adventure during the Bushcraftfestivalen 2016 in Gottröra Sweden August 12th-14th.

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Vildmarksmässan 2016 - Survival and Bushcraft at Camp Vildmark

Place: Vildmarksmässan, Stockholmsmässan, Älvsjö, Sweden
Coordinates: 59.277644, 18.015208 (lat, lon)
Time: 3 days in March (11th-13th)

This year's issue of the Vildmarksmässan (the Wilderness Fair) in Älvsjö was a bit special. The exhibition celebrates 30 years and some new features was added to the program. New this year was; Fotoskolan and Camp Vildmark (Camp Wilderness). The idea of Camp Vildmark is to offer the visitors a menu of short courses inside the fairground to educate and inspire the visitors prior to their upcoming adventures. A wide range of experts was gathered by the company Swett arranging Camp Vildmark together with Vildmarksmässan. I got the honors of sharing my experiences of Survival and Bushcraft during one of the courses held daily during the weekend.

It was a crash course with 90 minutes of basic survival. We mixed theory with practical exercises and some of the topics touched upon was Psychology, Fire, Water, Shelter and Gear.

I got interviewed by Madeleine Grem-Nielsen for this years fair magazine, also to be found in Dagens Nyheter. If you click on the pic below you'll be able to see the article.

I think the premiere of Camp Vildmark was a success and all the nice feedback from the enthusiastic attenders still warms my heart. Thanks to all involved in making this happen!

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Survival Training - Fire, Traps & Shelter

Place: Jonas Vildmark's Cabin, Roslagen, Sweden
Time: 2 days in September

A two day outdoor survival course focusing on making fire, building traps and shelter. The Autumn air is crispy and refreshing this weekend out at the cabin. Looking forward to exercise my axe and knife muscles together with my guests.

After struggling with the wet fire wood collected from the forest; the fire is now up and running, as we sit by the fireside carving and experimenting with different mechanical solutions for our traps.

Traps are a energy and time saving way of getting food in a survival situation, while waiting for rescue. Besides trapping animals for food using the traps; the the actual woodling and crafting of the traps is a good way of keeping the nerves calm. To have something meaningful to do in an extreme situation like this can be a lifesaver as stress and panic is your biggest enemy in a wilderness survival situation. The weekend generates all kinds of traps; fall, cage, pit and snares. Interesting talks on shelter building inspire to creative forest living.

Thanks for a rewarding weekend packed with the calming sent of fresh wood, fire and Autumn. To see more about my training sessions; click HERE.

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Jonas Vildmark's Tailored Survival Training May 2015

Place: Jonas Vildmark's Cabin, Roslagen, Sweden
Time: 1 day in May

The always cheerful and inspiring Swedish Adventurer Nicklas Lautakoski constantly has some interesting project in the pipeline. Today he's preparing by taking one of my tailored survival training sessions out at the cabin. It's always a pleasure working with Nicklas as he's a quick learner with loads of curious feedback.

Today's focus lay on survival by using minimal gear. In a situation like that your ability to create fire is crucial. To train your skills and techniques in making fire by friction, using the bow drill, can be both frustrating and amazingly fun.
Tree other crucial aspects we look into today is; building shelter, finding food (fish, hunt and plants) and crafting tools from what your surroundings offer.

We had a great day filled with practice and good conversations out in the refreshing outdoors. If you know the satisfaction feeling when achieving fire by bow drill; then you probably recognize the pleased smile on Nickla's face.

Read more about my passed courses by clicking HERE. If you're interested in my training sessions; click HERE.

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Team Madagascar Survival Training - Fire & Edge Tools

Place: Jonas Vildmark's Cabin, Långhundra Härad, Sweden
Time: 1 day in May

Here you have some pics from my latest training session with the inspiring guys from Expedition Team Madagascar. This was an tailored survival training session for Nicklas, Alexander and Albin to develop their skills in making fire. Besides general survival discussions we also covered some edge tool techniques and the safety aspects of knife, machete and axe. Turned out these guys was natural borne survivalists.

The expedition will take place in July this summer crossing the magnificent island of Madagascar by foot. This will be an 500 kilometer long hike through wild jungle and over the Madagascar high lands. The guys want to prove that anything is possible and at the same time bring light to the environmental situation on Madagascar. The island is the 4th biggest in the world and used to be covered by rain forest, today only a fraction of the island's original forest is left.

Now it's also official that the expedition will add one team member; it's Elias that is the lucky one to tag along on this adventure. It's a pleasure and honor for me to support these guys in their exciting project. Looking forward to the next survival training session to drill the gangs skills even further before they leave.

Follow the expedition by blog and Facebook.

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