Modern Outdoor Survival

Brought to you by Outdoor Professional.

A wilderness skills and outdoor safety podcast about realistic and relevant survival skills in the outdoors, making best use of modern equipment and knowledge.

Hosted by Richard Prideaux, an outdoors instructor with over a decade of experience leading groups and individuals in wild and remote places.

For outdoor skills training courses and events visit https://outdoorprofessional.co.uk/

Last refreshed: August 20th, 2025 at 9:39 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Sacrifice at Christmas : The Tragedy of Solomon Browne

This is a different episode for us, but it's one we felt compelled to make.On 19th December 1981 a dramatic rescue played out on the English coast, involving a stricken cargo ship being driven towards a rocky shore by a storm. It's an important story of courage, skill, sacrifice and decisions that ultimately led to tragedy.Tonight is the anniversary of that incident, and in this episode we pull together the original radio transmissions to tell the story of the crews of the Union Star and the Sol...

Dec 19, 2024•47 min

57: Cold and Alone on the White River

This is the story that we promised in the last episode - a tale of cold water, dogs in canoes and unexpected swimming. Also a tale of hypothermia, kit choice, decision making and reflecting on the circumstances prior and post. It features our friend (and previous podcast guest) Terry and his buddy 'Grizz', and took place a couple of months ago on the White River in Indiana, US. The story itself is in the main show, the aftershow is more of a conversation and informal sharing of opinions on how t...

May 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min

56: Wet Cold vs Dry Cold

There are many elements which affect how cold you feel and how cold you actually are at the core, in this episode Richard talks about the subtle external factors which can have a big impact on our bodies in lower temperatures. We've covered hypothermia in previous episodes but the exact meaning of the term 'hypothermia factory' relates to the perfect mixture of cold and wet with some wind thrown in for good measure, the ideal conditions for pulling away the heat generated by your body. Links War...

Apr 25, 2024•49 min

55: The Knoydart Gear Exchange

Firstly, apologies for the change in audio quality partway through the episode. This episode is a little bit different, Richard was invited to go with Dave, Chris and Alistair for a multi-day hike on the Knoydart peninsula in Scotland. This peninsula on the West coast is surrounded by mountains, lochs and bogs. It is only accessible by boat, or by a 16-mile (26 km) walk through rough country, and the seven miles (11 km) of tarred road found in the small (population of 111) settlement of Inverie ...

Nov 04, 2023•1 hr 20 min

52: Big wall climbing, real-life survival and accidental comedy with Andy Kirkpatrick

Richard Prideaux talks with Andy Kirkpatrick about all things big wall, winter expeditions and doing things the hard way. It's safe to say that Andy has made his way through life so far by pushing himself and deliberately pitting himself against his own barriers. From a young age he learned to climb and handle himself in the outdoors and progressed from there, teaching himself the ropework skills he would need to climb big walls like El Capitan. Since then Andy has become a well-known and award ...

May 14, 2023•1 hr 46 min

50: UK Military Survival Training with Chris Smart

Chris Smart is an ex-military SERE (survive, evade, resist, extract) instructor and now runs 112 Survival, a training company based out of a wood in Shropshire, UK. Richard and Chris delve into the interesting world of survival training, some of the fads (like survival tins) and their origins, and what really happens in emergency situations....spoiler alert, there isn't a dramatic soundtrack change. Links - Our Patreon - Join our Discord Community - 112 survival - The episode with Adam Gent - AC...

Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 22 min

46: Snow- the return

Richard Prideaux and Ralph talk about avalanches, what they are, how to avoid being caught in one and the personal skills to develop if you want to spend time on snowy mountains. On this episode of Modern Outdoor Survival, Richard welcomes Ralph to the show to talk about snow, primarily avalanches. Ralph lives within the Arctic circle at 69.18˚ N and has a particular interest in avalanches. He is also a member of the local Search and Rescue team. Links - Ralph's Instagram - Scottish Avalanche In...

Dec 16, 2022•53 min

38: Surviving the Outskirts of London? - Tangier Wood

For this episode of Modern Outdoor Survival Richard welcomes Jodie and Jordan of Tangier Wood to talk about how and why they became small woodland owners in the UK and the unique survival challenge which they run there. Links - Our Patreon - Connect with Richard and Modern Outdoor Survival - Modern Outdoor Survival on Instagram - Richard on Instagram and Twitter - Original Outdoors on Instagram , Twitter and Youtube - Amy on Instagram and Twitter - Find out more about The Academy - Join our Disc...

May 16, 2022•1 hr 31 min

37: The Psychology and Personality of Expeditions - with Ash Routen

Ash Routen is our guest this week, a British polar adventurer and adventure writer. He and Richard delve into the psychology behind adventure, talk about some of the inspiring people Ash has had the privilege to interview for Explorersweb , and discuss risk assessing on the fly. Links - Our Patreon - Follow Ash's adventures on Instagram and Twitter - Rosie Swale-Pope - Colin O'Brady - Connect with Richard and Modern Outdoor Survival - Modern Outdoor Survival on Instagram - Richard on Instagram a...

May 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min

35: Hunting deer and surviving Africa with Barry Stoffell

Richard Prideaux talks with Barry Stoffell, a hardrock exploration geologist who has led groups as first boots on the ground in some very interesting places. In Africa he encountered hazards presented by the environment, wildlife and people. Barry highlights how important his early career was for training in how to deal with difficult situations on these expeditions, and talks about some of the lasting ingrained behaviours. He has lived and worked in environmental extremes from the equator to th...

Mar 28, 2022•1 hr 34 min

31: YELLOW - Why Cooper's colour code is always applicable

Yellow is the prompt for this episode of Modern Outdoor Survival, yellow as in the stage of awareness on Cooper's colour code. This time Richard Prideaux is joined by Terry, a good friend, knowledgeable person and instructor over in America. Richard and Terry talk through Cooper's colour code and it's relevance for daily life and any time spent in the outdoors. Identified by Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper, the colour code of situational awareness is a tool to identify the appropriate mindset and awaren...

Feb 15, 2022•58 min

29: WARMING - with Adam Gent from REAL First Aid

For this episode Richard delves deep into the world of first aid and training with Adam Gent from REAL First Aid . Richard and Adam talk about not having a proper job and how they got there, what it is like meeting so many people from hugely varying backgrounds. Then go into more depth about what to do with hypothermic casualties and some other common misconceptions related to first aid and medicine. Links - Connect with Adam and find out more about REAL First Aid - Connect with Richard and Mode...

Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 3 min

22: Interview with Andrew from Valley Deep Mountain High

Episode 22 features Andrew, founder/creator of Valley Deep Mountain High and team member of Lakota Outdoors. This episode is recorded in the woods next to a roaring camp fire whilst the rest of the group gathered firewood and started to prepare the evening meal. Last weekend we had some of the team members of Lakota Outdoors staying in our woodland. They helped to clear some footpaths, set up what looked like a shanty town, and recorded a couple of podcasts at the same time. Andrew and Richard t...

Nov 15, 2021•29 min

21: Interview with Stuart from Lakota Outdoors

Episode 21 features our first ever guest Stuart , Navy veteran and creator/founder of Lakota Outdoors. This episode is recorded in the woods next to a roaring camp fire whilst the rest of the group gathered firewood and started to prepare the evening meal. Last weekend we had some of the team members of Lakota Outdoors staying in our woodland. They helped to clear some footpaths, set up what looked like a shanty town, and recorded a couple of podcasts at the same time. Stu and Richard talk about...

Nov 09, 2021•34 min

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