Backpacker's October issue includes links to "Survival 101" on their website. I haven't had time to thoroughly check it out but figured you folks would be interested. Doug has already noted some problems with the information, so use a critical eye.

In defense of Backpacker Magazine, it's not that bad. It used to be a better, in my opinion but its still alright and I am still a subscriber. To be fair, their focus is not survival. Heck, recently its not even backpacking or camping. Conservation and pro-environmental fluff pieces have dominated for a while now. They do have good stuff in each issue but the focus has been definitely been stretched to include more than just backpacking.

+1.

Not having actually seen the magazine, I would think that the problem is that advertisers are only interested in people with money, so that's what it's geared towards.

Info-tainment. Designed to feed an image and encourage consumerism, rather than to transmit information for its own sake. Kinda like Bear Grylls. Kinda like most media presentations.

My old man, the vet, was invited to do a local radio call-in show. First show, somebody called in to ask how to get a kitten down out of a tree, The old man's response:
" Go walk down the street in front of your house. Look up in the trees. Do you see a lot of kitten skeletons in the branches? No, you don't. Because when they get hungry enough, they climb down the trees by themselves, you (expletive deleted) fool!"

He was not invited back. He didn't feed anyone's image; he didn't encourage consumerism. He just told the truth. Small city upstate NY talk radio was not ready for the truth.

I agree BP has too much 'Al Gore' environmentalism but their gear reviews are good. I have had subscriptions and not, I usually cancel when they go to far over the line with political statements. Also its one of the few mags that highlight our National Parks and in that they are pretty far. There annual gear review and Best Of's are good. All hobby mags are going to cater to disposible income consumers, don't fault them for that.

I use to have a subscription to Backpacker, but it seems they were going in directions I was not interested in. so I let it go. I don’t even look at it at the grocery store any more. I find more useful things on the net.


I don’t begrudge them for going after any market they choose, it’s just that I’m not the market they are after.


And yea the environmental issues being shoved in my face all the time gets real annoying.


It’s this way with a lot of writers of outdoor books, they all feel the need to be in your face about it. It makes one want to swear off reading any outdoor books. I don’t buy them any more (this is a big reason why) I get them from the library. This way I did not pay to have a political viewpoint shoved in my face.

I dunno, guys, entries like this and this were pretty reasonable, and with no apparent product placement. This one seemed well done too, other than the speaker saying "vein" instead of "artery" when talking about looking for a pulse. A followup video on extrication down the trail would have been a good supplement.

This article sounds like it could have been written by some of our best people here at the forum.

I kind of like backpacker magazine. Of course there are some crap articles but you get that in any publication you buy. There are also some good articles in the magazine. You just have to remember it's not a survival magazine it's a backpacking magazine. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

I've been a subscriber for a few years now, fwiw I suspect they are so focused on the Rockies/Western states because they are based in Boulder, CO.

If you take it on its namesake, backpacking, I think they do a good job of giving you trip information in every issue, along with recipes and medical/gear tips.

Personally I read the annual survival issue with a chuckle; I think folks who get all their survival information from it weren't going to get anything else on their own initiative anyways, so I hope it helps them.

Photography tends to be nice too.