I received this over the Memorial Day weekend and found it a short, inspirational story of determination. One worth sharing. I am sure such stories happen often everywhere, they renew our beliefs in each other.

I have posted it below unedited, as I don’t see any way to improve upon it.

14-year Old Boy Climbs a Mountain Alongside Adventure App Creator

April 24, 2019 – At 6:15 am on Easter Sunday, 14-year old Getúlio Felipe, who has cerebral palsy, began climbing the highest mountain in the Dolomites, Italy to prove that anything is possible and that the outdoors are accessible to everyone. After nine straight hours of battling deep snowpack, cold weather and physical exhaustion, Getúlio reached the top of the Punta Penia peak, a glacier reaching 3,343-meters (10,968 feet).

Accompanying Getúlio on this journey were Pedro McCardell, creator of the Lyfx app, an app for that conects travelers to local guides, Alessio Nardellotto, an experienced climber from the Dolomites, Alberto Benchimol and Stefano Fabris, who worked as a separate support team for safety and image capture.

The desire to climb a mountain came a few years ago when Pedro McCardell, mountaineer and creator of the Lyfx application, a kind of “Uber of Adventure,” which allows local guides in various parts of the world to connect with travelers in search of adventure and unique, personalized experiences, challenged him to climb a mountain.

Getúlio, who was only nine years old at the time and did not really know what kind of challenge awaited him, accepted it, and then the preparations began. Getúlio divided his time between studies, daily and physical activities, preparing his body and mind for the great adventure that awaited him.

The young man has been overcoming challenges since he was born. After a cardiorespiratory arrest at birth (which caused cerebral palsy), doctors believed that Getulio could never walk. Contrary to all the diagnoses, Getúlio began to take his first steps at age 7, and from that moment on he didn’t stop anymore. He learned to play soccer, choosing the position of goalkeeper and integrating the school team, and even met his great idol: the German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

His most recent achievement, the climb of Marmolada, the highest mountain of the Dolomites in Italy, was only possible thanks to the union of Pedro McCardell, Alessio Nardellotto, experienced mountaineer of the region and leader of the expedition, the Unesco Education, Science and Culture) and the “Razões Para Viver” website (Reasons to Live, on a loose translation).

After 9 hours of climbing, and with several stops to check the health conditions of Getúlio, as well as some attempts to make him give up (all in vain), the team arrived at the top of the mountain, where Getulio sat looking at the view and said “what a good life”. No doubt this was a unique experience, not only for Getúlio, but also for Pedro McCardell, Alessio and all the others involved.

The whole adventure was documented, and the images will be used as part of a film about Getulio’s story, produced by Lyfx.

About Lyfx

Lyfx is an adventure platform that connects adventurers with local outdoor experts. The company is the brainchild of Pedro McCardell, an adventurer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, who saw the need to make the outdoors more accessible to everyone. Follow on Instagram @lyfx or visit lyfx.co.

Thanks, Rangel Jesuíno

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Every year, businesses perform an inventory and do an audit on their supplies. This helps them to know what they’ve spent, what they have, and what they need.

If you’re serious about preparedness, you need to be doing the same thing. At least once a year, you need to do a preparedness audit to make sure you always have the essentials on hand.

Often times, you think you have a lot more than you really do. You forget about those times you dip into your stockpile because you ran out of something in the kitchen. Or maybe you stashed something “out of sight, out of mind” and it expired. Maybe you’ve “lost” a case of dried food, and you know you have it somewhere.

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Well, if you can’t find it now on summer break with air conditioning and electric lights, how do you think you’re going to find it in an emergency?

And this just doesn’t go for food. It goes for supplies too. If you had to hunker down due to a nuclear event a hundred miles away, you’ll need to be able to find your potassium iodide pills NOW.  Ditto for your supplies to turn a room of your house into a nuclear shelter.

Break your audit into two parts: food and supplies.

How to do a food inventory

The best way to do a food inventory is to pull ALL your food out into one room and start a physical list of what you have. Yes, you can do this on the computer or on your phone, but if the power goes out, you may not have access to these lists.  If you do the list on your computer, print it out.

Break your food into categories. I use the following:

No-Cook Foods Grains Protein Fruits and Vegetables Meals Scratch Cooking Supplies

Take some time to figure out what meals you could make with the items you have on hand. (Get some ideas here.) This will help you figure out what you need to add to your stockpile so that you aren’t dining on canned peaches and saltines.

Then, take this opportunity to clean out your storage area and make it spic and span.

Finally, don’t think for a second you are going to remember where all your supplies are located. You need to make a treasure map so you’ll know where to find everything.

Next is your supply audit.

You may have tons of prepper supplies and pieces of gear, but if things are scattered all over the house, you won’t be able to find them when you need them. Sometimes, supplies are urgently needed and if you have to dig for 15 minutes to locate them, you may have missed an important window.

So pull out all your supplies, much like you did your food. Then you’re going to organize your gear.

For this, I use a variety of Rubbermaid tubs with the type of supply it is on the outside. I keep printed information in each tub that is pertinent to the contents. Here are some examples:

Power Outage: This tub contains flashlights, headlamps, matches, candles, lanterns, lighters, cooking stove I can use inside the house, fuel for my stove, solar chargers, etc. For more information about power outages, go here. Pandemic: This contains nitrile gloves, protective clothing, N-99 masks, bleach, heavy-duty trash bags, eye protection, etc. For more information about pandemics, go here. Nuclear Event: This tub contains things like potassium iodide pills, printed instructions for taking them, duct tape and supplies for sealing off a safe room, this free book printed off, and other essential supplies. Tools: This contains a variety of manual tools that can be used during a blackout. Sanitation: This contains things like bleach wipes, hand sanitizer, cat litter, contractor garbage bags, antibacterial cleaners, etc. Print off instructions for making a kitty litter toilet for humans. Water Preparedness:  Large water filter like a Berkey, replacement filters and parts, small filters like Lifestraws or Sawyer Minis, pool shock, test strips so you know what’s in your water, etc.

Obviously, these aren’t all the supplies you’ll need. This is just to give you a general idea of how I organize my gear. Don’t forget a well-organized tactical first-aid kit that will be easy to access in an emergency.

While you do this organization, really think through the emergency that each tub is geared toward. What’s missing? Jot it down on a shopping list. You don’t have to fulfill that list today, but you should work toward getting each kit well-supplied. And of course, when you get the necessary supplies, add them to the appropriate kit.

No matter how well-prepared you are, you should do this audit at least once a year.

You need to check your gear at least once a year, if not more frequently. When heading into winter, check to see that you have your cold-weather power outage gear up to par. Do the same thing when the warmer months are approaching. It’s easy to grab something you need from your supplies and forget about replacing the item. If you don’t do audits, you won’t know what’s missing until an emergency strikes and you need the item.

How do you keep your prepper gear and food organized? Share your ideas in the comments below.

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company.  She lives in the mountains of Virginia with her family. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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As preppers, we like to share important tips when we come across them.  One trick that could help us all immensely when the SHTF is knowing how to start a fire with wet wood: one of the most frustrating things on Earth.

When it comes to a SHTF situation, one of the most critical survival skills you can learn is how to start a proper fire. With this skill, you can cook your own food, dry wet clothes, warm yourself up, and even signal for help. Anyone who’s gotten a campfire going probably thinks they have it all figured out.

Let’s face it, it is rather simple: when we are wet and cold, we want to be dry and warm and we’ll need a fire to do that in an emergency. But making a fire out of wet wood isn’t the easiest thing to do. Even if you can get your tinder burning, the logs can stubbornly remain unburnt. So I’ve found a few tricks I’d like to share and maybe they’ll help the next time all you’ve got is wet firewood.

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First, water usually only penetrates the outer layers of dead wood, so your best bet is to use a knife or hatchet to strip away the damp outer layer. You could also split the wood into smaller pieces exposing the dry inside. Once you’ve got your wood ready, employ one or some of the following and you should have a fire in no time!

Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) – Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly burn at extremely high heat and are a great low-cost alternative to commercial fire starters. Each ball will burn for about three minutes which is long enough to dry out the wet tinder and ignite it. If you try this, make sure you pack them in a sealed plastic bag.  They can get messy but are invaluable. Stock up on these! You can make about 200 of these yourself for under $10.

Steel Wool – This one is usually the most surprising and unknown. Steel wool is actually highly flammable and rather inexpensive. A few sparks from a Ferro rod will get a clump of steel wool burning at over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of seconds. Steel wool also has the advantage that it can be lit electrically. If you rub the terminals of a 9-volt battery against the wool, it will heat to its ignition point in a couple of seconds.

Doritos Chips – Say what? Doritos chips are actually flammable. (It kind of makes you wonder what’s in them now, huh?) As it turns out, the chemicals, powdered flavors, and oil in the chips make the perfect combination for combustion. Almost any chip will do, actually, so if you dislike Doritos, don’t worry, experiment with chips you do like as most other chips are flammable as well. And if you get your fire started with steel wool or petroleum jelly soaked balls, you won’t need to light your chips on fire. You will have a crunchy snack to munch on as you warm up.

There are more options if you’re really in a pinch, but I chose to share these with you because of the low cost and effectiveness of them. Also, stocking up on all of these items is a good idea because they have several uses and could come in handy when the SHTF.

This article was sourced from SHTFplan.

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In the prepper world, we hear “two is one, one is none”. We don’t want to get carried away with it when we’re packing a rucksack, but it provides positive redundancy for our preparations. If something happens to the primary – from a plan to a tangible item – we have a backup right there, already on hand.

There’s a difference between an alternative and a backup, though. It’s subtle, but significant enough to hugely affect how well we navigate upsets.

We see backups in all areas of preparedness and the self-reliant lifestyles many try to cultivate.

If our pressure canner uses rubber rings, we try to keep an extra on hand.

We stock seeds in case we can’t buy more or buy food in a supermarket, and if we’re frugal we stock multiple years’ seeds separately in case there’s a problem with the last-purchased or last-harvested seed supply.

We map out multiple routes for our vehicles, in case one is blocked.

We keep a light and a speed loader, stripper clip, or spare mag with our EDC or creak-in-the-night firearms.

If we’re into tactical load outs, we carry a primary rifle or carbine, with reloads, and have a sidearm on our waist, leg, or chest where it’s handy if our primary runs dry or goes down at a really bad time. I might even have backups for both primary and sidearm back home.

Right There with Backups, is Having alternates

Alternates are somewhat different from “just” a backup. A backup is the same thing, or nearly the same thing, which functions the same way. An alternate is different, largely or entirely.

Following the examples above…

In addition to my pressure canner – and grid-down ways to bring it to and keep it at pressure – I might also make plans to preserve foods by dehydrating, cold smoking, or salt packing.

I might not only have backup seeds, I might have alternates – faster-growing hybrids of the same type, as well as foreign domesticated crops and-or wild edibles.

I might maintain lists of bus and subway/train schedules, stations, and stops, and cash/tokens for them, a bike, and an ATV to get around suburban and rural obstacles. I might also have packs or small carts for my animals and myself so we can flee on foot.

Instead of planning to repel all borders with direct confrontation if our retreat is noticed, we might have made plans to make the house look already-hit, create passive discomforts, make it difficult to reach, and have actual booby traps as our last line.

Instead of a rifle/carbine, some situations might call for me or a partner to carry a shotgun – which are themselves loaded with alternate options.

I might also keep one specifically loaded with rubber shot, rock salt, bean bags, net, or some other less-than-lethal option for chasing pests out of my garden or breaking up a dog fight.

Instead of or with a gun, I might have a souped-up flashlight that functions like a mini baseball bat.  Other alternatives to an EDC pistol might be a taser bug, retractable asp, or a coin roll in a hanky.

Alternatives as Well as Backups Apply Across all of Preparedness

If we flip the switch and there’s no power, we might have solar-charged and standard battery lamps to go with candles and oil lamps for light. We might augment solar and standard batteries with hand-cranked radios or lanterns, which can also function as chargers for other battery devices, or have a generator – and, upping the game of alternatives, a gennie that runs on multiple fuels.

We might have squeeze-activated ice packs we can blow a battery-operated fan across to combat heat stress, and plan for canopy beds and grown-up blanket forts to help reduce the amount of heat we need to stay warm.

We might have dark bags and solar ovens, propane stoves and grills, and various candle stoves for cooking.

We might have Pepto for whatever our water and food storage does to our guts, Imodium and Dulcolax as a backup, as well as some alternative maintenance and treatments for minor cases like prunes, tea/coffee, and dates, and mild farina/rice cereals, applesauce, and protein drink mix.

In our bags, vehicles, and homes we store not only water that’s ready to consume, but also chemical treatments and filters, and vessels we can fill if our primary springs a leak.

Super Sources

Hunting is one area ripe with alternatives for our plans and supplies. There’s already wide evidence and experience for us to weigh according to our own priorities, with gear and techniques full of alternatives just waiting to redeploy by preppers.

There’s that trusty standard shotgun, and all its options, but many hunters have a deer or pig rifle – sometimes instead, but regularly in addition to that shotgun.

Some have both a short, heavy-hitting, stable-flight brush gun and something designed to reach out across ridges, prairies, desert, or pasture. Others choose middle-road calibers that offer cartridge variety to cover multiple bases.

Some have a bow or crossbow for archery seasons. Others hunt very effectively with rim fires and airguns.

Some of those give us alternatives to big booms with a silent, effective killer and all the benefits they can have for a homesteader, hunter, and anyone else trying to avoid attention. Some give us alternatives to a shoulder-thumping Recoil Beast or expensive-ammo eater, giving us options for training and limited shooters.

Some use a handgun as primary for hunts, scoped or iron sights, both small game and large. Some carry a finishing gun along with their primary hunting tool.

Others carry close-range handguns or super-shorty shotguns for bears or self-defense – to include other outdoors-men like fishermen, bikers, hikers, and campers.

Those Outdoors Hobbyists, too, Give us Backups and Alternatives we can Apply

Some gear serves as-is, not only for wilderness bug-outs and survival, but any power-outage and grid-down or off-grid situation. Some gear is seen re-purposed by other interest groups as often as it is in its original field, or is used as an alternative until a field catches up to the interest.

BMX elbow and knee pads, rappelling helmets, and motorcycle knuckle-guard gloves improved tactical load outs, with official military gear catching up, not leading the way. It’s not singular (sadly). Personally acquired “other” gear and tactics are pretty commonly deployed long before it becomes regular issue.

We also see a lot of crossover in foods. Military to camping/backpacking to endurance athletes, one innovates and the others apply it. Then they’re catching up and expanding, or innovating anew, and it goes back the other way.

Preppers with crossover interests apply them, and they gain increased attention within that fold, further increasing the backups and alternatives we can apply. (Fad foods, too.)

It goes far beyond gunners and rations, though.

Bivy sleepers of both the sleeping bag and mini pup-tent types can offer us an alternative to more common tents and tarps shelters, or create additional layers of insulation and moisture protection when combined with them – or create even more layers of insulation and warmth indoors.

Netted hammocks and bug net around our hats help keep mosquitoes and biting flies at bay – in the garden and for front-porch sleeping in hot weather as well as out on the water or trails. Those mesh shields crossover with hunters’ turkey and duck mesh for the face and head.

Hunter’s camo options give us an alternative to military patterns, sweltering heat or frigid cold, across a wide variety of terrains.

Increased interest from outdoors types means pack rafts and inflatable kayaks (it’s a canoe) are much more compact, reliable, and affordable now.

They give us vehicle and home options for all sorts of things, be it a fishing platform, icy-pond and deep-mud rescue platform, dryer (-er, not dry) crossing of waterways, and options if we’re caught in high water from a hurricane, main break, dam spillway, or some other flood.

That gives us one more way to keep loved ones safe and get them out of harm’s way across a wide array of emergencies.

Rain gear, protective gear for bikes and ATV’ers, lightweight and compact tools of all sorts, off-roading vehicle upgrades, compact fishing kits, big-wheeled bikes and lightweight tow carts, eating habits, backwoods wheelchairs, speedy-refuel cans, comms devices and chargers – many apply to preppers, whether they’re urban or rural, whether they’re inclined toward either shelter-in-place or bugout survival.

Good-Better-Best

We regularly want a backup – specifically a backup, one that does the same job exactly or nearly the same way. Conditions ebb and flow, though, especially at crunch times. Alternatives that provide entirely different options add to our resilience and self-reliance in times of need.

Having both is the best of all worlds, making for more well-rounded preps all around. Happily, we have whole realms of possibilities that makes it pretty easy to accomplish both backups and alternatives.

Outdoor pursuits may have a lion’s share to offer, but we can find alternatives and backups pretty much anywhere. Sports of all types, permaculture, the re-purpose/up-cycle/re-use-it crowds, bio-mimicry in urban planning, and emergency response techs, shelters, and CnC cells are particular goldmines for techniques and tools.

History and the rest of the world are also excellent sources to apply to all arms of preparedness, both in terms of things that could derail our primary and backup plans, and coping mechanisms for when “normal” has left the building.

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Editor’s Comment: Another guest submission from Scott Huntington to The Prepper Journal. A subject we have talked about in the past and with the Summer break coming some food for thought.

We all love the great outdoors, and it’s a great way to spend time bonding with your family. If you go out hiking as a family, do your kids know what to do if they get separated from the group? What about other survival situations — would your little ones know how to stay alive until help arrives? Everyone should know some basic survival skills, regardless of their age. Here are some easy ways to teach your children about survival skills.

Be Stealth About It

This is the best tip we can probably offer you. Be sneaky about teaching them survival skills, the “wax on, wax off” method per say. Don’t walk up to your kids — especially younger ones — all doom and gloom and tell them that you’re teaching them how to survive in case the world ends.

All you’ll manage to do is scare them to death, and they won’t remember anything you try to teach. Instead, be sneaky about it. Take notice of what interests your kids and play into their interests. Approach it as a game, if it helps.

Don’t — “Hey, let’s learn how to build a fire in case you’re stranded in the woods all alone.”

Do — “Hey, wanna learn how to build a fire?”

Don’t put the focus on survival. Instead, shift the focus to learning new skills. If your kids are ever alone in a survival situation, they’ll thank you for these comprehensive lessons.

Focus on the Rule of 3

This isn’t some mystical voodoo — just a simple rule to help your kids remember what they need to focus on in a survival situation.

Remind them that they can live:

Three weeks without food Three days without water Three minutes without air Three seconds without the right mindset.

From there, know your priorities — first, don’t panic. If you’re not swimming, you can skip the second one, focusing on water and food.

These aren’t the only things you need in the wilderness — fire, and shelter being among the most important — but reciting the rule a few times can help you get into a survival mindset.

One rule you should reinforce as often as possible is the Lost rule — if you get lost, you don’t move. You stay put and wait for someone to find you. Staying in one place makes it easier for search and rescue teams to find you, and could potentially save your life.

Get Out There

Kids aren’t going to learn how to survive in the wilderness if they spend all of their time sitting in front of video game consoles or televisions.

GET OUT THERE!

Take the family hiking or camping, and give your kids a practical application for all the skills they’ve learned. You should be there to supervise, especially if they’re trying their hands at foraging or fire building, but having a possible outlet for these new skills can help reinforce them in their young brains.

Make sure you have plenty of supplies on hand for these excursions, especially if you have younger children who aren’t up to building a fire or fishing for their dinner — or if the kid’s attempt to catch dinner falls through. Children of any age can benefit from regular camping excursions. Getting them used to the woods helps make it familiar territory and prevents panic if they ever end up out there alone.

Skills They Should Know

What survival skill should your kids know? That depends on their age — you don’t want to trust that a toddler can tell the difference between nightshade and blueberries — but most older children should know these basic skills.

How to build a shelter — This is vital in areas where it gets cold at night. Even a basic shelter could mean the difference between a successful night vs. the wild and/or hypothermia. How to build a fire — You need a fire to cook food, boil water and stay warm in cold climates. In addition to creating a fire, your kids should know how to protect it for the night and how to keep it contained, so they don’t accidentally start a wildfire. How to purify natural water sources — Rivers and streams might look clean, but they could hide dangerous bacteria that could make you ill. Boiling or otherwise purifying water could save your life. How to forage for food — While you can survive for three weeks without food, a lack of calories makes it harder to sustain because you won’t have the energy to continue moving forward. This is a tricky lesson because there are so many plants that look edible and are fatal — a handful of pokeberries could easily kill an adult, even though they look edible. Learning how to set snares can also help them stay full in the woods. How to defend themselves — Self-defense is as much a survival skill as anything else listed. Even if they never need to use it, self-defense classes can be life-saving. Learning how to create makeshift weapons can also be a valuable skill. How to perform first aid — Take a family trip to your local Red Cross or fire station and take a first aid class. It’s a lot harder to deal with a skinned knee or a broken bone if you can’t holler for mom or dad’s help. How to navigate — A cell phone with GPS won’t always work if you’re out in the wilderness. Teach your children how to read a map and navigate using a compass. This can be a fun skill to learn — set up a scavenger hunt with prizes at specific coordinates.

There are plenty of other skills they’ll pick up along the way, but these seven can save their lives if they’re ever alone in a survival situation.

Closing Thoughts — Don’t Scare Them

While learning survival skills is important, your kids won’t learn anything if you scare them instead of teaching. Children will learn from everything you do, so show them the basics and let them run it with them. You’ll be surprised how quickly they pick them up!

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