The Ultimate Survival Challenge
Five days and four nights living in the woods. Build your own shelter, light fires without matches, cook over the flames and learn real survival skills from expert instructors – then put it all to the test on competition day.
Completed in 2024 and 2025 for the RBL – now available for your charity, company or group.
Survive – and Thrive – in the Woods
The Ultimate Survival Challenge takes place in a beautiful, secluded woodland on the Moreton Estate in Dorset. You hike in with your kit, form a team of ten and meet the instructor who’ll be with you all week. Then it’s over to you: build a sleeping shelter and a team HQ, get a fire going and cook your first dinner.
Over the next two days you rotate around our instructors, learning a different skill every hour – from natural fire lighting and shelter building to foraging, traps and snares and survival first aid. On day four, it’s competition day: a full day of tasks, an orienteering race and a team cook-off, with points for everything.
No experience is needed – just a sense of adventure and a willingness to get stuck in.
A Proven Challenge
The Ultimate Survival Challenge isn’t a concept on paper – it’s a complete, tested event. It was completed in 2024 and 2025 for the RBL, with 60 fundraisers on each event in six teams of ten.
Teams were formed on arrival and stayed together all week, finishing with medals and awards – and we can now run the same format for your charity, company or group. We can tailor the length, the skills and the competition to suit you, including a shorter long-weekend version.
Five Days in the Woods
From Saturday lunchtime to Wednesday afternoon. Teams stay together all week, sleeping in the shelters they build and cooking over their own fire.
- Saturday – Into the woodsArrival and camp buildRegistration, team briefings and a navigation lesson, then each team navigates to camp with their instructor, collects their survival box and food box, and builds sleeping shelters and a team HQ before lighting a fire and cooking dinner.
- Sunday – Survival trainingSix hour-long sessionsTeams rotate around the instructors: bread making, natural fire lighting, campcraft (water purification, knots and hanging pots), shelters, first aid, and traps and snares. Night navigation after dark.
- Monday – More skillsBuilding on day twoFire lighting, campcraft, shelters and first aid part two, plus foraging and archery – and an evening activity around the fire.
- Tuesday – Competition dayUp to 2,500 pointsSix timed team tasks, an orienteering race through the woods and a “Come Dine With Me” cook-off for the instructors. Back by 5 pm – every minute late costs 10 points.
- Wednesday – CelebrateMedals and awardsPack down the camp, then a celebration lunch with medals and awards for the winning team before heading home.
- Short on time?Long-weekend versionWe can run a shorter Saturday-to-Monday challenge with the best of the skills and a mini competition – ideal for companies and smaller groups.
Real Survival Skills
Teams rotate around the instructors in hour-long sessions, so everyone learns from different experts. Every skill counts on competition day.
Natural fire lighting
Light a fire without matches – then do it again with a friction set.
Shelter building
Build a weatherproof shelter from tarps, rope and the woodland around you.
Campcraft
Water purification, knots, hanging pots and setting up a working camp.
Survival first aid
Practical first aid for the outdoors, finishing with a casualty-extraction scenario.
Traps and snares
How traditional traps and snares work, and how to set them.
Foraging
What’s safe to eat in a British woodland – and what isn’t.
Bread and camp cooking
Make bread from scratch and cook proper meals over the fire.
Night navigation
Find your way through the woods after dark with map and compass.
Archery
Learn to shoot – then score points for your team on competition day.
Competition Day
Everything comes together in a full day of competition. Teams leave camp at 9 am and must book their slots at six static tasks – 45 minutes each, worth up to 200 points. Once a slot is booked, it’s gone, so planning matters.
- High climbBuild a structure from branches, rope and knots to get one teammate as high as possible – safely belayed.
- Fire lightingLight a fire by friction and boil a litre of water. Fastest team wins.
- ArcheryEvery arrow scores points for the team.
- Shelter buildingThe best shelter built in 45 minutes.
- First aidA casualty-extraction scenario in the woods.
- Team challengesTeam tasks, foraging and snares.
In between, teams race to ten orienteering checkpoints hidden around the estate, taking photos as proof. Then it’s back to camp for “Come Dine With Me” – a tasting menu for the instructors, scored on presentation, taste and creativity. Up to 2,500 points are up for grabs, and the winning team takes the medals.
Everything You Need to Survive
Expert instructors
One instructor with every team of ten, all first-aid trained, led by Dave Talbot, in the outdoor industry since 2002.
Survival box
Each team gets tarps, 100 m of paracord, saws, an axe, knives, shovels, a fire striker, cooking kit, maps, a compass and a first aid kit.
All food
Ration packs on day one, then fresh food delivered to camp every day – plus flour, yeast and oil for bread making.
Activity equipment
Archery kit, climbing harnesses and helmets for the high climb, and everything needed for the tasks.
Medical cover
An expedition and mountain-rescue-trained lead medic on site, a first aid kit with every team and a vehicle on site at all times.
Medals, photos and insurance
Event medals and awards, photos of your week, full task briefs, logistics and £10 million insurance.
Safety comes first: instructors carry radios, tools are briefed and counted in and out, and there are fire, tick and hygiene briefings, hand-washing stations and weather checks throughout. Every participant takes part under a full risk assessment and a medical plan.
What to Bring
You sleep in the shelter your team builds, so pack for a week outdoors in all weathers. We send a full kit list before the event.
- Large rucksack (not a suitcase or holdall)
- Waterproof jacket and trousers
- Foam sleeping mat
- Synthetic sleeping bag and a bivvy bag
- Waterproof boots, plus shoes for dry weather
- Warm hat, gloves and a sun hat
- Quick-dry clothing and two fleeces
- Mess tin and cutlery
- 1 litre water bottle
- Head torch and whistle
- Small personal first aid kit
- Optional: camp chair, power bank (there’s no electricity), playing cards
The Survival Challenge in Pictures
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Plan Your Survival Challenge
Tell us about your group, your numbers and your dates, and Dave will come back to you with ideas and a proposal – usually within one working day.