Bear Grylls Survival School to launch in Scotland

You will forage for grubs and rodents. You will learn to make a fire in pouring rain. Knives, emergency shelters, and rappelling off cliffs will be involved.

These activities are all included in the curriculum of the Bear Grylls Survival Academy, launching this fall in Scotland. The cost is £2,999 per person for the six-day course.

The Bear man himself will not lead you on the grub hunts. But it was just announced he will show up to greet enrollees for the inaugural program.

His “team of advisors” from the Man vs. Wild shows and other ventures will serve as instructors in the Scottish hills and bogs, including Dave Pearce, an ex-Royal Marine commando who works as a stunt coordinator with Bear.

Scott Heffield, also an ex-Royal Marine commando, is another guide. He has been involved in “teaching and training for almost 25 years in a variety of subjects ranging from self defense to high-altitude mountaineering,” according to the organization.

Grylls helped develop the courses. He will be making “special appearance from time to time” at the academies, according to the organizing outfit.

It kicks off in November in one of the “last true wilderness areas of the British Isles,” Sutherland, Scotland. Over six days survivalist students will learn how to live and move through the wilds on land and sea.

Hunting and trapping are included classes during the week. The academy culminates in a 36-hour wilderness expedition where enrollees put their skills to a test.

You must be 18 years old to apply. Plans are to launch in Scotland this November before developing classes for the USA and Africa in 2013.

—Stephen Regenold interviewed Bear Grylls earlier this year.