UST Survival Card

The UST Survival Cards are a useful quick reference guide. There are several titles in the range and I have been looking at the following four: Fire Building, Shelter Building, Knot Cards and Cloud Cards. Each set of cards comprises a number of stiff, laminated, water-resistant cards (the Knot Cards has six cards, the Cloud Cards, 11 cards) – all packed with useful information and presented in a simple to follow format. All but the Knot Cards have photographic and written information to illustrate and describe the subject. The Knot Cards have clear illustrations of how to tie each of eleven useful knots.

The information on the Knot Cards, Fire Building and Shelter Building Cards is very basic, but useful as a learning aid or ‘aidememoire’ for those who are not yet ‘expert’ in these arts, while the Cloud Cards, with clear photos of 10 standard cloud types, clear descriptions and cloud classification chart, make not only a good teaching aid but a helpful weather-forecasting tool as well. Some of the terminology used on the cards is a little American-English at times (they call a reef knot a flat knot for example), but there is little real confusion.

The sets of cards are each held together by a grommet in one corner, allowing you to fan the cards to find the one you want to refer to and to keep them all safely held together. You could even fit a cord through the grommet to ensure that you do not lose the pack. An excellent tool for learning some of the basic outdoor skills, these cards measure 89mm x 57mm and even the Cloud Cards set (with the most cards) is only 5mm thick, and weigh only about 11g and 17g.

Each pack costs around £3.95 from Whitby & co. at www.whitbyandco.co.uk.