ABOUT PMDEERS

Outdoors, we discover what truly holds up.

For me, survival is not about marching through the forest in the most militaristic way possible. It means making do with what is available. Recognising what really matters. Setting priorities. Making decisions. And taking responsibility for their consequences.

That is exactly what PMDeers Survival Training & Team Events is about.

Outdoors, you learn practical skills – fire, water, shelter, navigation and how to work with limited resources. At the same time, you experience what happens when familiar routines fall away: How do you respond to uncertainty? How do you decide? How do people work together? And what does it take to remain able to act?

THE GUIDE

Florian Kneubühl

Certified Survival Guide · Founder of PMDeers

Survival fascinates me not because of its extremes. What fascinates me is what remains when things we take for granted disappear.

Warmth. Water. Protection. Orientation. Communication. Trust. Decisions.

Outdoors, it becomes clear very quickly what works and what does not. A fire does not burn because the presentation was convincing. A shelter does not protect because the plan looked good. And a group will not find its way if everyone is convinced of a different direction.

It is precisely this immediacy that makes survival so valuable to me.

Alongside my training as a Survival Guide, I bring more than 25 years of experience in complex project and programme environments. I have led teams, carried responsibility in demanding situations and experienced how uncertainty, time pressure, differing interests and incomplete information affect people and organisations.

This experience informs my training – not as a project management course in the forest, but as an additional perspective on leadership, collaboration and decisions under real conditions.

OUR APPROACH

Simple. Mindful. Flexible.

Simple

When resources are limited, complexity becomes a risk. We focus on what is actually needed – and learn to act effectively with simple means.

Mindful

Survival does not mean fighting against nature. Awareness comes before action: of our surroundings, our own limits, the needs of others and the consequences of what we do.

Flexible

A plan is helpful – until reality demands something else. Weather, equipment, terrain and people do not follow our plans. Adaptability is therefore not a makeshift solution, but a core skill.

Observe Prioritise Act

TRANSFER

What becomes visible outdoors does not stay in the forest.

Making a fire, treating water, building a shelter or finding your way without familiar aids are, first of all, practical tasks.

What becomes interesting is what happens between people as they do them.

Who takes responsibility? Who listens? How are decisions made? What happens when a plan does not work? How does a team deal with scarce resources, differing opinions or uncertainty?

That is why our team events combine practical survival experiences with deliberate reflection. Not as an artificial management seminar in an outdoor setting, but because real tasks make behaviour visible.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Jolanda Kneubühl

For everything outdoors to feel simple, quite a few things need to work behind the scenes.

Jolanda supports PMDeers with administration and organisation, making sure that schedules, coordination and the many practical aspects of training and events fit together.

She not only keeps PMDeers supported organisationally, but is also an important point of contact for the delivery of our activities.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US

No adventure theatre.

We want neither to dramatise nor to romanticise survival.

Our training should be challenging, but not reckless. It should teach practical skills, build self-confidence and enable experiences that stay in your memory.

This is not about proving toughness. It is about expanding your ability to act – on your own and together with others.

Structure creates safety. Safety enables action.

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