On Monday, June 18th, 2012, Agency Off Record, Inc. (AOR), a spunky advertising agency in Denver, CO, closed the office for the day and took off to the mountains for a 1-day survival training with the Cottonwood Institute. Leaving the 100 degree heat behind, AOR did what every responsible company should do: unplug, leave client deadlines and cell phone range behind, and head to the mountains!

Hoot, Hoot! After arriving at our stunning base camp location for the day, the AOR crew gathered up to learn more about our genius hoot system for communicating outdoors and a quick safety briefing, including how to pee and poop in the woods. A special shout out to the Admiral, the Queen and Mr. and Mrs. Peebody. Let’s just say after our bathroom talk, the word of the day was…wait for it…splatter cakes!

Smiles were exchanged for game faces as we broke AOR into two groups to compete in a series of survival challenges throughout the day. They came up with creative team names, including: Donner Party! and Stud Ranch? The losing team had to buy the first round at Oskar Blues in Lyons, CO at the end of the course, so needless to say the stakes (and bragging rights) were extremely high. Check out this video of one of their first challenges to visually represent wind:

Each team fought “to the pain” and were neck and neck all day. They participated in a survival scenario, competed in a shelter building competition, and were briefed about several fire building techniques, primitive and modern fire starting methods, and how to make their own survival kit. Without a clear winner, Donner Party! eventually emerged victorious in triple overtime when they correctly guessed the age of Ford Church, the Cottonwood Institute’s Founder and Executive Director, who was honored to instruct the course along with co-pilot Kristin Maharg.

Look out Survivor, a new highly trained group of survivalists are ready to take you on next season!

To check out our slide show to re-live the magic of the day, Click Here.