Mors and Ray.

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Chris the Cat

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Jan 29, 2008
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How comes Ray has never ( to my knowledge ) got together with Mors?
Now there's a conversation around a campfire I would like to hear!
 

oldtimer

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Sep 27, 2005
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Oxfordshire and Pyrenees-Orientales, France
I've got Mors' books in print or on my Kindle and have seen many of his YouTube clips. However, I have a faint memory of having seen him on TV demonstrating his use of winching with rope and logs. I wonder if this was part of a Ray Mears programme. After all, bushcraft luminaries pop up in his programmes from time to time: if Lars Falt and Les Hiddins, why not Mors Kokhanski?

Anyone else remember having seen this or is my elderly memory playing tricks?
 
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oldtimer

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Sep 27, 2005
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Yes, that's it. What I'm confused about is where I saw it being demonstrated by Mors and to whom. It was definitely on terrestrial TV, not YouTube. He was also doing a bit on shelters. I can't think of a likely programme other than RM: I never watch Bear Grylls.
 

falcon

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Aug 27, 2004
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There's a Mors film on YouTube from way back in which Ray is featured..training military in Scandinavia. Sorry this is vague...I'll go and search and report back if I can find it
 

falcon

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Aug 27, 2004
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Shropshire
Have a look on Karamat Wilderness Ways channel on YouTube and there's a film called Vintage Ray Mears. It was filmed at an international conference in 1995 organised by Lars Falt. There's other film of Mors Kochanski at the same conference and other international experts so they were definitely at the same event though nothing of them together...
 

Dougster

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 13, 2005
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The banks of the Deveron.
Yes, that's it. What I'm confused about is where I saw it being demonstrated by Mors and to whom. It was definitely on terrestrial TV, not YouTube. He was also doing a bit on shelters. I can't think of a likely programme other than RM: I never watch Bear Grylls.
He taught it on his course in Merthyr Mawr a few of us were on 9 years ago.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
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Oct 6, 2003
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Bedfordshire
Mors and Ray met properly (for the first time) the last time Mors was over in the UK for the Moot. Stuart made arrangements for Mors to visit the Woodlore operation, have lunch and go see a group of students with Ray.
The 1995 conference put the two of them in the same place, but they didn't really meet. That was early on in Ray making a name for himself.

As for it being a great tag team and compelling viewing...I have my doubts. I can only go on what I have seen of Ray, and the conversations I have had with people who have met him, but I have met and spent time with Mors, watched him interact with people, and chatted to people who have spent more time with him. They are quite different personalities with very different approaches to teaching and to dealing with people they meet. I think you would get as good a camp fire conversation with them separately as you would together, maybe even better.
 
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Tony

White bear (Admin)
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Apr 16, 2003
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Isn't that the case with most people :D

I know from my conversations with Mors he respects Ray, he doesn't see him as an innovator though but rather someone that regurgitates the knowledge that a lot of people already have, which he's done a brilliant job at sharing, there's many more people familiar with the old skills than there used to be. Mors is more interested in pushing the boundaries now, designing new shelters, using new materials, seeing if one can survive with a new setup etc etc, he combines those with the old skills very successfully. They approach the whole ting from different directions, not necessarily opposite, but different.

So, I think I agree it would be a great fireside discussion, especially if they told of their adventures and people they've met etc...That would be great.
 

C_Claycomb

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Oct 6, 2003
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Mors is a real gentleman. It is hard work to pry a negative word from him, and when you do, it is usually very mild and well laced with good humour. He is a man who knows he has nothing to prove to anyone and makes no attempt to compete when there are other, noisier personalities trying to assert their position in a conversation. He just sits there listening and watching, and lets everyone else get on with it. He does that in his classes too, if the students don't settle down by themselves he doesn't try to start teaching over their chat.

When three of us went to visit Mors, he was very happy with the number we filled the car, which meant that he had a reason to drive out to collect us on his own. That way, when he took us on a tour of the thrift stores of Edmonton, his wife could not see what he was buying! I have never met anyone who loves second hand stores, and especially second hand books, the way Mors does. He has been given some of the finest gear in the world, and still prefers his thrift store ensemble, trouser cuffs secured with Cellotape ;).

Ray isn't just a teacher, he is a businessman and TV celebrity. He has worked to make himself a brand, inseparable from his Woodlore company. Time was that he had lawyers ready to defend that brand most vigorously. He had (may still have) a PA to field calls, filter people trying to get in touch and to keep track of his schedule. I am not sure it is fair to say that there is anything to do with ego in it, but every time Ray meets people in the UK, he isn't just a guy sharing a passion for the outdoors, he is Ray Mears, TV presenter, author and the face of Woodlore. Everyone is a potential customer, critic or competitor, and the beautifully filmed series that we all know him from create an image that would be hard to live up to for anyone.

Like the Observer Effect in physics, I think that Ray and Mors would probably have a great time chatting with each other, but throw in an audience and I think it would change things.
 

Fadcode

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Feb 13, 2016
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Cornwall
The deciding factor would be, who would you think is more likely to grab a rucksack and wander around the woods on their own for a couple of days, we sometimes think TV is reality, and forget that it is staged to entertain, count the number of times you see RM using a woodlore, and try to see which version it is.........
 

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