Pioneering

The pioneering merit badge covers mostly building things with ropes and poles. I view the general skills of pioneering as being able to build things in the woods with limited supplies. There are certainly some basic knots and lashings that form a ground work for pioneering, but it is often your resourcefulness and problem solving abilities that make the biggest impact when improvising structures and shelters in the outdoors. It is impossible to predict all the skills that might be needed to build whatever you might need, but a good core skill set includes:

1. Lashing
   1. Square
   2. Round
   3. Shear
   4. Diagonal
   5. Tripod
   6. Floor
2. Lashing projects
   1. Chippewa Kitchen: https://scoutpioneering.com/2012/12/27/chippewa-kitchen/
   2. Tower: http://www.pioneeringmadeeasy.co.uk/towers/lookouttow.html
3. Knowing how to use an ax, saw, and knife.
4. The ability to build various structures with tarps and ropes
   1. Lean-to
   2. A-frame
   3. Dining fly
   4. Vertical wall
   5. The most thorough source I've ever seen on tarp shelters is: http://www.equipped.com/tarp-shelters.pdf. It is a little hard to follow at first, but there are a ton of great ideas and techniques.