A year in the Swiss alps without a tent.

[Ditch Monkey]

If you've done seasons you'll know how easy it is to get wet at 1800m. Very often the rain/snow level is well above 2000m so keeping dry might prove important.

I've been soaked to the bone a fair few times when living in Chamonix but always had somewhere warm and dry to go back to and plenty of dry clothes to change into.

QUOTE]

Wetness is the biggest challenge, cold and dry is one thing, cold and wet is quite another - I know I was both for quite a lot of this winter. Cold, wet and tired that`s when you have to dig deep. I think though as long as there is a dry sleeping bag, shelter (admitedly not a tent), a fire and the means of making something warm to eat and drink then one should, with luck, not experience too much hardship.

 

[stooboy]

well i don't readily jump to conclusions about people it seems reading your blog and googling your real name and your online alias that you are well versed in living out doors, maybes even an expert, you didn't make that clear in your first post, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6172788.stm i wish you the best of luck sounds like an adventure.

i like this quote

Anxious, I drift off, only to be woken at regular intervals by increasingly noisy bouts of flatulence from my hill-partner, which I initially mistake for an approaching animal. Maybe sharing a tent with a man who has eaten nothing but boil-in-the-bag sausage casserole for three months would not have been such a good idea after all.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/hugh-sawyer-my-night-with-ditch-man-506845.html

 

[eraaij]

A good winter skills course is given by Kochanski at Karamat in Alberta, CA. You CAN be comfortable at 25 degrees below zero. I slept outside there for a week and others have done the same. But the alpine region adds a lot of dangers you won't learn anything about in those courses.

The cold - yes, it can and will be brutal. Unless you have the means to keep it dry and warm and stay that way - it would be impossible. But besides the cons, there are pros too:

- The time to prepare well - kit, cloathing, gear;
- The willingness to install a stove, like you mentioned;
- Firewood nearby (and I reckon the means to get it)
- Signalling and -I hope- people nearby that listen.

In Austria, I would likely not get a permit from the council to undertake such a feat for a longer time. Although they like to have a laugh, so maybe just for fun..

It is so easy to condemn remarkable initiatives. I for one am very much looking forward to reading your blog and wish you all the best with the undertaking. If you fail or succeed - we all can learn a bit from it.

-Emile

 

[jungle_re]

very interesting indeed. Best of luck and i will follow with eager anticipation

 

[Ditch Monkey]

well i don't readily jump to conclusions about people it seems reading your blog and googling your real name and your online alias that you are well versed in living out doors, maybes even an expert, you didn't make that clear in your first post, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6172788.stm i wish you the best of luck sounds like an adventure.

i like this quote


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/hugh-sawyer-my-night-with-ditch-man-506845.html

I wish I was an expert, I`m just learning by trying and I understand my capabilites and know my limitations so think I might as well challenge myself as I really want to be an expert one day. It certainly will be an adventure and thank you for digging out the farting quote, I had manged to forget about that

 

[cubankopite]

good luck to you mate don't worry too much about the negative feedback people are just concerned that you don't realise how bad thinds will be
after reading your original blogg i would say that you are more experienced than alot at outdoor living and definately quite used to hardships just don't bite off too much

 

[Ditch Monkey]

A good winter skills course is given by Kochanski at Karamat in Alberta, CA. You CAN be comfortable at 25 degrees below zero. I slept outside there for a week and others have done the same. But the alpine region adds a lot of dangers you won't learn anything about in those courses.

The cold - yes, it can and will be brutal. Unless you have the means to keep it dry and warm and stay that way - it would be impossible. But besides the cons, there are pros too:

- The time to prepare well - kit, cloathing, gear;
- The willingness to install a stove, like you mentioned;
- Firewood nearby (and I reckon the means to get it)
- Signalling and -I hope- people nearby that listen.

In Austria, I would likely not get a permit from the council to undertake such a feat for a longer time. Although they like to have a laugh, so maybe just for fun..

It is so easy to condemn remarkable initiatives. I for one am very much looking forward to reading your blog and wish you all the best with the undertaking. If you fail or succeed - we all can learn a bit from it.

-Emile

Thank you Emile

Another pro is having the chance to aclimatise, it`s one thing to spend a night at - many degrees straight from civilisation it is quite another to have been living outside for months as the tempratures drop. Have slept out at minus mine degrees in a wet sleeping bag and coped because I did it most nights.

There is plenty of firewood if my stash runs out I can buy hardwood logs and bring them up on a skidoo.

Next year it`s going to be Thailand, year after that Australia. then we got Africa, North America and then it`s the big one - The Amazon.

 

[tommy the cat]

People really shouldn't jump to conclusions it really can come back to bite you!
Again I wish you luck and think that the world is better for people who live 'out of the norm' as well as out of their comfort zones.
I wish you a great trip and stay safe. As you already know from your experience its the wet thats the killer and my worry would be the onset of hypothermia without the benefit of a partner to recognise the symptoms. I know someone who got it from just wet gloves and damp conditions but he had someone to get him safe quick.
Keep the blog up (I've bookmarked it!) and know when to quit!
D

 

[Mikey P]

Good luck, mate! I've climbed in the Swiss Alps a few times (Zermatt, Saas Fee areas) and the resources and shelter below the summer snowline should keep you going - not so sure about winter....

Anyway, I have to say, it tickled me reading your first post where you have edited the post and put as the reason 'mistake'! I hope it isn't!

All the best for having the balls to do something for a year that many of us only do for a weekend.

 

[Ditch Monkey]

This is the taster for the survival series that sadly never got made, please forgive my shameless self publicity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=ACiCPCVF8Dc

 

[mjk123]

>>There are areas where camping is forbiden and areas where it is not, I will be camping where it is not forbidden.

Then that will almost certianly be below the treeline. Here is a link on wild camping from the Swiss Alpine Club:

http://www.sac-cas.ch/uploads/media/wildes_campieren_und_biwakieren.pdf

Of course, if you're responsible and open then people don't tend to make a fuss and can even be quite sympathetic to your aims. If you try to hide what you're doing then the locals will probably get suspicious. They'll think you're the vanguard of a secret British invasion.

 

[Ditch Monkey]

>>There are areas where camping is forbiden and areas where it is not, I will be camping where it is not forbidden.

Then that will almost certianly be below the treeline. Here is a link on wild camping from the Swiss Alpine Club:

http://www.sac-cas.ch/uploads/media/wildes_campieren_und_biwakieren.pdf

Of course, if you're responsible and open then people don't tend to make a fuss and can even be quite sympathetic to your aims. If you try to hide what you're doing then the locals will probably get suspicious. They'll think you're the vanguard of a secret British invasion.

Thanks for the link, fortunately I have a handy German on hand to translate - I never leave home without one.

I have spent a lot of the last three winters figuring out how to do this and have built some connections with the local community as well as working out the technical side of things. Currently my chosen site is at around 1800 meters and well bellow the tree line, it is the most suitable spot that I have found so far but I am still looking.