underground climbing
The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
At times I ask myself.. why do we do this? It’s too dangerous.. let’s get back home.. But I found the answer in this movie:
Joe Simpson: We climb cause it’s fun!
Rather than just sit here, feeling sorry for myself or whatever, I’ll get on with it and I’ll die on the way down.
Simon Yates, from the movie “Touching the Void”
A few shots from our snow cave in the alps! That was fun!
How to start a fire with a fire striker
There are situations where a fire striker can be very useful.. for example if you drop your matches in water and ruin them, or if you lighter break.. a fire striker never breaks!
The bamboo cane..
In this video I had ideal conditions.. a good dry bamboo cane (which is very flammable!) and a dry environment. Notice how the bamboo cane can be reduced to small fibers which are perfect to start the fire.
And in a matter of minutes, my crab is ready!
The crab was cooked alive.. I know this is not nice to watch (it wasn’t for me at least..) but it’s done this way with crustaceans
How to build a snow cave to survive in the mountains.. step by step!
We went to Switzerland, on the Corvatsch peak, to find the ideal spot for this snow cave! Though not perfect at all (the room to the right encountered some problems in the digging and turned out to be a bit.. shapeless!) this is a good second attempt at a snow cave..
But here’s some data:
even without closing the “doors” by snow blocks, the outside temperature of -15°C (5°F) can be brought to -6°C (21°F) pretty easily… this is a great help in surviving a night outside in those conditions!!
with a careful construction, snow blocks to partially close the doors and beds well raised above the ground you can reach temperatures of about -2°C (28°F)
if there are at least 2 people (one digging, the other cleaning the entrance from the snow) the making of the snow cave isn’t too long, about one hour for the main hole, and one or two hours for each room (depending on how precise you want it to be)
Try this at home!
Or better still on a high mountain near you.. and let me know of your stories!
Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
