Packs, hats and boots ready Starting at Ossasco at 1313m Clouds of butterflies keeping us company Going up 200 vertical meters at a time Through the shady woods at first Views of the surrounding mountains becoming visible Flowers, blueberries and strawberries! 400m up the vista opens up Val Torta Wonderfully refreshing stream to bathe my…

Here it is, the Final First Aid Kit:

At the end of the previous blog I started philosophizing about the nature of a first-aid kit. This leads me to think about what it is we’re treating. We all want our excursions to be enjoyable, otherwise what’s the point? In some cases, though, weight reduction is so important that discomfort is taken in stride.…

It’s time to be organized about first aid. There is no “one kit fits all”. It depends on the length of time it may be needed, the distance to pharmacies that are open, ease of making it to a hospital with/without calling the Rega, the type of risk inherent in the activity and the number…

In order to use our hut sleepingbag sheets, we first need to walk 1000m up to get to the first hut. What will we need? The temperature will range between 30° celsius on the way to and from the starting point, 15° at 2400m during the day and 5° at night. It probably won’t rain…

Next week we’re doing a multi-day hut-to-hut hike with the whole family and we each need to bring a hut sleeping bag: “Huttenschlafsack”. We have one blue silk/cotton (250g) and two white cotton ones (450g) and need a fourth but time is short, so I’ll just make one out of an old fitted sheet. What’s…

This ultralight water resistant organizer baggy has accompanied me on all my trips for the last half a year, the last time on a 17-hour train journey from Copenhagen to Zurich. It contains my just in case it’s very cold safety kit, complementing my physical health and technical bike safety kits. Merino socks and the…

Highlights of the trip: What went well? Acid seat post bike rack: I had fastened the screws holding it to the seatpost really tightly and the rack didn’t budge. Nice and solid. White longsleeved wool shirt: it let the breeze through while keeping the sun off my arms. And didn’t smell bad at the end…