Camping at 4000m (13,000ft) with No Tent

The mountain I'm standing on is called Tete de Valpellin. It's 3,800 meters high, and it's an incredible lookout over some of the most iconic peaks of the Alps. It's a very remote place, nestled between a complex system of deep endless glacial valleys, steep rocky couloirs, and massive alpine glaciers. And last summer, I set off on an ambitious solo adventure, loading my backpack with everything I needed to reach this spectacular summit and spend the night there. Oh, and I also brought my glider. So, let's get started. It's gonna be tough. It's hard to explain how heavy this thing is, but I'm excited. And that's what will take me to the top today. It's gonna be a hell of a journey, from lush green valleys to snow-capped mountains at almost 4,000 meters. So, the goal for today is to get to the summit of Tete de Valpellin, which is the mountain exactly at the end of this incredible valley called Valpellin, which I absolutely love. I want to spend the night right on the summit, and I'll have the chance to test a new sleeping system that the guys at Zen Bivi sent me, so I'm super excited for this too. And another reason why this backpack is so big and heavy is that I have my glider with me, and tomorrow morning I will hopefully fly down with my glider and save up a bit of what remains of my knees. And after hiking the entire length of the lake, I found one of the last signs of civilization for the next couple days. And a potential landing. Next stop, Refugio Aosta. 3 hours 30 minutes. So, we say goodbye to the lake, and Tete de Valpellin is showing up. It looks far, but doable. I'll never stop saying that this valley is unbelievable. 400 meters to the hut, and then a thousand meters to the summit. My shoulders are starting to feel the weight of life. This valley is huge, and look at the glacier there. The trail goes up on this bump on the rocks, and then I should be at the hut. Refugio Aosta. 800 meters up, and 4 hours. This place has a pretty interesting recent history, because the last year there was a big flood that led to a massive landslide, and this is it. It washed away the entire trail, which is going up this way, you can see it. And it's massive. It is really, really, really scary. So now, all I have to do is to go up this couloir. I was expecting more snow, to be honest, but that's not the case. So I will go up by foot as much as possible. Maybe I will reach the saddle, Colle de la Division, by foot as well. And then hop on the ridge and go to the top with the skis. So yeah, let's go. Now this way, and then up. Well, that's steep. But the good thing is that in 20-25 minutes, I already did 200 meters. So we're doing some progress. This is the saddle. That's hard, really hard. Colle de la Division! Made it! It was time to put the skis on and find the safest way to get through the glacier. Skis distribute the weight that our body applies on the snow, so it helps to reduce the risk of falling into a crevasse. The risk is still there, but I wanted to be safer, especially alone in this kind of terrain. And now let's go to the top. Last 500 meters. This way. I'm definitely starting to feel a bit tired and feel the altitude as well. I have to stop every now and then. And here's the summit, finally! That's the Val Pellin! It's hard to describe how happy I am at this moment. I've been thinking of this mountain for years, maybe three, four years. And now I'm here. And it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was a long one. From down in the valley, eight and a half hours. I don't even know how many kilometers. But I'm here. And that's what matters the most. Okay, so I found my spot. Not bad, I would say. What I want to do now is to dig a little bit of a hole, so that I'm a little bit protected from the wind. And as we wait for sunset, it's time to prep our bed. And it's actually the first time I ever try this new sleeping system called Zen Bivi. They're actually sponsoring today's video, so big thanks to them. So basically, it's a combination of a sleeping pad as well as two pieces. One is a kilt, so an open sleeping bag that goes around the pad and the hood. So this should create a bed-like experience. So this is the first time I ever try to set it up, so let's see how long it takes. Sleeping pad. All right, we're gonna use this bag to inflate it. All right, now the upper part. One and two. So as you can see, we have this hood and then we have this kind of sheet around it. Okay, and one more. Okay, so as you can see, this insulated hood is now fixed to the sleeping mat, which is pretty amazing because I think it will never slide off. And the kilt has pretty much the same principle, so it goes on top of it. You can see all these colored hooks and this is where the kilt is going to be strapped on. Okay, the last one is here. And this is it. Pretty cool. The setup took me maybe five minutes and it was my very first time, so it's pretty simple and it's a pretty genius concept in my opinion. If you're interested in knowing more about this product, the link is down in the description. There are a lot of other models, but pretty much this is the way all of them work. I can't wait to try it tonight, so tomorrow morning I will give you an update on how it performed. And now it's almost sunset time. Look at that. The light is getting soft. Amazing. This place is unreal. Sunset, Mont Blanc in the background. I think I'll never have enough of this view. Five minutes in and I'm already super warm. The good thing is that it's very wide, so there's plenty of space to put stuff inside, for example electronics or gloves or whatever needs to dry during the night. So this is a really good thing. And now another good thing is having dinner. Today we have nothing special. Quinoa, tomatoes, olives. It's okay and it's light. The way up has been long. Eight, ten, half hours. I don't think I ever hiked so much to reach the top of a mountain. But well, it was worth it. The worst part was that I always had the skis in my backpack, which makes everything so, so, so, so heavy and tiring. And my shoulders are dead now. But that's part of the game. The moon is rising. Amazing. Look at this. Wow. I think I need to rest. Big day today. And tomorrow even more. All right. Good night. Good morning. The night was amazing. Under the light of the moon, some stars. It was super warm. Beautiful. Sun! Hello! So do you want to know which mountains we have around? Well, let's do it. It's worth it here. A lot of 4,000 meter peaks. So let's start from Matterhorn and Denderen. Here we have the Grand Mural. Over here we have Gran Paradiso and Grivola. Mont Blanc. Grand Combin. Aguilverte. Here, I don't know. Dan Blanche. Weisshorn. And a lot more that I don't know. Almost eight o'clock. Time to get ready to fly. Two hours later. Allez! You-hoo! Allez! You-hoo! Allez! You-hoo! Que figata! Que meraviglia! You-hoo! You-hoo-hoo! Mission completed. That's the Val Pellin hike, and night, and fly. Amazing. Ready for a new adventure. So that's the end of this video. I really hope you enjoyed. This was such a dream adventure for me. So I'm blessed to be able to share it with all of you on the channel. I just want to tell you a bit of further information about Zambivi. This was the very first time I used it. So I actually didn't use the right compression bag. So first of all, I want to show you how small it actually packs down. So this is it. As you can see, it's pretty compact. And this is the version for minus 12 degrees Celsius. So pretty good. Of course, there are so many models. This is what is called the ultralight bed. But you'll see there are so many options on their website. So you will find for sure the kit that you need. And the good thing is that this is the best moment to buy it. You can find the link to the European and US store down in the description, as well as the discount code. And if you buy through my link, you will also help support the production of these videos. So thank you for that. And I will see you in the next adventure.