Living Alone in a Remote Mountain Cabin During Deep Winter Without Power

(wind blowing) (gentle music) - Winter has arrived in the mountains. I recently had to abandon my tent because it just got too cold to live in. And with the help of some friends, we transformed this abandoned shepherd's hut into a cozy little cabin, just in time before the first snow. This just a wonderland. And now the snow has really settled in. (person breathing) So today I wanna show you what it's like to live up here in the winter, including the struggles and the highs. (gentle music) First of all, let's get packing. Anything and everything that I want up there in my hut, I need to carry up there on my own back. And this is one of my absolute necessities.

This is my power unit that I use to power absolutely everything and it's quite heavy. So I'm try and squeeze it in my backpack. And the reason I have it here with me as opposed to it being at the Shepherd's Hut is because I actually had to charge this. I went to the local shop here in the village and I asked if they would be able to charge it for me. And they were so kind, they said yes, which means that I now have power, which is great, but it also means that I have to carry it up and down every single time I need it charged or recharged. (upbeat music) (person grunting) Come on. Okay, some gas for cooking. I've also been trying to think of a solution for like my kind of bathroom situation. And I found this, which I think is gonna be quite good.

I mean, not to like pee in. (person laughing) But as like a little washing station. (upbeat music) One last thing, wood shavings, if you know, you know. But I'll show you anyway, later though. (person laughing) Oh my God, I'm a draft horse. I am actually a draft horse. Hey buddy. Maybe you should carry some stuff, huh? You wanna carry some stuff, you wanna help me out? These are the boots that I climb to my hut in, 'cause the snow is very deep.

Okay. (upbeat music) Okay. (door banging) All right, let's go. What are you doing buddy, huh? Why are you up there? Vilk is like, are you crazy, why are we walking? Why don't we just take the funky little car. Well Vilk, unfortunately the funky little car or my side by side is simply incapable of getting up the mountain right now.

There's too much snow, there's ice underneath. It's just not doable. So we walk, come on, let's go up, let's go up. (upbeat music) You know, I always try to look at the bright side of life. So here with this, do you see that angle? By the way, this is like a 50 degree angle going up the hill. (person breathing) Anyway, the bright side here is that people pay good money to do workouts like this at the gym. And I get the gym membership for free.

Is that an ambush? (person screaming) (person laughing) That was a good one. It's a double ambush. (upbeat music) Half a century ago, there was an elderly couple who lived up on my property. Back then there were no Ski-Doos and no four by four trucks. Winters used to be a lot more harsh too. That couple really lived a very wild existence up here all those years ago. And every time they needed something from the village, it was a day long expedition through the mountains and the snow. So every time I feel tired or lazy walking up here, I just think of them and immediately realize I have it so good.

I'm really tempted to just go in the hut and chill. But I still have a few more things that I need to do before I get to do that. We have like one hour left of sunlight and I still need to grab some wood from up there up at the top of the hill. A couple of days ago my friend came over and helped me cut down. Oh my God, Vilk, you are just obnoxious. Get off, you get off. No, get off. No, yeah, sure. His food is up there at the top of the cabinet.

Anyhow, a couple of days ago a friend came over to help me cut up a couple of old fallen trees that are up there and using various unconventional techniques, we actually managed to get down most of that wood just the two of us, Yak. (man speaking in foreign language) (person laughing) - I always dreaming about this. - Always dreamt about being a horse. In fact, really it was mostly my friend acting like a draft horse. But there's still some left and I wanna go grab it so that it's already at the hut and I don't have to worry about it. I can just forget about it. (upbeat music) Yeah, Eva, where are your gloves? Of course I left them down there.

(upbeat music) Bring it, yeah, bring it. Okay, bring it, let's go, good boy. I call this functional dog training. (upbeat music) Recently, a neighbor asked me, don't you get bored up here all on your own? And I told them that while I do like a bit of boredom, I nearly always find something to do. It could be chopping wood, a pretty obvious necessity up here, or it could be filming this video or reading a book without the distraction of a phone. (upbeat music) Tonight is a very special night. (person laughing) And it's not for any reasons that normally make a night special.

Tonight is a special night because tonight I'm putting together my kitchenette unit. Yes, you heard me right. And that's special because it took so much effort to bring that fricking kitchenette unit up here. I got it in Ikea and that was the easy part. But then bringing it up here has been such a challenge. Obviously I have no way to come up here aside from on my own two feet right now. And so over the last few days I've been manually bringing up pieces of the kitchenette, literally one by one on foot. The whole thing weighs like 40 kilograms. And piece by piece, I brought it up here.

I also got some help from a friend. Thank you so much, Chris. Anyway, the whole Kitchenette unit is here now. There it is, it's here. So I'm gonna spend tonight putting it together and I'm gonna make it extra special. Even like brushing my hair, that doesn't stop it from looking terrible 'cause I haven't washed it in like a week. So I'm gonna put on a hat. All right, we're gonna light a couple of candles. Oh yeah, here they are. And yes, that is cherry vodka right there. And I'm keeping it there because my friends are coming over for a little housewarming party in a couple of days, which is very exciting.

So this is gonna be our drink of choice. What else am I gonna do? Oh, some more candles. I think we need some more candles. (gentle music) When I'm up here, I relish the boring moments. Cell signal is patchy and I only give myself a couple of hours of Starling wifi a day. Sometimes I'll just sit there, staring into space, lost in thought. After so many years being constantly connected to the internet and bombarded with stimuli, I almost forgot how good it feels to be bored.

We're even gonna have some wine. (liquid pouring) Tonight feels really special guys. (person laughing) It's the little things, are you excited buddy? Are you excited for the new kitchen? (gentle music) I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet who loves putting together IKEA furniture. It's so meditative, it is so zen, so much fun.

(upbeat music) So in neuroscience there is this concept called the DMN, the Default Mode Network. It's a really boring name for something very cool. The DMN is basically responsible for daydreaming. That makes it easy to remember the name, DMN, daydreaming. It becomes activated when we're bored, when we just allow our minds to wander, without external distractions. The DMN helps you solidify memories, reflect on your life and create a stronger sense of self. That can seem like a scary proposition, especially if you're not super happy with your life or where it's going.

But you know, it could also lead to some serious aha moments that you've been needing for a while. So boredom is good. Potentially a little dangerous, but good. And finally, it is done and it's enormous. It's actually a lot bigger than I expected. Where am I gonna fit this? Hang on, let me show you. (person grunting) You're so heavy. This is my new little kitchen furniture. Okay, I think it's gonna have to go in that corner next to the door where currently I have this tiny little table that doesn't really serve a function.

(packet whirring) And I think the kitchenette is gonna fit right in here. I think it's just gonna slot in so nicely. At least that's what I'm manifesting right now. Let's see, I think it's gonna be perfect. Oh my God, and it is. Yes, Vilk, yes, look at it. We have a kitchen, we have a little kitchen. Here we go, I love it 'cause it's kind of vertical and very compact, but I can obviously like pull things out and make an actual table if I need it.

I love it, it's perfect. (gentle music) And it only took three hours to put together, so that's a win, I guess. It's been a long day, I think it's time to go to bed. (gentle music) Just before I go to bed, I'll put a couple of these in instead of firewood 'cause they're a little bit more like slow burning and I feel like they last a little longer.

(gentle music) Good morning. So I woke up today and I saw this. (person laughing) It's kind of funny that this little life that I have up here in the mountains looks crazy to a lot of people on the internet. But some version of this is how all of our ancestors used to live. I'm sure that if I described this cabin and this life to a great grandmother of mine, she wouldn't find it one bit weird.

(gentle music) It is quite cold in the cabin right now. And the batteries in my camera keep dying, which is quite telling. I've just made a fire but it hasn't really gotten going yet. And then in order to make my morning coffee, I had to take one of these gas canisters and like hold it inside my sleeping bag for 10 minutes so that it would warm up enough to make my coffee. And check this out, my little kitchenette area is popping, coming in so handy already. (gentle music)

Guys, look at this amazing day. This is just a wonderland, genuinely a wonderland. And I feel like I can even plug in my solar panels, that's a good idea. (gentle music) I feel like my biggest challenge of being out here is actually electricity. So on a day like this, obviously I can use solar to charge things, but days like this don't come often. And since I don't have power here,

basically means that I have like very limited access to the internet, to my laptop, means I can't really do work as much as I need to. (person breathing) I mean I know that one day I will probably have power here, but it's a bit of a waiting game at this point. And it's funny because when you're living in a place that has basically unlimited access to power, you don't ever think about these things. But out here I've had to learn how to ration my use of power. Even, you know, like an extra 10% of power on this power station could mean like an extra hour of me being able to use the starlink

and therefore being able to do work. So yeah, it's interesting living out here. A day like this cannot go to waste. So I'm gonna take Vilk, and we're gonna go skiing, I can't wait, I can't wait. Okay, I'm gonna go get changed. (person laughing) (upbeat music) Okay, let's go.

Is this what freedom looks like? Heading out into the mountains with your dog on a weekend and not seeing another soul at all? I think there's something there. Let's go, let's go, let's go, good boy. Let's go, let's go. (upbeat music) The door is quite drafty. So I usually try and kind of plug the gaps with some fabric, like this thick blanket that I have.

It's not the ideal solution, but I think I just need to get some wool or something and like stick it in there permanently or just redo the door. That would probably be the best thing to do, anyway. Oh, it's so pretty, it's so cozy in here. Oh, I love it. Look, just look. (upbeat music) A day. So at the beginning of this episode, I told you guys that I would show you what I was intending to use those wood shavings for. So I'm gonna go behind the cabin right now and I'm gonna show you.

So as you can probably imagine, since there's no power here, there's no running water, there's also no like sewage or anything like that, and I do not have a toilet in the hut. I guess I've never really had a toilet here on my land. I've had varying levels of outhouses basically. So this is one such thing, this is my toilet solution. This bucket right here. It's not very glamorous and I can't believe I'm sharing this with the entire world to see, but here we go.

It's just a simple reality. So this bucket is where you know you, do your business. And then the reason I needed those wood shavings in this big bag is because they really smell quite nice. So once you're done doing your business, you chuck them into the bucket, thereby reducing odor and visual unpleasantness. I'm not reinventing the wheel, this is very standard practice for like a camping toilet. And honestly, it's like really the only solution that I have here in the winter. I was gonna build an actual outhouse with like a little roof over it somewhere in the woods, but that didn't happen this summer 'cause I just didn't have time, which means that I now have to sit on the bucket. But it is what it is, I honestly don't mind.

It's kind of fun. (gentle music) My first week living here in the winter was honestly a dream. Just a girl and her dog and a cabin in the woods. But I'm most likely not going to spend the whole winter here. We can talk about everything that's coming up in the next episode. (gentle music)