Ten tips for biwaking: what you need to know

The legal situation in Switzerland is a bit of a patchwork. In principle, forests and meadows are accessible by all, but cantons and municipalities may impose their own restrictions. Generally, you are forbidden from bivouacking in the Swiss National Park, in animal and nature conservation areas and in animal rest zones during protection season. Conversely, if a small group of people choose to spend the night in the mountains, above the tree line, this shouldn’t pose any issues. Further information is available in the brochure published by the SAC.

The perfect place for camping in the great outdoors:

• is sheltered from the wind,

• is not in a dip where rainwater could collect,

• is near a water source.

In a forest, you can also construct a good overnight shelter using a hammock, a sleeping mat and a tarp as a roof. It’s important not to leave any traces that you were there. For instance, ensure you burn your used toilet paper in a fire pit or pop it in a bin bag and dispose of it properly.

It’s important to eat enough food when biwaking: where possible, this food should be warm and high in fat. In addition, you should never get into your sleeping bag when you’re cold. So, before you go to bed, move around a bit until you’re warm. This means your body will heat up your sleeping bag in the first few minutes. You can create a hot water bottle by taking a drinking bottle, filling it with warm water and popping it in your sleeping bag with you. A tip: when you sweat, this leaves salt residue on your skin, which attracts moisture from around you and gives you a slight chill. Jumping into a cool lake or having a quick wash before going to bed will help with this.

In any situation, the most important items are a sleeping mat with an R-value of 3 or more, a breathable bivy sack to combat morning dew and a sleeping bag with a comfort value around freezing, ideally –5 °C. It can get bitingly cold in the mountains overnight, even in the summer months. Additionally, you should have a gas stove, a headlamp and a waterproof packsack to protect your shoes and clothing from moisture overnight.

The easiest way to save weight is by keeping your packing to the bare minimum. For instance, eat from your pan and don’t bring tableware or cutlery. In addition, most pieces of equipment come in a lightweight variant. If you can cut the weight of many things by a couple of grams, you’ll be carrying a lot less overall.

If no precipitation is forecast, a tarp is all you need. A small tent is recommended for longer trips: if there’s precipitation and high winds, in particular, you’ll quickly start to feel miserable under a tarp. In addition, it’s hard to stretch out the tarp above the tree line. Generally, though, trekking poles can help with this.

When you spend the night in a tent, cooking and breathing create the most moisture, making good ventilation crucial. To do this, open the vents. Ideally, you’d have a gentle breeze blowing through the tent.

For biwaking, pack food and meals that don’t contain much water, which makes them easier to transport. Classic options include risotto, couscous and polenta. However, to make them, you need a water source, such as a stream or mountain lake, nearby. To avoid any germs, you can filter the water before use. You can also save weight with freeze-dried hiking food, which can either be bought ready-made or you can make it yourself.

When you’re high up in the mountains, you always need to be mindful of the risk of falling. While it’s easy to find your way around in the day, you might be rather less sure-footed when you go to the loo in the middle of the night. So, make sure to take a headlamp with you. Plus, a thin layer of ice can form on the rocks at night at high altitudes: don’t forget that temperatures are around 8 degrees lower for every 1,000 metres you ascend. There’s a risk of rockfall, too. Ideally, sleep near a bivouac shelter or hut. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, you can move your bivouac there. 

Make sure to tell someone at home about your tour plans and arrange to get in touch with them at particular times. If you’re going on a lengthier, more remote tour, an emergency call device, such as the Garmin Inreach, could also be useful. Satellite communication devices work independently of the mobile phone network and communicate via the GPS signal. Important: Mobile phone reception is often poor in the mountains and it is always difficult to estimate in advance where you will have reception on the tour.