Into the Wild got this part right... Lessons from guiding hikers

At first sight... hiking alone and silent hiking seem to be popular. But many years of guiding hikers and teaching mountain skills courses has shown me that even the biggest introverts rarely want to go out alone. Not because of risk, not because it's lonely, but because most of us prefer to share an experience with others. In essence, we are very social beings.
If you’ve seen or read Into The Wild, you’ll agree that when it comes to skills, Christopher’s story is about what not to do. But when he came close to death, he learned what I learned.
Isn’t it strange how the things you’re most passionate about end up disappointing you the most? Well that’s a bit grim isn’t it. Let’s say… it’s like the age old cliché. You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes, you get what you need.
I thought I wanted to create skilled self confident multiday hikers. Instead of guiding low threshold mainstream treks, I wanted to share what had taken me years to learn. So I went all in.
Summer after summer I took people out into the mountains to teach them how to read the ground, how to navigate without the help of trails or gps, how to maintain themselves, how to judge rivers and cross them safely, how to use ropes to cross difficult terrain, how to plan a day and eventually a sequence of days to make the best of what they wanted to do. To no longer need to rely on guides or mass marketing travel agencies.
Something strange happened.
People came and they were always grateful. They learned what I was teaching and demonstrated that they were capable of applying their new skills. At least, as long as I was there to ask them to. And afterwards… not really. I saw them join more guided trips. Many of them even came back to join me on adventures in multiple countries. We discovered friendships and bonded over sharing the joy we found in our journeys.
While I thought I wanted to create a lot of new solo adventurers. And while a healthy set of basic skills certainly help. It turns out that what most of us are looking for, is to share the experiences we are passionate about. If you’ve seen or read Into The Wild, you’ll agree that when it comes to skills, Christopher’s story is about what not to do. But when he came close to death, he learned what I learned. Often, when it comes to what we’re passionate about, "happiness is only real when shared".

[@aydenvanbruwaene5472]

you should make more videos, youre good at it 🔥

[@Martoz.streamz]

Pleaseee upload more

[@frankmarien8330]

Soooooo true!

[@ervinslens]

This was beautifully narrated, outstanding cinematography!!!

[@DieterVanHolder]

Thank you and thanks for leaving a comment! This is one of these videos where I honestly want to tell a little part of my life story. It takes way too much time to go through all of the footage and then hours of editing for a 3-minute video I expect TH-cam to bury forever with no views. One comment like yours makes a very positive impact. :)

[@johnnyk7132]

Oaaouu, very beautiful story, loved the ending quote, indeed everything is much better when shared.

[@DieterVanHolder]

Thank you! :)

[@RafDetobel]

Beautifal😊

[@DieterVanHolder]

Thank you! 😊

[@stupietu6288]

Hello, im one of your students and i asked myself if i could find beautiful mountains.i would appreciate it if you told me one of these places in the Dutch lesson.

[@DieterVanHolder]

We'll talk about it!