Building in the Canadian Wilderness

We found a building site on our property, right in the middle of a forest full of magnificent timber. We spared no effort to combine beauty and comfort.

Mosquitoes swarmed around us in clouds. The mosquito swarms this year significantly darkened our views of the Yukon. My left hand fought bloody battles with the mosquitoes. These pests suffered heavy losses, but I eventually had to retreat, completely bitten, to the campfire.

There you have the Canadian wilderness—go and build your house! All explorers and adventurers were liars—that became clear to me at that moment. For months, we had delved into their books and reports to understand what life in the wilderness was really like. They were especially good at describing the preparations and the associated difficulties and efforts, leading up to the atmospheric climax: the leap into a new life, quitting at Lufthansa.

All nonsense! No lofty feelings, no ecstasy at that moment; they must have felt the same panic as we did: Good Lord, we are in a real mess!

I have never heard of people wanting to live in the wilderness—except for the Indigenous people.

The idea that we had to build a big house came naturally, as a result of the well-known fact that two people cannot always be together. Every now and then, each must go their own way. Everyone must also have their own domain.

Every thoughtlessness embittered me more than the lack of comfort because the North has a particularly emphatic way of making every lack of logic felt. Like building a sleeping room without heating. The fact is that the human body releases almost half a liter of moisture through exhalation and imperceptible perspiration during the night, which occurs at many degrees below zero.

On our own land, we share the abundance of berries with the bears. In the wilderness, one must live alone and do everything oneself, otherwise, this lifestyle loses its greatest charm and meaning.

The first years were well and rightly spent as years of building. Their value lay precisely in the struggle against the adversities of the environment and in overcoming difficulties. But we were too sensible to continue a Spartan life that was no longer necessary—now that we still have time and leisure to build another house.