3 minute read
Stealth life over #vanlife
from The Yodl Echo - Issue one
by SkiYodl
Forget #vanlife, forget drawing open your curtains to unspoilt sunrises and squirting Aeropress on your window ledge grown super berry granola.
We’re not shunning van life, we’ve just had enough #vanlife. There’s a difference. A BIG one. One is plastered across the Times Square bright lights, has its own Broadway musical and a clothing collab with Gramicci, the other you’ve probably never seen and for its own sake needs to stay that way.
Speaking to Max in the back of his latest van build to fund a journey over to Whistler swapping the Alps for the Fitzsimmons this winter.
He enthusiastically dropped in how he’d made decent money from #vanlifers so it’s not all ‘keep out of Shrek’s swamp’ vibes. He sells his van builds after each winter to those looking for their own slice of instagood.
you’re living in a van in a ski resort under the radar
Max, you see, builds his creations from bog standard vans in all shapes and sizes. Freeze-proofing water pipes and electrics and forsaking cutting-out windows due to the underground Morzine movement of #stealthlife.
Ok, we made #stealthlife up.
Max started building vans as a way to access the Enduro World Series (mountain bikes). Trying to be smart with public transport was a no-go due to the bikes and spare parts. So, after getting a bit salty that dad can’t give you the money to go race world cups, he watched The Vanzacs YouTube video in 2018 coming to Europe from Australia and New Zealand, stuffing 6 in a rusty Ford Transit and it was no looking back from there.
Born was van living as a way to transport your bike across Europe and accommodation to boot.
Living in a van because you love it and there’s no other option is very different to rocking up for the weekend in a mortgageable yacht on wheels for a jolly. You can’t knock either but one threatens the other with extinction (or at least a need to start again).
Fast forward 5 years and 9 van builds. You’re living in a van in a ski resort under the radar. Leave no trace, staying out of the way, working 2 days a week as it’s super cheap and spending the rest of the time on the mountain. Up rocks a £100k rig for the week, ignoring the culture, YouTubes the set-up, blows up the spot and hightails it out of there oblivious to the havoc caused.
#vanlife is no friend of stealth vanning. But you can’t knock either. Just next time you’re vlogging your van dreams, make sure you’re not ruining someone else’s.
Words Joe Englert
