Bachelor/birthday/retirement weekend in the mountains

Description

During a weekend (or more) in the mountains of the Hautes-Alpes, I propose you to come and celebrate a bachelor or bachelorette party, a cousinhood, a divorce, a retirement, a birthday or to do team building.

Dates/period:

• All year round, including winter (the 24-person refuge is always open and can be rented privately).
• Send me your request, and I'll get back to you to let you know which weekends are still available.

Where does it take place?

Near Gap in the Hautes-Alpes, you'll experience a human adventure and an immersion in nature with an unusual overnight stay in a private refuge just for your group. The refuge is located at an altitude of 1350 meters, 4 km from the first inhabited hamlet. It's accessible by car or, if there's snow, in an hour and a quarter's walk with snowshoes.

How does it work?

Forget conventional bachelor parties, classic cousinhoods and urban clichés with luxury debauchery, swimming pools and other artifacts. The concept is to be in the middle of nature, enjoying a mountain environment and natural activities. Party under the stars is possible, around a roaring log fire, or in the rustic but spacious refuge.

Who's it for?

You don't want to party in a nightclub where you can't talk without shouting, the future married loves nature, you're looking for something original and authentic, you're curious about nature... I think this weekend will appeal to you!

The high-altitude accommodation consists of 3 side-by-side refuges, privatized for the group (capacity from 7 to 45 people). They are located in the heart of a vast state-owned forest in the Southern Alps.

This festival is lived as close to nature as possible:

• Better than a suit and tie, it will be rather shorts, knife and backpack.
• Weekend in the middle of nature, no internet or phone connection.
• Crackling fire under the twinkling stars as a nightly sound and light show.
• Luxury lodging, with a choice of: under the stars, in a teepee, hammock, poncho tent or hut for those who want more comfort and warmth for the night.

To give you a better idea of what this weekend can be, here is a video compilation of 5 years of parties:

 

 

Bachelor and bachelorette party:

It's our mountain party, we have a lot of fun because we manage to give meaning to this important event in the life of a woman or a man, surrounded by his best friends. Every year for the last 3-4 years, I have organized more than a dozen parties (the pictures illustrate these shared nature weekends). It is possible to organize this activity all year long, including winter, but the weekends are not infinitely multiplyable, so try to book as soon as possible.

Throughout the weekend, I can offer you the following workshops:

• Orienteering / treasure hunt with photo contest and team competition.
• Initiation to ancestral fire techniques (flint / iron - marcasite, solar lighter, pump lighter...).
• Initiation to survival techniques (hypothermia, dehydration, rule of 3...).
• Initiation to mountain rescue (first aid gestures, rescue radio test, making a stretcher...).
• Walk / hike on the tracks of the wolf, observation of chamois and mouflons under the highest limestone cliff in Europe!
• Sweat tent in the middle of nature and cooling down with a water jet or in a fountain.
• Archetypal dance around a totem made by you.
• Dressing / disguise of the groom with natural elements.
• River clay basking.
• Songs by the fire.
• Homemade appetizers and digestives made from wild plants and fruits.
• Wood-fired cooking: festive meal with farm chickens on the spit, grilled crickets as an aperitif...
• Night time emotions walk.

Team building stay:

Take a break, create a group cohesion through the experience of an unusual common adventure, all in the simplicity of the natural environment ... that's what I offer. With a mixture of a return to the source, a sporting approach or not, of relaxation, it is the emotion in the natural and the card. The group dynamic is privileged through the doing together.

The animation of the weekend is done with cooperative workshops and through tasks by teams and team leaders.

In order to answer any questions you may have, here are a few details:

My objective is to "take care" of you to make you feel comfortable through multiple attentions:

• I am your unique interlocutor, from the first email contact to the realization of the weekend on the field.
• We have systematic telephone exchanges (possibility of conference by Skype) to build the project together.
• I propose you a fair price, accessible: there is no intermediary,
• I am at your disposal to make the weekend evolve according to your expectations:
  • The meal: quantity, vegetarian or not, unusual, organic / local...
  • Aperitifs and digestifs offered (but you can bring your own alcohol, but "0" alcohol during the day).
  • Activities in addition to the weekend: paragliding, rafting, relaxing massage...
  • Special type of activities and their development.
• Possibility to personalize the weekend:
  • I bring you ideas of animations for the evening.
  • Original survival kit offered to the bride or groom.
  • Personalized itinerary before your arrival.
  • Adaptation to your need of comfort (private refuge, outdoor bivouac...).

The magic of fire:

We are in the Hautes-Alpes, the last territory in the south where you can make fire in the nature. So we do not deprive ourselves of it and the fire is our master of ceremony:

• Return to the sources / to one of the 4 elements (Earth, Water, Air and Fire):
  • Initiation to primitive fire techniques.
  • History of the contribution of fire in the evolution of prehistoric man.
  • It will be up to the groom to light the fire for the evening.
• A meal articulated around fire: specific cooking techniques.
• Use of this energy found on the spot to warm us up and to heat the stones of the sauna.
• Magic of the flames:
  • Dances and songs around the fire (better than a disco ball!)
  • Light fire painting (in project).

My state of mind:

• To live this weekend fully by your side.
• To DO IT TOGETHER (meals, activities...).
• Adapt and be creative.
• To let you have a place of choice in the animation of the weekend.
• To offer you quality food by favouring the discovery of local products:
  • Jams from our orchard (blackcurrant, mirabelle plum, quince, plums, figs...).
  • Home-made vegetables from our garden: dried tomatoes, ratatouille and antipasti, pesto herbs...
  • Home-made processed products: more than 15 aperitifs and digestives made from wild plants and fruits, salted duck breast...
  • Farm cheeses from our friends Axel and Marie-Ange or Barbara and Philippe.
  • Lamb sausages and merguez from our friends Patricia and Hugues.
  • Farm chickens with the red label.
• To be vigilant on the security.

Attractive prices:

Here is an indicative base, I will make you a customized estimate:

• Shortened weekend: 2 days / 1 night (arrival mid-afternoon, departure late morning): 115€.
• Weekend 2 days / 1 night: 165€ / person (minimum 5 participants), -10% discount if more than 10, -15% if more than 15, -20% if more than 20.
• Possibility 3 days / 2 nights.

Sporty stay or not?

It's à la carte:

• Up to 2 hours walk to reach the bivouac place and then organize a hike,
• I can also welcome you in a wild and isolated place, at the edge of a river at only 10 minutes of walk from the cars (and 30 minutes drive from Gap in the Hautes-Alpes).

What about alcohol?

You bring what you want, I'll bring homemade aperitif and digestif made of wild plants.

• I just demand ZERO alcohol during the walking / hiking time (if it's a sporty weekend),
• For the evening, it's festive, binge, it's you who give the tone of the evening.

Size of the group:

• From 5 to 45 people depending on the place and type of meeting.
• From 1 to 3 supervisors depending on the number.

Program

D1 (Saturday): Hike, treasure hunt, meal and festive evening, evening party...

• Reception - departure: small lock of immersion by an approach walk of one ½ hour to reach the refuge. We recover the cars at the end of the afternoon, to park them beside the refuge.
• The refuge is located in the immense national forest dominated by the plateau of Bure (2700 meters of altitude). Rented in private mode (12 places but possibility of more), the refuge is accessible by car by a mountain road. It is located at more than 5 km from the first house and at 1400 meters of altitude at the foot of the highest limestone cliff in Europe. It is equipped with a big wood stove if you need to heat and 2 showers (with hot water, but you mustn't tell the other persons), but the sleeping is rustic. The environment is very beautiful and wild, with an atmosphere of traditional mountain refuge. No need to carry all your gear on your back, as the refuge is accessible by car except in winter, when the road is not clear (1h15 walk in that case).
• Hot picnic at the refuge: potato and leek pie + green salad (from the garden if in season) + fruit salad from our orchard.
• Orienteering race with map, compass and punches along the way, in the form of a treasure hunt on the theme of survival and mountain wildlife. An easy 3-hour course with tests, questions and sporting challenges, accessible to all.
  You will have to face some tests during the course (search for a beacon under a 10 meters waterfall, descent of a steep shortcut, compass walk with azimuth, climbing on a tree to punch, etc.).
  At each marker, a question on the theme of survival and nature is asked (topics covered: ancestral techniques for making fire, how to shit ecologically in the woods, hypothermia, dehydration, etc.).
  The whole event is enhanced by a photo contest to be realized during the course with at the end a podium of the most original and extravagant photos.
• Gift for the future bride and groom: a "survival kit" personalized with the name of the bride and groom with unusual objects inside.
• Initiation to fire techniques.
  Everyone will be able to practice (I will bring enough tools and fire initiators) with an introduction to the history of fire.
• Festive evening: sauna-hammam in the nature. Hygiene workshop (making soap, toothpaste and a natural toothbrush), cooking workshop...
• Festive meal: various appetizers (aperitif: blind discovery game of 10 homemade aperitifs based on plants and fruits), wild garlic toast, stuffed farm chickens or guinea fowl (that we prepare together and that we roast on the fire accompanied by spicy semolina, homemade ratatouille or wild salad, according to what we find), chocolate bananas on the wood fire.
  About alcohol, I bring different homemade aperitifs and digestives, a way to make you discover what can be done with plants and fruits of nature... No worries if you bring your own alcohol (same for food), I just ask for 0 alcohol during the day for outdoor activities.
• Animations: I will send you a list of possible animations, that you will build according to the expectations and desires of the future groom. It is a compilation of 5-6 years of nice animations realized by the groups. The idea is to personalize them, in order to bring back a lot of emotions to the groom.

D2 (Sunday): Hiking and other activities.

• Possibility to offer the bride-to-be a relaxing massage with Agnès, a masseuse who can come up to the refuge around 9 am with her table.
• Breakfast: home made jams (with wild fruits or not, the idea is to make you discover new tastes).
• For the rest of the day, I propose you to choose according to the period and your desires:
  • A hike from 1.5 to 2 hours under the highest limestone cliff in Europe to observe chamois, mouflons, eagles and wolf tracks (there is a pack in the area).
  • Possibility of mountain rescue exercises.
  • The idea today is to bury a young girl's / boy's life.
    Symbolically, the groom can bring objects from his or her life as a young girl or boy (or messages, typically his or her vows as a couple, the vows of friends and family) put in a watertight iron box and then buried with everyone during the walk. We will then make a drawing (treasure map type with why not the GPS coordinates) that he/she will keep, so that if one day he/she wishes, he/she can come back and dig up this box.

The price includes

• Supervision by the mountain leader.
• The animations with the guide, present all along the weekend.
• Full board.
• The session in sauna / sweat lodge.

The price does not include

• Transport to and from the refuge near Gap.
• Rental of the refuge per night: allow between 125€ and 225€ depending on the size of the refuge, from 6 to 24 people (excluding tourist tax of 0.8€/adult/night), price does not include departure cleaning and wood for the fire.
• Anything not mentioned in "The price includes".

Accommodation

• Privatized mountain refuge at 1400 meters of altitude in the heart of the mountains (car access), 4 km from the first inhabited village. Option to spend the night under the stars, either next to the refuge or higher up at 2000 meters.

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