Storm de Beul: in memoriam of an outdoorsman

Why this article

Near the end of last year the internet suddenly erupted with news and videos of YouTuber Storm de Beul who died in a blizzard in Northern Sweden. YouTube clickbait quickly followed with clickbait headlines making it this was an irresponsible young man who for clicks risked, and lost, his life.

In my opinion, based on Storm's videos, nothing could be further from the truth. This man was not risking his life. There is no indication he was there to make a video about surviving in a blizzard. He only had a 1,000 followers by the time the Daily Mail reports on him, probably way less earlier. Only 14 videos, very few comments. His videos indicate a careful and methodological approach to the outdoors.

In this article I'm trying to give a very different impression. I'm trying to put his approach, and his final trip, in context, based on my own hiking experience. My article, and what I present here is purely based on publicly available information. I do not have access to other facts, and I do not know or have spoken to his family.

Who was Storm

Storm was a young man, only 22 year old when he tragically died. He was from the Flemish part of Belgium, growing up in Geraardsbergen. He was an only son. His father said: “Storm was someone who had trouble connecting with people. He really liked being alone.” But perhaps there is more to it. Storm may not have been in the outdoors because he was a loner. He may have been in the outdoors, because he had a passion for the outdoors. I gather that passion in his videos. And that he could be alone easily, made it possible to be alone in the outdoors. But definitely the divorce of his parents, some years earlier, had not helped.

His passion for the outdoors was evident to a text he had sent to his dad: “O Dad, it took me a long time to know what I wanted. But that's what I want.” His grandmother once asked him what was taking him there. His answer: “Very few people and a lot of nature.”

He was in Northern Europe, because he liked the cold. The previous year he had biked 6,000 kilometres in Sweden.

In 2024 he returned to Northern Europe with a Peugeot 307, which his dad had helped to convert. It seemed by October 30 he had spent about 5 months in Northern Europe. He wanted to live in it at least over the winter.

Storm's YouTube channel

Through Storm's YouTube channel we can learn a lot about his approach. He started this channel in August 2024. The channel defies easy characterisation. It's not just hiking. It's definitely not about survival. As the title says: “I travel by car and make videos about hiking, camping and packrafting throughout Northern Europe.” So that's why it was called StormOutdoorsy. As a genre it mostly belongs to silent solo hiking. It's not an uncommon genre, and nothing particular dangerous about it.

What we see is not a reckless young man, charging into the unknown. He's never far from his car. We see someone who is learning, and learning carefully. He is not up in the mountains, or hiking for weeks. There's one mountain video, just a single overnighter. Learning the ropes. Careful. Just visiting Nammatjkåta, a mountain barely 600 meters high.

He does a 2 day solo hike, a 4 day solo hike. He also tries to use a tarp he has recently bought. All follow the same pattern: park the car, and do short trips. He's making fires, boiling water over an open fire, and tries cooking over an open fire. And he reads “Tales of the North” by Jack London. Was this perhaps the book that initially fanned his passion for being outdoors in the cold regions?

His pack, an Osprey, is heavy. He takings a packraft, an axe, and sometimes heavy cooking equipment. He will not have moved very fast.

In one of his videos, the one where he makes the hamburger, he gives the classic thumbs up, no doubt a reference to fellow silent solo hiker Eric Normark. Eric Normark also makes videos from the northern part of Sweden.

Everyone who has ever tried to make fires in climates like this, with wet wood, will admire his skill to get a fire going. No easy feat, and he clearly has mastered it quite a bit.

Final trip

On October 24 Storm set of on his final trip. He had parked his car at the carpark just before the Sitoälvsbron bridge. From there a trail takes him West to the Ultevis fjällurskog nature reserve.

Storm is in Jokkmokk area in the Swedish Norrbotten County, one of the areas that make up Lapland. He follows the trail to the famish Laitaure lake. Towering over the lake are Tjahkelij, Nammásj and Skierffe. It's an extremely photogenic spot.

His recent videos of him cooking over camp fires have gotten some engagement, so he took his heavy cooking gear in his heavy Osprey pack. Potatoes. The axe. The folding handsaw. His pack will have been heavy, and he will not have moved fast nor far. He made a video of his first day, the last video he posted to YouTube.

The weather was fine on his first day, he slept outside, not even pitching his tarp. He had recently switched shoes, as he had gotten very cold feet with his feet getting wet. At least these ones are waterproof he probably believed. In reality these are not winter hiking shoes. They're Gore Tex lined. Walk in enough snow, and they'll get wet. He recently also switched from the Thermarest Neoair Xlite to a sleeping mattress with a higher R rating. He left the foam mat in the car, preferring to sleep just on a Tyvec sheet.

The weather forecast has no indication yet of the snow blizzard to hit. He definitely was aware that winter was coming. One of his viewers recently commented: “The most difficult time of the year for outdoor activities. The rain makes many aspects in the bush a real challenge, well done for sticking at it. The damp and the low temperatures are worse than -20C.” He responded: “I agree. But it seems winter is finally here. Woke up to a few inches of snow this morning.” But snow and cold might be nicer than the rain he has been dealing with so far.

After editing and posting his final video, he stays in the area for a few days, then returning in the direction of his car. Monday October 28 finds him on a spot not far from his car, just 14 kilometres. My estimate based on distance from the car is the arrow in the picture below. It is is 14km walking from his car, he is about 2km further to the East.

It's North, it's remote, but it's not pure wilderness. He's basically on the approach trail to the Kungsleden, the most famous hiking trail in Sweden. That trail is just about 1km away on his last day. The Kungsleden is a 450 kilometres long trail, and on my bucket list. It's most Northern Terminus is about a third of that away to the North from this point. But the season to hike this trail is long gone. The shoulder season is September. The reason there is so much nature and so few people here is that the weather makes living here close to impossible.

Two days earlier a snow blizzard with winds over 100km/h had been forecasted. It's unclear if he was aware of the forecast, or aware of its implications. Anyone wanting to survive would have gotten out of this area. If he was aware of the forecast, possibly his heavy pack made it impossible for him to move quickly enough to get to his car. However, he still would have had another option, the Aktse Fjällstuga hut.

The SF Aktse Mountain Cabin is just under 2.5km away. But he may not have known about this option.

By now he has been relying on luck to survive. But most likely he didn't know that. He didn't survive anymore because of his skills, but because of luck. His equipment is desperately inadequate. People like Eric Normark may make it look like exploring in the winter is easy, but that is because his skill level is so high. Eric has a four season tent, which can shed snow. His tent is rated for wind over 100 km/h. He has the -20°C sleeping bag.

In contrast Storm has a Lunar Solo, a light-weight summer tent for temperate climates. It will not shed snow. Enough snow, and it will make the tent collapse, and tear the fabric. He has camped close to the lake, fully exposed, but with great views. The lake is calm, and there seems to be almost no wind.

This makes me think he was not even aware of the forecast. It was just going to be another night in the outdoors. At 4.55pm he sends his last text to his mum: “'It's only minus one mom.”.

But that night it starts to snow. Heavier and heavier. The wind picks up. He can feel something is not right. He texts his grandmother: “It's snowing heavily here. But don't worry, I'll survive, you know.”

Storm appeared less than a loner as portrayed. He clearly has connections. His last text and video is to a friend, showing how the intense snowfall had filled his shoes and backpack, while the wind battered his tent: “Tonight, it's going to get worse.”

At 2.36am Storm sets of his PLB. He must have stayed in his tent as long as possible. Something must have happened. As he is found with a broken nose, I'm guessing a flying object, perhaps a branch, has gone through his tent, ripped it and smacked him with full force. Now he is fully exposed, wounded, and his sleeping bag is now wet. This might have been the first time he has realised he was in a survival situation. Most of his gear has now blown away.

He probably decided to stay put for a bit. But hypothermia has now hit full force and he is no longer thinking straight. The only option he sees is the safety of his car. He puts his sleeping bag in his backpack, puts his snow filled shoes on, and starts moving towards his car. It probably did not take long before his kidney starts to fail, and was unable to filter waste from the blood. His body must have shutdown shortly afterwards.

Meanwhile his distress signal had been received by the Alerting Rescue Coordination Center. They try to contact him on the registered cellphone. Either the cellphone is incorrect, or more likely it no longer works in the freezing conditions. Nothing can be done in the current weather, although everything is prepared to fly at the earliest opportunity. Around 10am a helicopter sets of, finding Storm at 10.45am. His feet and lower legs were frozen. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Storm's camera was not found. His dad expressed his intention to return to the area in May, and search for it, to recover his final footage.

Three weeks later his body was returned by the Swedish authorities, and Storm was buried on November 30. Rest in peace.

His car is still on the bridge.

Lessons

There are four kinds of knowledge:

  1. You know what you know. In Storm's case he knew he could make fire for example.
  2. You know, what you don't know. Given Storm's videos, I'm sure he was quite aware of the things he wanted to learn. He knew he wasn't a survivalist.
  3. You don't know, what you know.
  4. You don't know, what you don't know.

The latter is extremely common. Storm didn't know his tent was completely unsuitable. He was also deceived by the manufacturer who claims:

The unique hexagonal design and steep, sloping sides help deflect high winds and shed snow, keeping you safe from the elements.

That's utterly irresponsible garbage.

Storm also didn't know about snow blizzards. He never had the chance to experience on in safer conditions. He didn't know how bad the weather could get in Sweden.

Some have blamed him for being out alone. But what difference would have made that in this case? None whatsoever. And who would have followed him on a year of outdoors in Sweden? None would or could. That he was travelling alone was not the issue.

By the time he decided to put up his tent, I think only one item could still have saved him. If he had an emergency blanket, and crawled in it as soon as the snow started pilling up under his tent, and his sleeping bag started to get wet. Even a broken nose at that point would have been survivable. It would have weighed next to nothing, just 74 grams. In situations like this there is only one command: keep the body at temperature. Nothing else matters. But he didn't have an emergency blanket, and he couldn't keep himself dry.

By staying that night, in that location, with his equipment, he had put himself in an unsurvivable situation.

It is extremely sad this careful young man did not hit truly bad weather in a more survivable situation. Many people get to learn bad weather, fog, snow, heavy wind, during summer. And live another day. But in winter, options are few and far.

My sincere condolences to his father, mother and oma.