"An Idiot Abroad" - a Voyageur story where you decide the moves

[past caring]

This has probably been done a number of times, but anyway.....

About me

I've been playing about 9 months and I'm still pretty rubbish. I died a lot in Voyageur (longest run ever about 80 days) so moved to custom - essentially removing sprains, increasing wildlife re-spawn times and increasing item availability and I've done a lot better. And surviving longer has, I think, also allowed me more opportunity to understand some of the game mechanics. As I happened to be in Timberwolf Mountain in my custom game when Ash Canyon was released, this prompted me to start a new Voyageur run with a Timberwolf Mountain start - and with the idea of getting myself situated and then running over to Ash Canyon to pick up the backpack and crampons......

The Idea

I've started the game - I'm 9 days in. Some things have gone better than might be expected, others a lot worse. I'm now at a point where I'm in a real dilemma about my next moves - and that made me think, "Why not ask the forum members what to do? And why not make a thing of it?". So that's the idea - I'll post updates, screenshots, progress etc. and at any point where there's a significant decision to be made, forum members will tell me what choice to make - and assuming that isn't just "throw yourself off the top of Timberwolf Mountain" it will be a case of majority rule. 🤣 I'm not going to bother you with trivial stuff, like deciding whether to repair a particular piece of clothing, only the big stuff. Equally, I'd like some actual reasoning offered for the options people are going for - don't just tell me to do X as opposed to Y, tell me why that choice is the best.....

The Scenario

This post is already long, so I'll provide more detail if there's sufficient interest in making a thing of this. But for now.....

I (that's my character Sophie Bourbon - kudos to anyone who gets that reference without having to look it up!) got lucky with my starting location and managed to make it to the summit on day 1. Got some nice kit, though the clothing needed repair and by the time I got down off the summit I was so exhausted and so close to dying of hypothermia that I couldn't carry any spare clothing to harvest for cloth to repair the decent stuff. In fact, I was in the red zone as I started to make my way across Crystal Lake to the Mountaineers Hut. It was actually fortunate that at this point a wolf started coming for me - otherwise I might not have had the sense to use an emergency stim to get to the Mountaineers Hut in time (it's not without good reason this story is named "An Idiot Abroad" 😉).

A couple of days back, I went over to the Wing Section east of Crystal Lake and found enough clothing in the crates that I could harvest for repairs. Yesterday, exploring round the back of the hut, I found a moose. His hide is curing now and I've got plenty of food. But apart from a poor condition MRE and a couple of granola bars, that's about it. I've got a rifle, but only 2 rounds left. I've got 40 rounds of revolver ammo, but no revolver (I'm hoping it's somewhere in one of the unopened crates on the way up to the summit). But the biggest two issues are;

- I've only got cans to cook with - this and my low level cooking skills and only the fireplace to cook on means I'm finding it difficult to find the time to build up any reserve of food and water for another journey to the summit (and I've never found any cooking pots up there anyway)....

- I've not got a bed roll - there might be one on the way up to the summit, but there might not....

I really want to take another crack at the summit, but I fear it may be beyond me at this stage. A move to Ash Canyon would certainly be suicide. I could 'retreat' to Pleasant Valley - but that's not strictly speaking a retreat, given that I've not yet visited on this run. And with only 2 rounds of rifle ammo and no pry bar, that idea is only a little less daunting than trying another run to the summit of TWM.