My plan is set – I want to build a dam for one week. The rough image in my mind: it should be made of stones.
Now it’s time to find the right place for my project. A search that – as it later turns out – proves more difficult than initially expected. Neither my homeland nor my adopted home meets the requirements; they are too flat, and the streams lack stones. I need mountains – preferably tall ones, to yield plenty of rocks. So, where to go? To the Alps!
Coming from the plains, mountains are unfamiliar to me; I know little about their nature – especially not from personal experience. I need information, guidance from locals who spend a lot of time in the mountains: hikers, anglers, and landscape painters with exceptional knowledge of mountain streams.
Following tips and advice, I head into the mountains, scrambling through streams, forests, and gorges – but I don’t find the ideal spot. Too many crucial factors had been unclear or too vaguely defined.
Further conversations, more precise descriptions of the needed location. The stated requirements are based on only a few personal preferences – most are driven by the needs of a promising construction project.
A long search, in-depth conversations, and careful observations are finally bearing fruit – limestone mountains offer ideal conditions for my project. Thanks to their porosity, they have particularly rocky banks. Large boulders break apart into a true paradise of stones in all sizes, perfect for carrying and stacking.
The fallen rocks come to rest at the increasingly gentle foot of the mountain, in the shallow current of the widening streams. Reaching the site is therefore relatively easy. The ideal conditions have finally been found – now the construction can begin...
