Ronny Schmidt: Ab in die Wüste! Ronny Schmidt: Off to the desert!

This man is a scoundrel! - That is what people will be able to say without punishment about Ronny Schmidt once he is back from his tour through the Israeli Negev starting February 2nd. The former paratrooper and survival trainer, along with his friend and fellow sufferer Daniel Meier, plan to cover 220 kilometers autonomously in the hot hell of the Negev Desert. We wanted to know why he is doing this.

SPARTANAT: Ronny, the next tour is going into the desert. What do you plan to do?

Ronny Schmidt: The upcoming tour by Team-Survival, starting on February 2, 2014, will take place in a completely new climate zone. My trainer colleague Daniel and I will attempt to walk 220km completely autonomously through the Negev Desert in Israel. We will start pretty much in the middle of the desert region in Israel and, God willing, reach Eilat on the Red Sea within 10 days.

SPARTANAT: What are the special requirements placed on you?

Ronny Schmidt: The biggest challenge I see is the completely autonomous approach, the tight time frame, the lack of water and food, and the uncertain security situation. Furthermore, the rocky desert presents a huge challenge for transport technology.

SPARTANAT: Any special equipment you are taking with you?

Ronny Schmidt: Since we are approaching the tour completely autonomously, we will use Sulkys as transportation. Sulkys are small trailers with harnesses, on which we will transport the 40 liters of water per person, the camera equipment, and the rest of the gear. To charge the film and photo technology, we will rely on solar cells. For food, I will only rely on chia seeds and maca provided by our sponsor Chiamind. We were personally provided with 2 knives by Mike Stewart, the CEO of Bark-River Knives and Tools, as he finds our actions very interesting. Begadi provided me with a tarp, since I will only be using a bivouac sack, not a tent. This is necessary due to the local, not always very health-promoting animal life.

SPARTANAT: Did you do any extra training to prepare for this?

Ronny Schmidt: Since I will be participating in the Tough Guy Race in England on January 26 with our trainer, and in the next few months Team-Survival will also be participating in a marathon and a 104km long-distance hike among other events, there was no specific preparation for this one tour. Our trainers place a great emphasis on fitness from the beginning. My training for the 4 events began in October, and I lost 15kg for it. The training consisted of an average of 4-5 running sessions per week with a total length of about 60-70km, and some smaller competitions at running events. In addition, there were the usual strength endurance exercises for the upper body.

SPARTANAT: When and where can people follow your trip live?

Ronny Schmidt: It will not be possible to follow the trip live. We will record the tour with a GPS tracker and publish the evaluations afterwards. If we have internet reception, there will of course be occasional status updates on Facebook to see on the way. And of course, there will be a nice film afterwards, each from the perspective of the two protagonists. I will have my footage edited by a professional editor and then publish it on YouTube, just like Daniel.

All information about the tour can be found HERE.