Guest author: Melanie Gath
“We started early taking the kids mountain climbing and hiking to mountain huts”
She is one of the truest friends of namuk, with us for the longest time. Way back when, her twin daughters already wore the very first collections, and she sent us gorgeous photos, which she as a photographer shot for us. Esther Meinel-Zottl lives with her family in the mountains with a view of the Alps near Chiemgau in Bavaria, Germany. With their now three children, she and her husband spend an unbelievable amount of time in nature and hike to different mountain huts, sometimes for several days. This family lives the namuk vision and has been a huge inspiration for us all these years. In our talk, I was able to learn more about their love of nature and also what they especially appreciate about namuk.
“Hooooo”
Esther herself has an Instagram account with about 80,000 subscribers. She shares photos there of nature, mountainscapes, and motherhood. At the beginning, she showed her children on Instagram; however, her opinion on that has changed. She hasn’t shown her twin daughters there so directly for the last seven years – in contrast to her son, who was born with trisomy 21 (also known as Down syndrome). She is often put in the position of defending herself for that.
She explains: “I believe that people with a disability need visibility. That’s the only way to increase the chance they will actually get to be seen as part of our society.” She also tells us that her 5-year-old has a special bond with namuk. She recognizes it because he always hoots like an owl – “hoo hoo” – when he wants to put on the clothes.
Dear Esther, you’ve been one of the friends of namuk for so long. How did it all get started?
Esther: If I remember correctly, my girls already wore one of namuk’s very first winter collections. With my background as a photographer, I was also able to shoot these collections. The girls were about four or five years old. At the time, namuk was much less well-known, and people quite often came up to talk to us on the slope. Today, your brand is really well-known in ski areas. But not quite as much in the city, I think.
Yes, that’s definitely true. Many people still think that namuk only makes winter clothing, although our range has expanded a lot in the meantime. With the majority of our clothes, kids can get through the whole year. Esther: I still remember one particular sweatshirt. The girls wore it everywhere. It just gives a trendy vibe everywhere you go. I don’t know any other brand that makes such stylish outdoor clothing for kids, especially ski clothes. I love the idea of constantly passing clothes on to others. I have three sisters: Two of them also have three kids each, and one has four kids. So we get to hand down so many of our favorite pieces.
Over the last year, you went hiking to different huts with your kids for several days. For many families, that would sound like a lot of effort and organization. How was it?
My husband planned the trip at Königsee (a lake in Bavaria near the Austrian border). It’s a region that’s very popular with tourists. To avoid encountering too many people, we walked around above the lake. We were with friends and a group of 10 people. Our girls packed their namuk backpacks for the week and carried them themselves. Our son sat in the backpack hiking carrier, which my husband wore. And I carried the luggage for us adults and the little one.
How many huts did you stop at?
Altogether that week, it was three huts. At two, we stayed two nights each so the kids would have a break for a day. Our children often think it’s a shame if we continue on the next day, especially when there are other kids around. At two of the cabins, we even had a lake right outside. The kids really love that. The huts were: Gotzenalm, Wasseralm, and Kärlingerhaus.
Do you have certain strategies to keep kids motivated over the whole trip?
We started early taking the kids mountain climbing and hiking to mountain huts and had already shlepped them across Patagonia in backpack carriers. So they basically grew up hiking and climbing mountains, and started at the age of four to walk really long stretches and climb many meters of elevation with us. It’s just sort of part of us and our lifestyle as a family. Many people tell us they wouldn’t be able to do it. But I think that we as parents also need to learn endurance. To endure and to support them – even with all the negative and unpleasant emotions that also go along with it. A lot of people think children shouldn’t be bored or complain anymore, and we always want to have happy children. When our kids grumble on a trip like that, we have to be mindful that sometimes, we’re also allowed to grumble. So it helps simply to verbalize that, and say something like, “Ugh, I also think climbing up here is super hard, and shlepping my backpack hurts my back just like you. But I also know that when we get to the top, the feeling of happiness is going to be so big that all this is going to slip into the background again.”
For us, it helps when we have talks with our kids while we’re out – for example, about memories we share. On a day trip, of course, it always helps if we know a yummy treat is waiting for us at the cabin. On a trip over multiple days, our kids are always curious about how all the huts will look. The adventure is just bigger in every way. We have more time to just linger sometimes when we’re hiking. The children rise to the occasion. Then at the end, they say proudly that it was hard, but they did it. That gives them an important sense of achievement that they then often proudly tell their friends about.
What was it like in your childhood?
I was always outside. We went camping a lot. I had my own first trip to mountain huts – or tents, actually – in Czechia when I was nine years old. That’s my strongest memory from childhood.
As a teenager, there was a time when I hated camping. But I could never really enjoy the time in hotels. I truly believe that we collect our most precious memories in nature.
What exactly did you pack for your kids for the big trip?
They each had a pair of namuk shorts and a pair of long pants. That has to suffice. Luckily, the pants dry super fast. For at night, they had cozy Merino clothing and also a Merino T-shirt for the daytime. The ultralight rain jacket for light baggage, as well as the warming Glow Primaloft jacket for cooler evenings and early hours around the hut, were also essential.
