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Interactive hiking experience
Surviving the Alps
Surviving the Alps: an interactive experience where you become an expert hiker by reliving my memories of the Austrian Alps.
Through voice, gesture and animation you move, react and learn. Small challenges bring back the tension, the exhaustion and the satisfaction of a real hike: from packing your bag, through the chaos of a storm, to the peace at the peak.
The idea
Theme: memory, nature and survival. You learn to hike by making the right choices, reading nature’s moods and feeling how unpredictable and powerful it can be.
The experience isn’t only nostalgic: it’s informative and encouraging too, with real tips that might make you want to start hiking yourself.
Why it matters
From the age of ten to seventeen, I spent every summer with my dad and sister in St. Anton am Arlberg, in the Austrian Alps. Cowbells echoing through the valleys, fresh milk, long hikes, swimming lakes and that deep satisfaction after a day of walking.
One memory stands out: my first really long hike to a snowy summit. Planning routes, taking wrong turns, learning to be patient with each other’s pace, wanting to quit and feeling happy at the same time. We got caught in mountain storms, with thunder rolling through the forest and lightning lighting up the path.
Those summers grew my love for the mountains. I still feel at home there, and this project lets others step inside that story.
The journey
The experience follows the storyboard in five steps:
- Arrival in the valley: you’re welcomed into the Austrian Alps.
- Preparing for the hike: pack your backpack with the right gear by dragging and dropping it in.
- The climb: walk along with your own movement to keep climbing.
- The first storm: the weather turns; protect yourself before the lightning strikes.
- Reaching the top: the storm has passed. Take a deep breath and relax.
Technical
The experience combines ml5.js machine learning models with GSAP animation.
ml5.js runs in the browser and uses the webcam and microphone, so your body and voice become the controller: the experience recognises your gestures and voice and reacts to them. GSAP brings the mountains to life, with the animations, transitions and the build-up of the storm reacting to what you do.
Reflection
What I learned: A personal project with a lot of room to explore. I got to try out new technologies, like machine learning in the browser with ml5.js, and combine them into one experience. Figuring out how to make them work together was the most fun part.