Why are these men going on hiking trips? Let’s instead ask: Why did you quit?
It is Erling Kagge who poses the question, with a reference to his now deceased friend, the Spinoza-inspired philosopher, Arne Næss Sr., who was once asked by a journalist why he is still climbing at such an advanced age? “Why do I climb? Why did you quit?” Næss asked in return.
“Almost everything is a hiking trip,” says Kagge.
“Nothing sensational happens on most walks. Small things pop up every now and then, but these trips aren’t meant to be a means to an end – they don’t need to be anything more, or be for anything in particular.
It’s not a religion, is it?”
Erling Kagge has been portrayed in many newspapers and magazines around the world, not specifically as a publisher and author, but on the basis of his previous achievements: In the 1990s, he was the first to reach the three poles: the North Pole and South Pole on skis, Mount Everest on foot and by rope. However, in recent years, he has had considerable international success as a non-fiction writer.
His books, Silence in the Age of Noise (2016), has been sold to a total of 37 countries, and Walking. One Step at a Time (2018) is already sold to 20 countries.
The fish by the parking lot
We are just inside the forest at Sognsvann when we see the wake from the trout. A big trout.
“This is typical. A lake that’s so close to the parking lot that people don’t feel like their fishing trip has begun yet. So it’s not being fished, and the trout have grown big,” says Torbjørn Lysebo Ekelund while nodding, saving the name of the lake, Svartkulp, to his inner GPS.
He goes down to the waterside and leans over to look for the insects on the water surface. Oslo is a speck of asphalt with tram lines and a city under constant renovation, right in the middle of the countryside. On all sides, you will find forests to hike in. To the southeast, there is water. The authors, Erling Kagge and Torbjørn Lysebo Ekelund, always manage to find hiking terrain.
“I’m not so used to fishing, but I’ll be making my debut in Lærdalselven this summer, I’m going to be with friends who fish salmon,” says Erling Kagge.
However, none of their newly translated books are about the fleeting nature of fish, the number of grams, lures, luck, or catches.
Never go straight ahead
Two of Ekelund’s books come out in German this year. The boy and the mountain is about an undemanding hike in the mountains with his son August, but the premise is that the boy can determine the book’s pace and direction.
“For me, it was an interesting and different kind of hike. Children never go straight ahead. They cross the paths, stop, look for things, and may, suddenly, decide to pitch camp at one o’clock in the middle of the day, when we’ve only just started. We adults can learn a lot from this.” Story of the Trail is a personal account of a childhood trail, but also one that is universal: Trails, and the habit of walking on them, have been with us, in all cultures, throughout history.
“Why should we walk?”
“The whole of society is structured to keep us going at high speed, in life, at school, and at work. We have to be efficient and rational. Walking is one of the most radical things one can do in today’s society,” says Kagge.
“What do you get out of walking?”
“If I drive, I get nothing out of the journey. If I take the tram or metro, I may see some people. When I walk, I get a little more out of it, but it’s not life-changing. Walking expands space and time somewhat.”
“What about the Norwegian, Protestant Sunday walk, where you have to earn your keep?”
“I think Max Weber has a lot to teach us. On Sundays, people like to go for a walk before their lamb roast and red wine, and I think it’s a good idea that you earn it.”
A rhythm, a flow
“I work in the magazine Harvest which focusses a lot on outdoor life and being in nature. The most common question we get from people visiting our site is where they should start walking,” says Ekelund.
“At the edge of the forest, maybe,” chuckles Kagge.
“Is the walk a failure if you haven’t thought about something smart or had any new insights?”
“It’s totally okay to not think so much when walking, but you are experiencing things all the time, and I don’t ignore the fact that you can get answers to questions you haven’t even asked yourself. Darwin, Einstein, and Steve Jobs walked and walked, but you can get the same effect from walking in a hall as you would in the mountains,” says Kagge.
“I’ve no experience of coming up with anything smart while I’m walking, but there’s perhaps something in the adage, ‘let the mind wander’”, says Ekelund. “When does a walk start?”
“Right away, but it may take a few minutes before the daily chores are out of mind,” answers Kagge.
“Fast or slow?”
“Walking slowly can be a totally different experience. When I wrote the book about the trails, there was one day when I planned to walk only 30 kilometers between sunrise and sunset, that is, two kilometers per hour. Then, I had to slow down, stop, and I got into a rhythm, a flow. It was a great experience, another kind of experience,” says Ekelund.
“Walking alone or with others?”
“I like to be with other people and would rather go for a walk than sit in a meeting room. But even if there’s another person next to you, you may experience the same journey quite differently.”
New adventures?
“Will there be new expeditions, Erling Kagge?”
“In the eighties and nineties, I put a lot of effort into going on long trips.
Then I took a break, but I think there may be long trips ahead.”
“I was very interested in expeditions before, about the same time when you were doing it, Erling, and a little afterwards. Now it’s gone,” confesses Ekelund.
“Why do you absolutely have to tell people about the trip in social media?”
“My father probably walks seventy to eighty kilometers a week, that is, I suspect he does. I don’t ask, he doesn’t tell. He doesn’t have a need to talk about it,” says Ekelund.
“I have a partner now, but I tried dating apps both in Norway and abroad. In Norway, all the women have pictures where they’re leaning against a wall sunning themselves in the Easter sun with snow, oranges, and sports equipment. I never found this abroad. So perhaps telling everyone about your walk is just very Norwegian,” says Kagge.
“All this logging and documenting the best walks is also a thing, but for me, it’s a quantitative way of relating to hiking and nature,” says Ekelund.
From the Norwegian by Hon Khiam Leong.