THE NEW Y0RK TIMES – Almost everything had gone wrong on Alec Luhn’s solo hike in a national park in Norway.
Mr. Luhn, 38, had spent six days without food, water, or a working phone, as he dealt with serious injuries. But then, miraculously, he was rescued from a remote and steep mountain this month.
“It was a really great ending to a story that started with a couple of bad decisions,” Mr. Luhn said in a phone interview from a hospital in Bergen on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, there are things to be learned from it for other people, as well.”
Here’s his story.
‘Disaster struck.’
Mr. Luhn and his wife, Veronika Silchenko, traveled to Norway in July for a vacation with his family.
After realizing that they were staying near a national park with the country’s third-largest glacier, Mr. Luhn, an American climate journalist and an experienced hiker, decided to extend his trip to hike to it.
On July 31, Mr. Luhn texted his itinerary to Ms. Silchenko, who had returned to their home in England, and then set off on a backpacking trip, heading into Folgefonna National Park from Odda, a nearby town.
Ms. Silchenko did not expect to hear from him for a few days because of spotty phone service in the park.
Mr. Luhn planned to complete his hike on Aug. 4, catch a bus to Bergen and make his flight back to England.
“That was the plan,” Mr. Luhn said. “I didn’t get that far into it before disaster struck.”
‘I should have turned back.’
Early in the hike, things started going wrong. (This, Mr. Luhn said, is when he began making bad decisions.)
The sole of his left boot started coming off after a few hours. He decided to tape the sole with athletic tape, which compromised the boot’s traction.
“I should have turned back and gone into Odda and bought some new boots” …
