To be in the mountains to climb or to climb to be in the mountains?: the notion of competition in Norwegian mountaineering

Abstract

This paper will focus on the notion of competition in Norwegian mountaineering and climbing as outdoor sport. Competition is in Norway a crucial element in the distinction between (outdoor)sporti and friluftslivii. The tension that comes along, origins from questions the pioneers in mountain climbing were facing. Ques-tions that in the explicit Norwegian context were linked to important moral and political issues of the time. By researching the activities of the pioneers in mountaineering and climbing around the change of century, we will investigate why and how competition is the key factor in distribuating the way idrettiii are understood and organized in Norway.