Erling Kagge

Erling Kagge is the first person to reach the North Pole, South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest on foot.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In 1990, Erling Kagge and Børge Ousland became the first people ever to reach the North Pole unsupported.[https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-people-to-reach-the-north-pole/ Guinness World Records] The expedition started from Ellesmere Island on March 8, 1990, and reached the North Pole 58 days later on May 4, 1990. They traveled approximately 800 kilometers on skis, pulling their supplies on sledges.National Geographic, March 1991

In 1992 and 1993, Kagge completed the first unsupported and solo expedition to the South Pole, covering the 814-mile (1,310 km) route in 50 days.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/echoes-of-amundsen-as-norwegian-races-to-pole-1477142.html|title=Echoes of Amundsen as Norwegian races to Pole|last=Buchan|first=James|date=January 8, 1993|work=The Independent |location=UK|accessdate=December 23, 2010}} Kagge had no radio contact to the outside world for the duration of this expedition, which was featured on the cover of the international edition of Time magazine on March 1, 1993.{{cite web |url=http://rolexawards.com/en/about-the-awards/2006-selection-committee-erling-kagge.jsp |title=2006 Rolex Awards for Enterprise – Committee Selection |work=Rolex Awards for Enterprise |accessdate=January 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109163830/http://rolexawards.com/en/about-the-awards/2006-selection-committee-erling-kagge.jsp |archive-date=January 9, 2011}}

In 1994, Kagge summited Mount Everest, thus becoming the first person to complete the "Three Poles Challenge" on foot.{{cite web|url=http://www.explorersweb.com/polar/news.php?id=17483|title=AdventureStats heads-up: Three poles correction – Erling Kagge first|date=August 13, 2008|publisher=ExplorersWeb|accessdate=December 23, 2010|archive-date=May 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522181505/https://www.explorersweb.com/polar/news.php?id=17483|url-status=dead}}

For two years, Kagge worked as a lawyer for industrial giant Norsk Hydro. Kagge has also sailed across the Atlantic twice, around Cape Horn and to the Antarctic Peninsula.

After his record-breaking feat of reaching the "three poles", Kagge attended Cambridge University to study philosophy for three terms. In 1996, he founded the eponymous Oslo-based publishing house, Kagge Forlag. In 2000 Kagge Forlag acquired one of Norway's oldest publishing companies, J.M. Stenersens Forlag. Kagge and Stenersens publish approximately 100 new titles annually. It is Norway's biggest publisher of nonfiction.[https://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/karer-kagge-til-sakprosa-vinner-1.904423 dagsavisen.no]

Kagge has written eight books on exploration, philosophy and art collecting, which have been translated into 39 languages.[https://norla.no/nb/books/769-silence-in-the-age-of-noise-the-joy-of-shutting-out-the-world Norla] He has written for the Financial Times, The New York Times[https://www.ft.com/content/7b06ad18-7345-11ea-ad98-044200cb277f Financial Times] and The Guardian.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/23/the-power-of-silence-in-the-smartphone-age|title = The power of silence in the smartphone age| newspaper=The Guardian |date = September 23, 2017 | last1=Kagge | first1=Erling }}

Kagge is a keen walker and continues to do expeditions, although with a lower profile than in the 1990s. In 2010 he and urban historian and photographer Steve Duncan descended into the sewers, subways and water tunnels of New York – walking for five days from the Bronx, via Manhattan, to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Kagge also does shorter walks: In 2012 he walked the entire length of Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard over three days with Petter Skavlan and Peder Lund.{{cite news |last= Feuer |first= Alan| title= The Wilderness Below Your Feet |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/nyregion/02underground.html | date= December 31, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York City| accessdate= January 29, 2019}} In December 2019 Kagge, Skavlan and Lund walked the entire length of New York's Broadway – from Sleepy Hollow to the tip of Manhattan - in 24 hours.

Kagge's five most recent books are Manhattan Underground, A Poor Collectors Guide to Buying Great Art, Silence in the Age of Noise, Walking – One Step at a Time and Philosophy for Polar Explorers. Kagge's book Silence: In the Age of Noise was broadcast as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week in January 2019.{{cite episode| title= Silence| series= Book of the Week| series-link= Book of the Week| credits= Author: Erling Kagge; Reader: Cal MacAninch; Abridged and produced by Eilidh McCreadie| network= BBC| station= BBC Radio 4| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00026wv | airdate= January 28, 2019| accessdate= January 29, 2019}} The Guardian named it one of the top ten books on silence.[https://www.bookweb.org/news/authors-honored-18th-annual-celebration-bookselling-bookexpo-104592 Bookweb] On Point, NPR, put Silence on their list for Best Books of 2017 {{Cite web|url=https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/12/14/on-point-staff-picks-for-best-books-of-2017|title = Best Books of 2017 — on Point Staff Picks}} and American Booksellers Association nominated it as Book of the Year, 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/our-finalists-for-2018-indies-choice-e-b-white-read-aloud-indie-champion-and-picture-book-hall-of-fame/|title = Our Finalists for 2018 Indies Choice, E.B. White Read-Aloud, Indie Champion, and Picture Book Hall of Fame}} The New York Times has described Erling Kagge as "a fascinating man. He's a philosophical adventurer or perhaps an adventurous philosopher", and Financial Times identified Kagge as "something of a Renaissance man".{{Cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/7c327a46-e75a-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211181247/https://www.ft.com/content/7c327a46-e75a-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3 |archive-date=December 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Explorer Erling Kagge on why we walk and the tyranny of tech |newspaper=Financial Times |date=November 16, 2018 |last1=Milne |first1=Richard |access-date=March 8, 2021 }}

Kagge has been on the cover of L'Uomo Vogue.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/328551735321271953/|work=L'Uomo Vogue |date=October 2020 |title ='The Great Beyond' Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge wear Dsquared2 Fall Winter 202... | Fashion mag, Creative director, Fashion studio}}

Kagge has three daughters: Nor, Ingrid and Solveig.

Kagge is a leading collector of international contemporary art.{{cite news|last=Skreddernes|first=Simon|date=October 24, 2013|title=A Polar Explorer's Art Adventure|language=en|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|location=New York City|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-polar-explorer8217s-art-adventure-1382650242|access-date=January 29, 2019}} Four European museums have dedicated shows to his collection in recent years: Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art in Oslo,{{Cite web |url=http://afmuseet.no/en/utstillinger/2015/love-story |title=Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art |access-date=April 13, 2015 |archive-date=May 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526020036/http://afmuseet.no/en/utstillinger/2015/love-story |url-status=dead }} Fondacion van Gogh Arles, Sala Santander in Madrid and Museion in Bolzano.[https://elpais.com/elpais/2020/02/25/album/1582629531_478391.html#foto_gal_1 El País][http://www.museion.it/2020/09/the-collection-of-erling-kagge-museions-guest-curator/?lang=en Collection of Erling Kagge]

The pioneering explorer supports the Premier League club Arsenal, stating 'Over the years I've sailed the oceans, skied to the Poles, climbed the mountains and written books, but Arsenal have never been out of my thoughts'.{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Dan |title=The official Arsenal miscellany |publisher=Hamlyn |year=2004 |isbn=9780600612599 |location=London |pages=52 |language=en}}

• Kagge, Erling (1990). Nordpolen: Det siste kappløpet. J.W. Cappelens forlag. {{ISBN|82-02-12406-9}}.
• Kagge, Erling (1993). Alene til Sydpolen. Cappelen. {{ISBN|82-02-14087-0}}.
• Kagge, Erling (1994). Pole to Pole & Beyond. N. W. Damm & Son. {{ISBN|82-517-8082-9}}.
• Kagge, Erling (2007). Philosophy for Polar Explorers: What They Don't Teach You in School. Pushkin Press. {{ISBN|1-901285-69-3}}.
• Kagge, Erling (2015). A Poor Collector's Guide to Buying Great Art. Kagge Forlag
• Kagge, Erling (2015). Manhattan Underground. World Editions.
• Kagge, Erling (2017). Silence: In the Age of Noise. Pantheon. {{ISBN|15-247-3323-7}}.
• Kagge, Erling (2019). Walking: One Step At a Time. Knopf Doubleday {{ISBN|1524747858}}.
• Kagge, Erling (2019). Philosophy for Polar Explorers: An Adventurer´s Guide to Surviving Winter. Viking. {{ISBN|9780241404867}}.

• Explorers Grand Slam

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Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:Explorers from Oslo

Category:Norwegian explorers of Antarctica

Category:Norwegian summiters of Mount Everest

Category:Norwegian mountain climbers