lacked a deep understanding of their cul-
ture. But five years of living in Denmark
have taught me that, in fact, both those con-
cepts are not so complicated. Hygge equals
“cozy.” Fika equals “coffee break.” And fri-
luftsliv, I suspect, equals “outdoor living.”
Norwegians are especially committed to
it. They have organizations in every town
dedicated to promoting friluftsliv and often
a local government office as well. They have
rules for it, called the Mountain Code, print-
ed on the inside of the most popular candy
bar’s wrappers. (Rule No. 4: Be prepared for
bad weather and frost, even on short trips.)
They even offer college degrees in it.
And so I decided to go to Norway on a quest
for friluftsliv’s hidden meaning. My plan was
to travel from above the Arctic Circle down to
Oslo, moving not only from north to south but
also from remote to urban. And for insight, I
could think of no better person to start with
than Roddie Sloan.
A rugged shellfish diver, Roddie supplies
some of Scandinavia’s best-known restau-
rants with urchins and clams, which is how
I became friends with him and his anthro-
pologist wife, Lindis. He once took me fish-
ing on a dark, frigid February day when theScandinavians have a special
relationship to nature. They’ve
built an entire cuisine around
foraging. They leave their babies
in prams outdoors in winter
because they think it toughens
them up. They love telling
you there’s no bad weather,
only bad clothing. They have
laws that ensure the public’s right to walk
through pretty much any uncultivated
land they want. And Norwegians have that
word, friluftsliv, which is meant to convey
something profound and culturally specific
about why they like to spend time outdoors
and which, they insist, resists translation.
Scandinavians love to say that kind of
thing. Long before every lifestyle magazine
in the Western Hemisphere was urging read-
ers to light candles and eat more cake, Danes
and Swedes were insisting that hygge and fika
could not be fully grasped by anyone who
Left: Café owner Iris Westerås
with her goats and llamas above
Geirangerfjord.
Previous spread: A local woman
walks in a meadow near Bodø on
the Norwegian coast.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 AFAR 111