Kultur for skredsikkerhet i Norge, 1960 – 2020

Abstract

This article presents the results of a cultural-historical study related to avalanche safety and risk in Norway in the period 1960-2020. We have identified three major shifts related to how, at an institutional level, the problem of avalanche safety has been approached. Through all the shifts, the ideas for safety thinking have come to Norway through import of ideas. The institutions, who strived for «the Norwegian method» to be the legitimate safety thinking, during the first shift, were «Norsk Alpincenter», as well as voluntary institutions. Through the second shift this method was challenged and partly replaced. The initiative came from the ski magazine and publishing house Fri Flyt AS and Markus Landrø (IFMGA) and Norwegian Geotechnical Center. Fri Flyt AS continued its quest to define what kind of safety thinking should emerge as legitimate through the third shift, together with The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate and IFMGA members.