hike
Hiking is a form of long walking over several hours . In the past, walking was the normal form of travel , but today it is mainly a leisure activity and a sport in developed countries. Hiking is a moderate sport associated with experiencing nature and a key economic factor in summer tourism . In the cold season of the year, snowshoeing has recently become a popular winter sport.
In Europe and North America, charming regions in nature are well developed by hiking trails that lead to beautiful scenic spots, but can also cross populated areas. For hiking you can stick to the marked paths or use all other suitable paths without heavy traffic.
Sights and viewpoints can be reached on many hiking trails . In addition to routes that are suitable for day trips, the hiking organizations have also created and signposted long-distance hiking trails that are divided into several or even many daily stages. A special category of these routes are those pilgrimage routes that are mastered on foot.
A versatile infrastructure has developed around hiking tourism, which enables access to the hiking trails, equipment with the material and literature, food and accommodation, as well as safety and rescue services.
Definition
A distinction is made between purposeless and purposeful hiking. Purposeless hikes serve an end in themselves, edification or strengthening, while purposeful hikes used to have reasons such as research, job search, rolling , flight or trade or, in a broader sense, military marches .
Derived from a survey that is representative for Germany, the following demand-based definition emerges for purpose-free hiking as distinct from walking :
“Hiking is walking in the countryside. This is a leisure activity with varying levels of physical demand that promotes both mental and physical well-being. Characteristic for a hike are:
- a duration of more than an hour,
- appropriate planning,
- Use of specific infrastructure as well
- an adapted equipment "
history
Emergence
The Italian Francesco Petrarca is considered to be the first historically documented "purposeless" hiker , who in 1336 climbed the approximately 1900 m high Mont Ventoux with his brother . Few other migrations of this type have been documented for many centuries after him. But the concept of the wanderer was also known in Germany in the Middle Ages. 1353 will be in a contract between Baldwin of Luxembourg , Archbishop of Trier , and William of Gennep , archbishop of Cologne , on the robber barons Daun in the Eifel merchants, pilgrims, Wandeler mentioned and common Leut, were attacked from the castle (Lhak Best. 1A No. 7079). Only with the Enlightenment , especially with Albrecht von Haller's poem The Alps (1729) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Julie, or the New Heloise (1761), when was educated classes to a new enthusiasm for nature.
The new way of getting around, hiking, became a symbol of the enlightened emancipation of the bourgeoisie from the nobility. Upright in the corridor one looked out into the world and watched the people and nature undisturbed from the carriage windows. Numerous enlightening hikers explored Europe on foot in the last third of the 18th century and wrote down their findings as objectively as possible. Special attention was paid to the social and political realities of the areas through which we walked. The most dazzling example is often the Leipzig Johann Gottfried Seume , who set out on a foot trip to Sicily in 1801 and returned to Leipzig via Paris after nine months. Hiking has been associated with liminality , as it is a special experience with other hierarchies.
romance
After the Enlightenment, the Romantics took over hiking and have shaped his image to this day. Writers like Eichendorff went on long hikes. In contrast to the Enlightenment, their gaze was no longer focused on the social and political realities, but primarily on the landscape as a mirror of their own interior. They were looking for solitude in order to find the cosmos within themselves in it. In his fragment of the novel "Heinrich von Ofterdingen", Novalis also tells of a boy who is inspired by a wandering stranger. He discovered the blue flower: the symbol of longing, the unattainable, the symbol of wandering in romanticism.
Harz, Rügen and Saxon Switzerland were the favorite destinations of the romantics back then. Their wild, untouched nature in connection with water corresponded exactly to their ideas. Numerous sketches, paintings and copperplate engravings were created. After all, the artists made the regions so well known through their pictures that it soon became good manners for the wealthy rulers to see this landscape for themselves. Those who could afford it were carried to the prospect in sedan chairs, because the clothes of the time, especially those of women, were anything but suitable for hiking. Looking back, this was the beginning of tourism in Germany.
In the 19th century less and less cities were hiked, but people were brought to the starting points in nature in carriages or by train, where they walked on more and more predetermined routes. If the scouts were still hostile or looked at with disdain, the romantics made hiking socially acceptable. Unfortunately, with the arrival of the railway lines, many of these hiking trails were forgotten.
In Saxon Switzerland, the route from Dresden to the Elbe Sandstone Mountains was reconstructed very intensively on the basis of historical images. Today the hiking trail can be hiked as a painter's path .
Institutionalization of hiking
From the middle of the 19th century there was an increasing institutionalization of hiking by hiking and mountain clubs . These mostly bourgeois and local associations did pioneering work in the development of nature through hiking trails , signposts , hiking maps , shelters and observation towers. Based on a poem by Wilhelm Müller , Carl Friedrich Zöllner composed a song in 1844 which, in this version, became the famous hiking and folk song The hiking is the miller's pleasure . The first German low mountain range association was founded in 1864 with the Badischer Schwarzwaldverein , and in 1896 after a mountain hiking accident the first mountain rescue center worldwide in the Austrian Mürzzuschlag (state of Styria).
German hiking association
Founded in Fulda in 1883, the German Hiking Association is the umbrella organization for mountain and hiking clubs in Germany. Its member organizations mark and supervise around 200,000 km of hiking trails on a voluntary basis. 58 regional associations with a total of 600,000 members are organized in the association. The tasks of the statutes include not only path work and the maintenance of hiking, but also nature conservation, youth , family and cultural work.
Nature lovers
The Friends of Nature , founded in Vienna in 1895, made hiking possible for a proletarian class for the first time. With a strong socialist character, they opened the first nature lovers' houses where hikers could spend the night cheaply and go on vacation. They have built more than 1,000 houses since they were founded - around 450 in Germany alone.
Wandervogel
At the same time the youth movement emerged, which in 1901 led to the Wandervogel movement . The migratory birds were mostly young pupils and students who fled the cities into nature and revolted against Wilhelmine society with a new way of life.
Forms of hiking
Mountain hiking
"Mountains are silent masters and make silent students."
Hiking in mountainous terrain is known as mountain hiking , although the boundaries between hiking, mountain hiking and mountaineering are not precisely defined. Among other things, mountaineering is differentiated from mountain hiking by the need to climb , whereby “climbing” is only spoken of when you have to use your hands to help. In a specification of the SAC hiking scale , the Swiss Alpine Club states that mountaineering begins there when at least one member of the group needs mountaineering aids (such as ice ax, rope, crampons, etc.). If, regardless of the terrain, no aids are required due to the experience and knowledge of the tourers, a tour is considered a mountain hike.
Mountain hiking becomes a high-altitude hike when it takes place at a greater height without significant differences in altitude (see also Alpine tour ). From crossing or transition occurs when a mountain pass is to exceed and the way most of a shelter leads to the next.
In 2005 there were 416 deaths in alpine accidents in Austria , in the same year there were 764 road deaths . In Tyrol there were 179 Alpine deaths and 57 road deaths. In Austria, most of the fatal accidents occurred while mountain hiking (130), followed by climbing (36) and mountaineering (29). According to a Swiss study, there is one accident for every 7,143 hours of hiking. Seen in this way, only swimming is safer of popular recreational sports, while the risk of injury in winter sports exceeds that of hiking 7.5 times (18 times playing football). Fatal alpine accidents are caused by tripping, slipping and falling in 64 percent, exhaustion and overworking in 21 percent, the remaining 15 percent are divided between loss of orientation, abandonment , stone and lightning strikes , heat or cold damage or avalanches .
Long-distance hiking, long-distance hiking, trekking
As a long-distance hiking is called a walking tour that leads over longer distances, and several days to travel in one. Of long-distance paths is when several long-distance trails are interconnected. Trekking is long-distance hiking away from marked routes.
From 1905, the Jura High Trail was laid out and marked in Switzerland , which leads over the panoramic mountain ranges of the Jura Mountains in 16 stages from Dielsdorf north of Zurich to near Geneva . Today the Jurahöhenweg is also part of the European long-distance hiking trail E4 .
Long- distance hiking as an aspect of mountain sports was considered in 1912 by DuÖAV secretary Josef Moriggl , who dealt with hiking from hut to hut. In 1932 the alpine writer E. Benesch described three long-distance hiking routes in the Alpine region.
In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, there were increasingly well-marked routes, also because one recognized the economic aspect of long-distance hiking - long-distance hikers were tied to local resources. The first supraregional associations were founded during this time. From 1969 there are plans to make Europe-wide long-distance hiking attractive through suitable routes. Today these efforts are coordinated by the European Hiking Association in the form of the European long-distance hiking trails .
- See also: Long-distance hiking trail - overview of the network of trails and hiking areas.
At the same time, the wilderness movement in North America is developing, which leads from the nature reserves to analogous long-distance and long-distance trails (English trails ). Long-distance hiking becomes a worldwide phenomenon as a leisure activity Trekking from the time when the “exotic” mountains such as the Himalayas or Andes are opened up for broad-based long-distance tourism that goes beyond expeditions .
In the youth movement and scouts, hiking with a tent is usually referred to as going on a journey . Trips usually last a weekend to three weeks.
Sport hiking
Sports hiking begins with organized marches (depending on the state) from 35 to 40 km. The umbrella organization in Austria is the Austrian Association for Sports Hiking, Long Distance Hiking and Trekking (ÖFS). In Switzerland or Germany, sports hiking agendas are part of the International People's Sports Association (IVV). This association generally offers hiking trails of 5, 10 and 20 km. There are also longer routes, e.g. B. the marathon route (42 km) or 50 km, offered.
Folk walks
In the case of a people's hike, also known as the popular march, the organizer offers hiking trails of various lengths that the participant can hike through alone or in a group. There are usually several refreshment and checkpoints along the way, so you don't have to take heavy luggage with you. After completing the route, the participant often receives a symbolic award. It was offered as part of the keep-fit movement at the beginning of the 1970s . The municipalities were the organizers.
Many organizing clubs are organized in the German People's Sports Association or the International People's Sports Association. The member clubs have a uniform system of ratings and badges worldwide.
The Strandzesdaagse has established itself in the Netherlands .
Nordic walking
Nordic walking comes from Finland and is another health-promoting type of hiking that is increasingly popular under the term Nordic hiking. This type of movement with sticks was specially designed for hikers and is suitable for long distances. This is also about the sociability factor, because the hikers also want to chat and enjoy nature during their tours. Nevertheless, they notice the training effect of using the sticks in the Nordic walking technique. Today you can see hikers with two sticks on many hiking trails.
Winter hiking
For winter hiking, in addition to the paths in the mountain valleys, specially prepared routes are laid out at the level of the ski areas and signaled, in Switzerland with purple signs since the late 1990s. In addition to walking tours winter hiking also includes ski touring , cross-country tour or snowshoe hike.
Hiking without luggage
Many tourism associations offer tours lasting several days, where the luggage of the hikers is transported from hotel to hotel for a certain surcharge. This is often a circular route within a certain area (e.g. Black Forest , Palatinate Forest , Franconian Switzerland , Styrian Joglland , Harz , etc.). You can also put together a route on your own and ask the hotels in question whether luggage transport will be taken over.
Pilgrimages and pilgrimages
Pilgrimage and pilgrimage are probably the most original form of hiking that is not actually traveling. Some pilgrimage routes are still used today as long-distance hiking trails. The Way of St. James is one of the most famous pilgrimage routes . An equally ancient pilgrimage route is the Via Francigena; it leads from Canterbury (England) via France and Switzerland to Rome.
Educational walking
More recently, educational hiking has become increasingly popular. Educational trails with information boards on factual issues of the chosen topic replace the hiking guide as a knowledge mediator and enable self-determined learning and allow walking at the self-selected speed. A special form are the planetary paths , which represent a scaled-down model of the solar system and usually come up with relevant information. Themed hiking trails bind goals of common interest to one another, such as the Walser trails or the cultural trail in the Alps . Paths of remembrance, such as the Sentiero della Pace along the Alpine front of the First World War, can also be seen in this context.
Educational hikes also include guided hikes by certified hiking, nature, city, mountain or mudflat guides. Guided hikes not only convey the characteristics of a region's landscape and its history. Disguised hiking guides enhance the educational experience and are at the same time figureheads for a tourist region, so they are also used specifically for marketing. Hiking guides often offer package deals that include accommodation, food and offers that go beyond the hikes carried out by the guide. Groups and individual hikers who make use of these services do not have to organize their hike themselves and do not even need a hiking map.
Spiritual or meditative hiking
Tradition of several days or several weeks going back to the wandering monks with the goal of God and / or existential search for meaning. Such hikes are often aimed at special places, for example places of pilgrimage and pilgrimage (e.g. Santiago de Compostela ), lonely and / or remote landscapes. See also time out .
A poem by Gerhard Tersteegen from 1745 expresses the fact that one can understand the whole of life in the image of a great spiritual wandering, the goal of which cannot ultimately be achieved on earth :
- One day that tells the other
- my life is a wandering
- to the great eternity [...]
- my home is not at this time .
This goes back to a thought of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, 6. Paul understands his earthly existence as a wandering to God, in the Vulgate translation: "Dum sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino".
Ulrich Grober sees hiking as an exercise in the key skills of the 21st century. The current generation is beginning to discover an ideal in the wandering nomad. Grober took up the ideas of Vilém Flusser (a nomadic philosopher) and Adalbert Stifter , who discovered greatness and sublimity in landscapes and reflected mental states in descriptions of nature. "You have the experience of being able to get by with little and of accomplishing extraordinary things in this situation and experiencing it particularly intensely."
Night walking
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Night hikes are hikes that are mostly carried out in the dark. These can also have a religious background, e.g. B. the ascent to Sri Pada in Sri Lanka. Under the guidance of adults, hikes of this kind are popular and common practice, especially with groups of children and young people as part of school trips or holiday stays. Here the idea of wandering plays a rather subordinate role compared to the horror effect. Often a night hike is staged as a torchlight procession .
Walking barefoot
The Deutsche Wanderjugend (DWJ) emphasizes the health benefits of barefoot hiking. Numerous barefoot parks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland enable a first barefoot hiking experience under the secure conditions of a well-kept and varied leisure facility. A mudflat hike is also ideal for walking barefoot.
Geocaching
Geocaching is a kind of electronic treasure hunt or scavenger hunt in which GPS receivers are usually used for navigation . Geocaches with several intermediate stops (multi-caches) in nature are the basis for hiking and make hiking attractive for new, mostly young target groups. Many hiking clubs and associations (e.g. the German Hiking Youth) support geocaching through information events and hikes to geocaches. Due to the high density of caches and relevant internet portals, hikes in foreign regions are also possible without extensive preliminary research.
Naked hiking
Naturists look for “total freedom and closeness to nature” on naked hikes in the classic nudist manner. In order to avoid misunderstandings, they prefer less frequented routes. Occasionally there are officially signposted and advertised nude hiking trails, such as the Harzer Naturistenstieg .
Speed hiking
A sharper type of hiking is speed hiking . This means fast hiking with sticks and light equipment in demanding terrain. Speed hiking can be used as a counterbalance to many winter sports, such as B. cross-country skiing, ski touring, can be used as well as optimal training in preparation for various competitions or to improve one's own physical and coordinative skills. The sticks serve to stabilize the body on the one hand, and on the other hand they also train the upper body muscles. Speed hiking can also be practiced as an independent sport. For this reason, special competitions for speed hikers are often held, in which different distances of different degrees of difficulty have to be mastered.
Pliking or plaking
When pliking or plaking , based on the sport of plogging, a suitcase word , formed from the components "plocka" ( Swedish to pick up; to pick ) and jogging , rubbish is collected when hiking and then disposed of. The word education comes to the connection of what is mentioned "Plocka" and the English terms "hiking" ( hiking ), or walking back.
Health aspects
A study by the Cologne Institute for Prevention and Aftercare (IPN) commissioned by the fitness magazine Fit for Fun came to the conclusion that the energy expenditure when hiking is comparable to that when jogging . For example, the test subjects consumed just as much food energy on a 2-hour hike in the lowlands as they did when jogging for 75 minutes. The gentle way is also cited as advantageous, because the automatic tempo adjustment seldom results in excessive physical strain.
The Frankfurter Rundschau highlighted the advantages of hiking more clearly and supported itself in doing so. a. on a joint study by the Federal Ministry of Economics and the German Hiking Association in 2010. There is hardly a healthier sport, because not only the energy expenditure is similar to jogging. Hiking also lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases, strengthens bones, joints and ligaments as well as the immune system and respiratory tract. In addition, it has positive effects on the psyche through the breakdown of stress hormones and the increased release of the happiness hormone serotonin and the happiness messenger dopamine.
The attractiveness of hiking
The motivation to hike is subject to considerable fluctuations, both in terms of age groups and generations as well as in terms of the type of hiking and the trend of the time. While it was still a self-evident professional necessity with the rolling of the journeyman craftsmen, combined with experience, adventure and personal maturation, the generation of the youth movement and the Wandervogel celebrated hiking in songs and activities as an emancipation from the encrusted adult world, as an escape from the barren cities, as romantic discovery of nature and as an indispensable part of their special youth culture .
At the end of the 1980s, however, the didactic specialist Siegbert A. Warwitz felt compelled to answer the question “Can hiking still be taught pedagogically?” The question was based on research results, according to which the supposed “pure stretching” was largely frowned upon in both children and students . One shied away from carrying luggage and was happy to be under one roof again when it first rained. School hikes could often only be initiated with the expectation of an amusement park or an inn. Hiking was seen as a boring "senior sport". Many young people lacked an established “hiking culture”. Warwitz describes how even the compulsory acquisition of a "hiking guide license" for trainee teachers , especially for sports students , required additional stimuli to motivate them. The weaned, arduous foot movement was replaced by forms of cycling , skiing and river hiking , " ranger signs " led to surprises and tasks, complex projects were designed, hiking was accompanied by a horse-drawn covered wagon that transported the equipment and, if necessary, " Foot Sufferers ”, made it more attractive.
Class, group and family hikes with hiking equipment are still of lively interest among children today as hikes as well as bike rides, if it is made into an "adventure hike" with adventures, activities and discoveries in a didactically skillful way beyond the pure walk.
For about 15 years, hiking stations have been opening up hiking trails for hikers by train and bus. With the increase in the number of boarding and disembarking passengers by hikers at small train stations, these train stations were retained and thus made hiking trails and hiking stages accessible . Walks, day hikes or even multi-day hikes can be undertaken directly from the platform.
The Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg dedicated the extensive special exhibition Wanderland in 2018 to the importance of the cultural technique of hiking . A journey through the history of hiking , about which the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that it shows an unprecedented range.
See also
- Ride (youth movement)
- Canoeing
- Performance kilometers , a measure for comparing routes with different elevation profiles
- Prädikatswanderweg
- Wanderlust
- walk
literature
- Ulrich Grober : From hiking - new paths to an old art. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 2011, ISBN 978-3-499-62685-2 .
- Brother Jakobus Kaffanke, OSB : The way to yourself - the little book of pilgrimages. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-451-05944-5 .
- Heinrich Kanz : hiking today. Hiking pedagogy. Peter Lang Edition, Frankfurt (Main) 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-62855-3 (268 pages)
- Dirk Schümer: A Brief History of Hiking. Malik Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-89029-375-1 .
- S. Sterner: The art of hiking . Reinbek 1982
- Nadine Stumpf: Adventure in school sports. What children want and how they can be realized. Scientific thesis GHS. Karlsruhe 2001.
- Judith Völler: Adventure, risk and risk in elementary school sports. Experiential aspects. Scientific thesis GHS. Karlsruhe 1997.
- Knut Waldau and Helmut Betz: Mountains are silent masters - Spiritual accompaniment on the way through the mountains. Kösel Verlag, Munich 2005, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-466-36625-5 .
- Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf (ed.): Hiking as a project . H. 4 of the series 'Project teaching in schools and universities'. Karlsruhe 1986.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz: Can hiking still be conveyed pedagogically? In: Physical education 9 (1988) pages 325-333.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf, Josef Wagner (eds.): Adventure covered wagon. H. 5 of the series of project teaching in schools and universities. Karlsruhe 1989.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz: The rediscovery of hiking. In: Olympic Youth 5/1989 and 6/1989.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz: Is it worth taking a risk - Or do we prefer to let ourselves be adventurous? In: Magazin OutdoorWelten 1 (2014) pages 68 ff. ISSN 2193-2921 .
Web links
- Martin Illi: Hiking. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Link catalog on hiking at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
Individual evidence
- ^ Deutscher Wanderverband: Page no longer available , search in web archives: Basic study of the leisure and holiday market hiking (PDF; 4.6 MB) (funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics), Kassel 2010, ISBN 978-3-934580-09-1 , p. 23.
- ↑ Arnd Krüger : History of hiking, in: A. Dreyer, A. Menzel & M. Endreß (eds.): Hiking tourism. Munich: Oldenbourg 2010, pp. 15–21.
- ↑ https://www.welt.de/sonderthemen/wanderlust/article176041043/Wandern-in-der-Literatur.html
- ↑ Modified, quoted from Alpen more deadly than road traffic, in: Medical Tribune , online, January 12, 2007, p. 12.
- ↑ Website of the Jurahöhenweg at schweizmobil.ch
- ↑ a b Fritz Käfer: Long-distance hiking / trekking / pilgrimage on long-distance hiking trails. In: News. PES section long-distance hikers, March 27, 2007, accessed on January 9, 2009 .
- ↑ a b c Fritz Käfer: Long-distance hiking. More than an idea . In: OeAV (Ed.): Bergauf . Vol. 60, No. 3/05 . Magazine of the Austrian Alpine Club, Innsbruck 2005, p. 20 f ( Webrepro , pdf).
- ↑ http://www.oefs.at/
- ^ Via Francigena
- ↑ Now the day has ended, e.g. B. in: Evangelisches Gesangbuch , Edition 1996, No. 481, verse 5.
- ↑ Ulrich Grober: About hiking. - New ways to an old art. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2011.
- ^ Paula Krempels: Guide: Plogging, Plalking, Pliking - Sport for Mother Nature. Swiss Environmental Information Foundation, May 19, 2019, accessed on September 4, 2019 .
- ↑ This is how slim hiking really makes you at fitforfun.de, accessed on July 26, 2015.
- ↑ Hiking brings just as much as jogging to fr-online.de, accessed on July 26, 2015.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Can hiking still be conveyed pedagogically? In: Physical education 9 (1988) pages 325-333.
- ↑ S. Sterner: The Art of Wandering . Reinbek 1982.
- ↑ Ulrich Grober: From hiking - new ways to an old art. Rowohlt 2011.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf (Ed.): Hiking as a project. H. 4 of the series project teaching in schools and universities . Karlsruhe 1986.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf, Josef Wagner (eds.): Adventure covered wagon. H. 5 of the series of project teaching in schools and universities . Karlsruhe 1989.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The rediscovery of hiking . In: Olympic Youth 5/1989 and 6/1989
- ↑ Nadine Stumpf: Adventure in school sports. What children want and how they can be realized . Scientific thesis GHS. Karlsruhe 2001
- ^ Judith Völler: Adventure, risk and risk in elementary school sports. Experiential aspects . Scientific thesis GHS. Karlsruhe 1997
- ↑ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Is it worth taking a risk - Or do we prefer to let ourselves be adventurous? In: Magazin OutdoorWelten 1 (2014) pages 68 ff.
- ↑ http://www.wander-bahnhoefe-brandenburg.de/wanderBahnhoefe.php
- ↑ http://www.fuss-ev.de/presse/76-presse/pressemitteilungen/205-wander-bahnhoefe-ausgezeich.html
- ↑ https://www.gnm.de/ausstellungen/aktuell-und-vorschau/wanderland/
- ↑ Claudia Henzler: Importance of a Movement in Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 274, November 28, 2018, R20