Master’s degree thesis IDR950 Sport Management Evolution of mountaineering in Rauma and its role in destination development Irina Ilina Number of pages including this page: 141 Molde, 14.05.2018 Mandatory statement Each student is responsible for complying with rules and regulations that relate to examinations and to academic work in general. The purpose of the mandatory statement is to make students aware of their responsibility and the consequences of cheating. Failure to complete the statement does not excuse students from their responsibility. Please complete the mandatory statement by placing a mark in each box for statements 1-6 below. 1. I/we hereby declare that my/our paper/assignment is my/our own work, and that I/we have not used other sources or received other help than mentioned in the paper/assignment. 2. I/we hereby declare that this paper Mark each 1. Has not been used in any other exam at another box: department/university/university college 1. 2. 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I/we are aware of the University College’s rules and regulation for using sources Publication agreement ECTS credits: 30 Supervisor: Reidar J. Mykletun Agreement on electronic publication of master thesis Author(s) have copyright to the thesis, including the exclusive right to publish the document (The Copyright Act §2). All theses fulfilling the requirements will be registered and published in Brage HiM, with the approval of the author(s). Theses with a confidentiality agreement will not be published. I/we hereby give Molde University College the right to, free of charge, make the thesis available for electronic publication: yes no Is there an agreement of confidentiality? yes no (A supplementary confidentiality agreement must be filled in) - If yes: Can the thesis be online published when the period of confidentiality is expired? yes no Date: 14.05.2018 Preface I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all people who have contributed to the successfulness of this thesis. To my family – my mother and my cousin grandfather who always love and support me and who made this education possible. To my friends, especially Dilara Valiyeva, Victoria Dyadkina, and Sindre Loug – for their pieces of practical advice. To all the passionate mountaineers – for warm and interesting conversations and sharing their personal reflections on the topic, which was a valuable contribution to my study and gave me a million of thoughts about my own interest in mountain sports. To the representatives of the organizations, whom I interviewed, especially Anita Vik Buckley from Norsk Tindesenter – for the opportunity to cooperate and her kind help. To the Historical Faculty at Northern (Arctic) Federal University in Arkhangelsk and to all my teachers there, who positively influenced my interest in scientific work. To the Sport Management department of Høgskolen i Molde and its staff – for providing me a good platform for improving my skills and learning new things, especially Solveig Straume – for her kind help. I would like to express my special gratitude to my supervisor Reidar J. Mykletun for all his work, support, wise pieces of advice and thoughts. I am infinitely grateful for the time and effort he has devoted to assisting me and his support. I am very glad and honoured to call Reidar J. Mykletun my supervisor. During his classes I got to know about Norsk Tindesenter and the fascinating mountaineering history of Rauma and got interested in it. It was a pleasure to work with him and I hope there will be opportunities to cooperate again in the future. I have enjoyed working on this master thesis a lot. It was a great experience and I am glad that I had a chance to share it with all these great people. Molde, May 2018 Irina Ilina Abstract The thesis focuses on mountaineering and its development in Rauma municipality (Møre og Romsdal fylke, Norway) as an extreme sport, and as adventure tourism; moreover, it identifies the role of mountaineering in present development of the destination. First, the thesis narrates about rich mountaineering heritage of Rauma, including determination of the key stakeholders in local mountaineering in 19th and 20th centuries. Next, it analyses the current situation in local mountaineering and describes how local mountaineers view their experiences and the place of mountaineering in present development of Rauma as a tourism destination. After that, the thesis indicates the actors of the local tourism network, which are related to mountaineering and analyses the interrelations between them. In particular, the thesis identifies the role and functions of Norsk Tindesenter in this network. In conclusion, based on the research findings, the thesis claims that mountaineering was developed in Rauma in an evolutionary way and today, the rich mountaineering heritage of Rauma is used as a strong base for the destination development. Then, the thesis provides recommendations for improving the local network of mountaineering- related stakeholders, as well as recommendations for the future development of Rauma as an adventure tourism destination. The thesis was done in cooperation with Norsk Tindesenter. Key words: mountaineering, extreme sports, adventure tourism, destination development, Norsk Tindesenter, Åndalsnes, Rauma Contents 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Structure of the thesis .................................................................................................. 8 2.0 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Mountaineering .......................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Defining extreme sports ............................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Risk and risk-taking in extreme sports ................................................................ 18 2.2.2 Nature in extreme sports ..................................................................................... 19 2.2.3 Freedom in extreme sports .................................................................................. 22 2.3 Defining adventure tourism ....................................................................................... 24 2.3.1 What is adventure tourism and how does it correlate with mountaineering? ..... 24 2.3.2 Commercialization of adventure and space for risk ............................................ 26 2.3.3 Motivation for participation in adventure tourism .............................................. 27 2.4 Development of tourism destinations ........................................................................ 30 3.0 Method ........................................................................................................................... 36 3.1 Historical research ..................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Interviews ................................................................................................................... 37 3.2.1 Participants .......................................................................................................... 37 3.2.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................. 38 3.3 Validity and reliability ............................................................................................... 40 3.4 Limitations of the study ............................................................................................. 41 4.0 Results – Mountaineering in Rauma in the 19th and 20th centuries: the main stakeholders ......................................................................................................................... 42 4.1 Interest of travellers in Norway as a destination in the 19th century.......................... 42 4.2 Pioneers of mountaineering in Norway – .................................................................. 44 William Cecil Slingsby and Carl Hall ............................................................................. 44 4.3 Mountaineering enthusiasts of Rauma area in the 19th century ................................. 52 4.4 Aak hotel .................................................................................................................... 56 4.5 Arne Randers Heen .................................................................................................... 59 4.6 Summary of the chapter ............................................................................................