An American journalist from Wisconsin has gone missing after embarking on a solo hiking trip in Norway and failing to return for his scheduled flight.
Alec Luhn, an award-winning climate journalist according to his personal website, had set out on a four-day solo backpacking trip through southern Norway’s Folgefonna National Park, as reported by The Washington Post, CBS News, and CNN on Tuesday, August 5.
His wife, Veronika Silchenko, said she last spoke with Luhn on Thursday, July 31, while he was hiking in the Odda region of southwestern Norway, according to CBS News.
Initially, Silchenko wasn’t alarmed by the lack of communication due to Luhn’s outdoor experience, assuming poor cell reception could be the cause. But when he didn’t return to their home in the U.K. by Monday, August 4, she and other family members contacted the authorities.
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“@alecluhn_ is missing in Norway,” Silchenko wrote on Instagram Stories, sharing a post from another user urging people to help locate him. “Please help us with any information,” she added.
The original post noted that Luhn was exploring glaciers in Folgefonna National Park and that a “Red Cross search with volunteers and dogs and helicopters is underway in the area.”
Speaking with CNN, Silchenko described their final exchange: “We exchanged a few texts. He told me that he is going to hike and sent me a picture. He looked fine, the weather was fine.”
She added, “I started to worry slightly on Sunday, but then I thought that it’s Norway and it’s totally normal to be out of connection in the mountains, so I (decided to) wait and … do something if he’s not back online on Monday.”
Ingeborg Thorsland, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Red Cross, told CNN that about 30 volunteers from the Red Cross and other groups are taking part in the search. The teams, familiar with the area, are facing tough weather and challenging terrain.
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Silchenko also shared insights into her husband’s motivations for the journey. “Alec is basically obsessed with the Arctic,” she told CBS News. “He loves glaciers and snow, and he loves explorers, and he’s a climate journalist, so for him it is always that story that now because of the climate change they’re all shrinking, and he’s trying his best to go to the coldest countries.”
According to CBS News, Luhn has reported for major outlets including The Atlantic, National Geographic, The New York Times, Scientific American, TIME, CBS News Radio, and VICE News TV.
