Outsider – An Old Man, a Mountain, and the Search for a Hidden Past – is the story of Dag Aabye, told by journalist Brett Popplewell. Dag was born in Norway and was orphaned at the end of World War II. He was brought up by foster parents, but the shadow of suspicion is that he was the child of a Nazi soldier and a German sympathizer. He would have been the heir to an estate in Norway, but he left and traveled to Chile, the United States, and Canada to ski and to work teaching skiing. He skied some extreme slopes and he is sometimes thought of as the father of extreme skiing. He married, had children, and worked as a logger, but in the last 20 years, he has been divorced and estranged from his family. He lives in a bus in the bush on the slopes of Silver Star Mountain near Vernon. He turned to ultramarathoning and ran for hours every day, competing in the Ultra Death Race as the oldest competitor. At 78 he still runs on trails every day and lives in the bush without electricity, running water, or any other services. He keeps detailed journals and finds a positive spin to every day’s challenges.
The story is a journalist’s enquiry into his life. The author befriends Dag, reads his journals, interviews him and his family members, travels to Norway, and does heritage work to find out the truth of his parents and his beginnings. It is well-written and an easy read. On a personal level, I had seen Dag running at Silver Star and possibly in ultra races but didn’t know anything about him. I had run ultramarathons and ski mountaineered too. I had known and run with other runners who ran long distances every day, but we all went back to our warm homes afterwards, not to an unheated bus in the forest.
Although Dag is somewhat unique in his view of the world, I question the wisdom of some of the decisions he had made. He claims to be happy, though, and there are many people who have a home, an income, and a social life that aren’t. Sometimes the story is a little unsettling. Maybe that’s a good thing.
A book worth reading. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Another YouTube video – The Most Elusive Man in North America