Erling Kagge

Erling Kagge is the first person in history to reach the North Pole, South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest on foot. On 4 May 1990, after 58 days on skis from Ellesmere Island in Canada, Kagge and Børge Ousland reached the North Pole without taking any resupply. A third member of the party, Geir Randby, was injured during the journey and flown out, and for that reason Guinness World Records recognises the trek as the first unsupported but emergency assisted journey to the North Pole. The expedition started from Ellesmere Island on March 8, 1990, and reached the North Pole 58 days later on May 4, 1990. They travelled approximately 800 kilometers on skis, pulling their supplies on sledges. In 1992 and 1993, Kagge completed the first unsupported and solo expedition to the South Pole, covering the 814-mile (1,310 km) route in 50 days. Kagge started at the northern edge of Berkner Island and had no radio or telephone contact to the outside world for the duration of this expedition, which was featured on the cover of Time magazine on March 1, 1993. In 1994, Kagge summited Mount Everest, thus becoming the first person to complete the "Three Poles Challenge" on foot. Kagge has also sailed across the Atlantic twice, rounded Cape Horn and sailed to Antarctica and back. Kagge continues to do expeditions, although with a lower profile than in the 1990s. In 2010, Kagge crossed Vatnajökull ice-cap in Iceland with Børge Ousland and Haraldur Örn Ólafsson. In 2023, together with Børge Ousland and Håvard Tjora, he became the first to cross White Island on skis, an island in the Svalbard Archipelago.

Kagge has a law degree from the University of Oslo. From September 1990 to September 1992 Kagge worked as a lawyer for Norwegian industrial conglomerate Norsk Hydro. After his record-breaking feat of reaching the "three poles", Kagge attended Cambridge University to study philosophy for three terms. In 1996, he founded the eponymous Oslo-based publishing house, Kagge Forlag. In 2000 Kagge Forlag acquired one of Norway's oldest publishing companies, J.M. Stenersens Forlag. Kagge and Stenersens publish approximately 120 new titles annually. It is Norway's largest publisher of nonfiction. In 2021 Kagge sold his publishing company and in 2025 he left his position as publisher. Kagge has written nine books on exploration, philosophy and art collecting, which have been translated into 42 languages. He has written for the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Guardian. In October 2021 Kagge sold 70 per cent of Kagge Forlag to the Danish group JP/Politikens Forlag, staying on as co-owner, publisher and board member with the remaining 30 per cent. He sold the remaining 30 per cent to the same buyer in January 2025, leaving the company he had founded.

In 2010 Kagge and urban historian and photographer Steve Duncan descended into the sewers, subways, trains and water tunnels of New York City – crossing the city alpine-style for five days and nights, from the Bronx, via Manhattan, to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2022, Kagge was engaged by the European Space Agency to provide an independent and objective assessment on the geopolitical, economic and societal relevance of human and robotic space exploration for Europe. The 12-person strong star-studded group, known as the “High Level Advisory Group” (HLAG), presented its independent report on the state of European space exploration to the 315th session of the ESA Council at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 23rd of March 2023.

Kagge lives in Oslo and has three daughters: Nor, Ingrid and Solveig. Their mother, Jorunn Anne Salthella, died of pancreatic cancer in 2022. Kagge is a leading collector of international contemporary art. Five major European museums have dedicated shows of his collection in the last ten years: Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art in Oslo, Fondacion van Gogh Arles in France, Sala Santander in Madrid, Museion in Bolzano, Italy and KODE in Bergen, Norway.