Why I hike – my motivation
It used to be all about performance: triathlon, long cycling tours, competitions. Being out for hours, always faster, always further. But I never truly experienced those moments consciously. When you cycle 140 kilometres, you usually see only one thing: your own front wheel.
Hiking is different. As soon as I take the first step into the forest, I feel calm. The stress of everyday life stays behind me. I hear the wind in the trees, smell damp moss and watch nature changing all around me.
The forest gives me energy. Many problems I cannot solve at my desk resolve themselves on long trails almost on their own. My thoughts fall into order while my feet place one step after the other.
Unlike triathlon, hiking keeps me constantly and consciously with myself. Even on extreme tours like a 24-hour hiking marathon I am awake, attentive, fully in the moment. I savour every view, every ascent, every small break.
Hiking is for me more than sport
It is my way of recharging, of grounding myself and finding new strength again and again.
The forest, the mountains, the wide fields – for me they are not just landscape,
they are inspiration and home at the same time.
In the silence of a forest path, thoughts become clear.
In the light falling through the treetops, there is often more truth than in any screen.
And when I climb a slope, I feel how with every step burdens grow lighter.
For me, nature does not mean escape – it means return.
Not a “away-from”, but a “towards”: towards myself, towards inner calm, towards new clarity.
What others see as leisure time is, for me, living time.
The movement outdoors, the rustling of leaves, the crunching beneath my shoes –
all of this shapes moments that are real. Unvarnished. And all the more valuable for it.
Many of my thoughts arise along the way.
Many decisions I make not at my desk, but on a path,
with a view over a valley or in the wind on a ridge.
That is why hiking is for me far more than a hobby.
It is my way of living, thinking, feeling.
It is the ground beneath my feet – and the space in which I grow.