[from within]
Curiosity. Perseverance. Results.
Venturing out.
Anja Blacha is the first German woman to have climbed K2, and the youngest German to have climbed the Seven Summits. Moreover, she wrote history as the first woman ever to ski solo and unsupported from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole.
Born and raised in Bielefeld, Germany, Anja holds an MA Philosophy from the University of London alongside a BSc Business Administration from the University of Mannheim, which led her to pursue an international career in the corporate world whilst staying a philosopher at heart.
Stepping up.
It has not been until her early twenties that she discovered her passion for the outdoors. Since then she has progressed quickly and taken on increasingly great heights. Accelerated by her love to travel, she climbed the highest mountain on each continent within less than three years since her very first mountain expedition.
Setting herself ever new challenges, Anja has progressed to climb Broad Peak and K2 without bottled oxygen and, within the same year, tapped into the world of polar travel, crossing the Greenlandic icecap and going on her biggest expedition yet, a solo journey to the South Pole.
Leaving footprints.
She prides herself in a 100% first-time success on her expeditions. Zeit Campus named her one of "18 for 18", a feature of 18 people under age 30 who are having an impact in Germany in 2018, and the University of London awarded her the title of Sportswoman of the Year in 2012 for her accomplishments as a fencer.
Her expeditions attracted great interest by the media, and she has used that stage to launch a campaign encouraging others to pursue their ambitions regardless of stereotypes.
What others say.
Words of others might serve better as a description and reflection. Although, admittedly, they might not be entirely free from bias:
stubborn // open // inspirational // good listener // determined // caring // honest // hard to read // blunt // polite // interested in others // committed // headstrong // thinking big // excessively detail-oriented // attentive // profound // smart // thinking fast // analytic // pragmatic // action-oriented // daring // calm // serene // courageous // straight-forward // complicated // clear-cut // curious // reliable // appreciative // humble // ambitious // lazy // tireless // trustworthy // mature // stoic // focused // authentic
“Anja Blacha is superwoman.”
— Wladimir Klitschko