Anja Blacha pushes her limits to show everyone that there are none. Thus, the extreme athlete fought her way alone with a sledge weighing over 100 kilos over a 1400-kilometre distance through Antarctica to the South Pole in only 58 days – a historical record, because it was the longest “solo, unsupported, unassisted” polar expedition by a woman in history. At the same time, she was also the youngest woman ever to succeed in such a polar expedition. Upon reaching her destination, she raised her flag with the message “NOT BAD FOR A GIRL”.

Anja Blacha gives talks on motivation, goals and challenges, resilience, risk management as well as team and self-leadership.

Lecture topics by Anja Blacha:

• Think Big: Dare big goals and achieve them.
• NOT BAD FOR A GIRL.?! World record!
• Anja Blacha: Adventure extreme

Anja Blacha grew up in Bielefeld, Germany, and studied business administration at the University of Mannheim up to her Bachelor’s degree, supplemented by studies at UC Berkeley and Korea University. She then moved to London and completed a master’s degree in philosophy at Birkbeck University of London before moving to Zurich in 2016, where she has since worked in the telecommunications industry.

In 2013, accompanying her sister on a backpacking trip through South America. She discovered the ruined city of Machu Picchu in Peru. This experience motivated her to take up extreme mountaineering and sparked her “wanderlust”. In the following years, this led her to the seven highest mountains in the world and to other places such as the largest ice dome on earth, Berkner Island, all the way to the South Pole.

A few months before her South Pole expedition alone through Antarctica, she was the first German woman to conquer K2 and, even before that, the youngest German to conquer Mount Everest. She also climbed the Seven Summits – the highest mountains on the continents – in less than 3 years.

Anja Blacha was also active as a fencer. In 2012, she was named Sportswoman of the Year by the University of London. Today she lives and works in Zurich.