Majka Burhardt
Certified Rock Guide
Anyone familiar with Majka’s extroverted and driven nature won’t be surprised to learn that she was among the first five women to earn AMGA certification in any discipline. She’s climbed and guided rock, ice and alpine routes throughout the lower 48 and in Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal and Alaska, and enjoys imparting her enthusiasm about climbing to her clients.
Prior to coming here in 1999, she guided for the American Alpine Institute and worked for the Voyageur and Pacific Crest Outward Bound Schools. An outdoor athlete since learning to ski at age 3, Majka grew up in Minnesota as a ski racer and paddler before beginning climbing at age 15. In other athletic endeavors, she’s bicycled from Vancouver to Tijuana in 15 days at 150 miles/day with her mother in 1995, and completed a six-week canoe expedition in the Arctic.
Although she still guides (mostly on rock and ice), Majka’s writing career consumes most of her time and energy. Her first book, Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Towards Possibility in the Horn of Africa, documents an expedition she led to northern Ethiopia to climb virgin sandstone towers in a region of the world known primarily for its history of drought, famine, and war. Majka has spent the greater part of 2008 on a speaking tour throughout the US sharing her adventures and insights about Ethiopia. Check out her schedule here
Majka has an anthropology degree from Princeton University and a MFA in creative writing from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. Her articles have appeared in magazines including Men’s Health, Women’s Adventure, Delicious Living, Patagonia, and Climbing (for whom she’s a Senior Contributing Editor). She speaks French and Spanish, is an AMGA Certified Rock Guide and co-founded Climb Against the Odds, a breast cancer fundraising climb of Denali.
Check out Majka’s personal website
Majka is also an athlete for Patagonia, Petzl, Scarpa, and Trango. Click here to see what she has to say for Scarpa, and click here for Trango.
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