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Mountaineer: "What a woman can achieve will inspire some" - Everest is not enough for her

2023-03-31T07:25:39.348Z


As a mountaineer, Anna Ott, who lives in Munich, wants to achieve something historic. She must first postpone her Triple Crown mission.


As a mountaineer, Anna Ott, who lives in Munich, wants to achieve something historic.

She must first postpone her Triple Crown mission.

Munich – "I'm stubborn and can bite incredibly," says Anna Ott.

In April 2023, the 36-year-old is preparing to climb Mount Everest.

While she was still studying in Munich, she showed little enthusiasm for hiking in the Bavarian foothills of the Alps.

"That was actually too boring for me," she looks back today.

In an interview with our editors, the Sauerland native explains why she wants to set an example with her ambitious undertaking.

First aha moment on Kilimanjaro: Ott licks blood

The experience, which sets Ott's motivation in motion, can be dated back to 2019.

A friend asks the 36-year-old to accompany her on her tour of Kilimanjaro.

"I didn't have any big plans and I went without much preparation." She has little trouble adjusting to the altitude.

Your aha moment follows on the summit day.

"My group was too slow for me," she recalls.

Together with a porter, Ott flees forward and climbs the summit two hours ahead of the rest of the tour group.

She still says today: "The feeling of reaching the summit with your own feet was indescribable."

Back in the valley, one thing is clear: Ott has tasted blood.

The 36-year-old, who works as a personal trainer and freelance journalist, is attracted to other peaks: "I came across the Seven Summits relatively quickly." Goal.

Mountaineer living in Munich wants to climb Mount Everest

After a start on the Russian Elbrus, which was only disturbed by a brief loss of luggage, Ott had to push her limits for the first time in early 2020 when climbing the Aconcagua in Argentina - a proud 6961 meters high: "I didn't feel well at all on the summit day.

You get to the top, but you can hardly enjoy the moment.” The mountaineering world is not pink.

The woman from Sauerland also experiences this in the interpersonal area in Argentina.

She says: "I'm more of the quiet type, I don't push myself into the foreground.

Sometimes it is very exhausting to be on the road with people for weeks.”

What Ott also describes as a "climber's hole" initially interrupts the great euphoria.

The corona pandemic is ruining travel plans.

The 36-year-old changes her place of residence and returns to Munich.

"Training for high mountains in Hamburg just doesn't work," she sums up.

"And without the (financial) support of my family, I probably wouldn't have been able to continue." The year 2021 is already drawing to a close when Ott climbs Mount Vinson in Antarctica as a result of "a seemingly endless test marathon".

After a "spectacular experience of nature" she puts the mystical "e-word" in her mouth for the first time.

Anna Ott takes on the Triple Crown: "Something that no woman has done before"

“It was actually completely unthinkable for me to ever think about an Everest expedition.

But there (at Mount Winston, ed.) I met several people who said: It's not that bad.” Ott begins to research and realizes: Everest is not enough for her.

It should be the 'Triple Crown', "something that no woman has achieved before".

That would mean climbing Everest (8848m), Lhotse (8516m) and Nuptse (7861m) one after the other.

Video: Mount Everest is now officially 86 centimeters higher

Despite all the summit vision, Ott remains realistic: "What I'm doing there on the mountain is of course dangerous.

I take all precautionary measures with me, don't consciously look for the risk, but I don't shy away from it either.” What happens on the way to the summit is at least 50 percent a matter of the mind.

Those around you don't always find it easy to accept this risky hobby.

“My mother never really believed it was going to be Everest, but she accepted it.

Some of her friends still can't believe it to this day.” She has received a lot of encouragement from male acquaintances.

Alone with ten men on a summit mission: "Women are at least as strong mentally"

She undertakes the trip to Denali (Alaska) in May 2022 with ten male companions.

"I know it very well," says Ott, laughing in an interview with our editors, "I played a lot with boys even as a child".

There were no stupid sayings.

"The tenor is more: If she's there, she's good too.

I am convinced that women are mentally at least as strong as men.”

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Anna Ott in May 2022 at the top of Denali.

© fkn

Who can claim to have the 'Triple Crown' in his portfolio is controversial in mountaineering circles.

Evidence photos and assessments of other expedition members play a role.

Ott admits that the spirit of alpinists is sometimes damaged.

“When you're chasing records, you lose a little bit of respect and reverence for the peaks.

Reinhold Messner needed 16 years for his 14 eight-thousanders.

He had a completely different perception of the mountain.” Nevertheless, she is sticking to her ambitious Himalayan plan: “As the first woman, I can set an example.”

Himalaya project with one peak less: 36-year-old wants to collect donations for aid organization

The big setback follows shortly before the planned departure.

“Unfortunately I got the message that the Nuptse cannot take place.

My organization tried everything.

But if you want to achieve something as a woman, you need the support of men," she reports in an e-mail to our editors.

One cannot secure the ascent for a single athlete, it is said to be the reason.

Ott had been looking for comrades-in-arms until the end – in vain.

In the next sentence, the 36-year-old sounds combative again: "Now I'm going to climb the highest and fourth-highest peak in the world and concentrate fully on it."

In February, Ott "tackled" the Chilean volcano Ojos del Salado (6893 m) for preparation purposes, and intensified her units again in the weeks before departure - without following an explicit training plan.

"I listen to my body a lot.

Mindless weight lifting has never been my thing.

I go jogging, work out in the gym and do Pilates.” During her expedition, which is due to start in April, Ott wants to collect donations for the aid organization Maiti Nepal, which is dedicated to fighting forced marriage and prostitution.

Her hope: "If the people there see what a woman can achieve, it may inspire some."

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-03-31

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