German mountaineer Anja Blacha summited Everest on May 27, 2025, without supplemental oxygen and Sherpa support, moving closer to completing all 14 eight-thousanders without using supplementary oxygen.
At 11:38 AM Nepal time on May 27, 2025, Anja Blacha achieved what few have dared and even fewer have done—she stood atop Mount Everest without the use of supplementary oxygen and a Sherpa guide. This monumental ascent marks her second time summiting Everest. What makes her 2025 Everest summit so significant is its purity. Climbing Everest without oxygen and without Sherpa support adds another layer of difficulty and risk.
Anja’s decision to climb solo and unsupported speaks volumes about her ethos: authenticity, independence, and mastery. She is part of the Imagine Nepal team this season but chose to ascend on her own terms. With this triumph, Anja has now climbed 12 of the 14 world’s highest peaks without oxygen, with only Shishapangma and Lhotse remaining.
A Trailblazer in High Places
Blacha is no stranger to breaking barriers. Since taking up mountaineering in 2015, she has completed Seven Summits. At just 26, she became the youngest German woman to summit Everest; by 27, she had finished all Seven Summits.
Her climbing career soared to even greater heights in 2019 when she summited Broad Peak and K2—Pakistan’s two 8,000-meter giants—back-to-back and without bottled oxygen. She became the first German woman to summit K2.
Her climbing career soared to even greater heights in 2019 when she summited Broad Peak and K2—Pakistan’s two 8,000-meter giants—back-to-back and without bottled oxygen. She became the first German woman to summit K2.
More Than a Climber: A Polar Pioneer
Anja’s spirit of adventure doesn’t end in the Himalayas. In 2020, she completed a solo, unsupported ski journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole—an extraordinary 1,400 km expedition over 57 days. Starting farther north on Berkner Island than any woman before, she became the youngest and first German woman to complete such a feat, setting a world record in the process.
She has also crossed Greenland, skied solo through Akshayuk Pass, and completed a ski traverse along the Northwest Passage without external support.
Not in Competition but in Pursuit of Excellence
Though her accomplishments now make her arguably the most successful German female high-altitude mountaineer, Anja rejects any notion of rivalry. “There are far too few of us,” she noted after summiting Dhaulagiri earlier in the season. “It’s all the better if one more finds her way in the world of high mountains.”
This perspective echoes her motivations—less about setting records and more about following her inner compass. She’s driven not by accolades but by curiosity, resilience, and a fierce commitment to testing her physical and philosophical limits. Source: 16 May 2025, Stefan Nestler, – Anja Blacha after her Dhaulagiri summit success: “Not in competition with other German female high-altitude mountaineers”
Eyes on the Final Two: Shishapangma and Lhotse
With Everest now conquered in its rawest form, Anja Blacha stands just two climbs away from completing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen. Shishapangma and Lhotse await, and if her track record is any indication, she will approach these final challenges with the same strategic tenacity and quiet courage that have defined her journey.