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Majka Burhardt '99 lives in two worlds: one at
sea level, as a Princeton University senior, the
other at altitudes up to and above 20,000 feet, as
a climber and, as of last May, a professional
mountain guide for the American Alpine Institute
(AAI) in Bellingham, Wash.
During her time at
Princeton she has been an Outdoor Action
backpacking and climbing instructor and trained new
teachers; she has also been a climbing instructor,
teaching basic rock craft, on the climbing wall in
the Armory. She has had special training in
avalanche forecasting and high angle rescue
("That's working in extreme climbing situations,
getting people out and down").
Climb Against the Odds
A member of this past
June's Climb Against the Odds sponsored by the
Breast Cancer Fund of San Francisco, Burhardt
participated in an assault on Alaska's 20,320 ft.
Mt. McKinley -- known to indigenous peoples as
Denali, "the Great One." She climbed with four
other Princeton women, now alumnae, as well as a
number of breast cancer survivors. They made it to
the final staging area at 16,500 feet, only to be
turned back by bad weather. (photo: Eli
Helmuth)
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