Tanja grew up in Austria but it was on her first visit to New Zealand when she first saw Aoraki Mt Cook that she became inspired to play in the mountains. After that trip she began ski mountaineering and alpine climbing in earnest back in Austria. During her travels around the world, she tramped extensively in Nepal, bagged a 6000m peak in Bolivia, bouldered in South Africa, did a solo mission to the Patagonian ice field and, four years after first laying eyes on Aoraki, reached this summit.
Tanja balances her training and adventures with her job as a physiotherapist. She likes the versatility that recreating in the mountains has to offer but loves nothing more than a winter sunrise high above the bush.
