Alix von Melle

Mountaineering - for a Reason

Alix was born in Hamburg and now lives with her husband in Füssen in Ostallgäu, at the foot of the Ammergau Alps. She works as a freelance PR manager, but her great passion is (high altitude) mountain climbing. Having climbed seven 8,000-meter peaks without the use of supplementary oxygen, she is currently one of Germany’s most successful female high altitude mountaineers.

I train almost every day: ski tours, cross-country skiing and ice climbing in the winter, mountain climbing, scrambling and mountain biking in the summer. I love exercising in nature and filling my lungs with the fresh mountain air. It makes me happy and content, and it provides strength and energy for my everyday routine. I can live forever on those moments spent in nature – I especially enjoy the stillness there. A sunrise on a ski tour, a sunset by the cross on the mountain summit after a satisfying day on the mountains – I carry these experiences in my heart. No one can take them away, and you can't buy them. But it doesn’t always have to be an eight-thousand meter peak, for me the joy of the summit doesn’t depend on the height of the mountain! I value my time in my local mountains (in the Alp), because I am often away on expeditions for months at a time. The best option to be in nature is often right beside you! Biking and skiing in winter without using the car or a long mountain bike ride in summer that starts right from your front door – for me that is the most sustainable opportunity to travel and to train. Best of all when I'm at home, I get to do it with my husband, Luis Stitzinger. We share our love and passion for the high and low mountains.

When out training in the mountains, we always take a snack with us: freshly baked bread with Allgäuer butter and alpine cheese. And I need a good cup of coffee every day! Both for the pleasure and to relax. We can easily prepare the coffee ourselves on the way – for example by the idyllic Schwansee, when we take the bikes out on a beautiful ride from Bleckenau back to the house – we heat the water with the Lite Plus Stove and infuse the coffee in the pot, thanks to the Coffee Press. Fluid intake is extremely important on long mountain tours so I always take a Klunken Bottle with me too. Filled with clear mountain water.

For me mountaineering means the freedom to set off wherever I want. And that freedom feels even more limitless high up, far above the valleys, roads and people!

Alix von Melle
Freelance PR manager with a passion for high altitude mountain climbing
Germany

@alixundluis