Majka Burhardt has a passion for creating unusual connections. As a professional climber, social entrepreneur, author, mother of twins, and filmmaker, Majka has spent more than two decades leading multi-stage international ventures focused on current issues of cultural and environmental significance spanning Africa, Europe, South and North America.

Majka is the Founder and Executive Director of Legado, an international organization that helps secure Thriving Futures for both people and the places they call home. Legado originated in 2011 during a pioneering climbing and conservation research expedition to Mozambique and is supported today by some of the world’s most influential social change funders and decision-makers.

Majka is the author of More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood, (Pegasus Books '23), a Next Big Idea Club Must Read, as well as of Coffee Story: Ethiopia and Vertical Ethiopia: Climbing Toward Possibility in the Horn of Africa and Executive Producer of films Namuli and Waypoint Namibia. Wonder how this all comes together? Read her full bio here. Curious how to say her name? It’s “My-ka.”

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"Raw, passionate, stinging."
– Kirkus Reviews
"This is a deeply affecting book. It's a must read for anyone who has struggled through the feeling of losing yourself to parenthood and (hopefully) finding another version on the other side."

 - Emily Oster, author of Expecting Better,
    Cribsheet, and The Family Firm

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More: An intense and emotional epistolary memoir by one of the world's top ice climbers, born at the confluence of motherhood, adventure, career, and marriage. Pegasus Books, March 2023

“Heartfelt, raw, and unflinchingly honest. If you’re looking for something that speaks to your soul and gives you permission to dive headlong into whatever shape of a life you choose, More is the read you’re looking for.”

Climbing magazine

“Everything about this book takes my breath away. Makja's honesty, her heart, and her fearlessness knows no bounds.  I am in awe.

Natalie Baszile, author of Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other's Harvest

“As a fellow climber and parent myself, I couldn’t put More down: It resounds with deep echoes of the human experience, and reveals the tightrope walk between risk and stability.”

—Matt Samet, author of
Death Grip and former editor of Climbing

“An insightful perspective about how our intense love for our children can enable us to do what’s best in the face of all the challenges of life and the frequent messiness of motherhood.”

Lynn Hill, climbing legend, mom, and El Capitan free-climbing pioneer

“Majka gives a beautifully honest account of the questions and inner dialogue so many people face with motherhood. For anyone questioning the balance of adventure and parenthood and marriage, More offers a sincere look into how to unwrap the past, present, and future.”

—Beth Rodden, mother and top American rock climber

"More is an intimate, frank, first-person account of the dramatic transition to motherhood, in the middle of a life already full of incredible risk, beauty, and passion. Parenthood changes everything, and it’s fascinating to accompany Majka Burhardt as she negotiates this new route and finds a deeper sense of herself along the way."

— Chelsea Conaboy, author of
Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood

"The fierce candor of Majka Burhardt's beautiful memoir is something to behold, for in More she’s got an audience to whom she cannot lie: the book is addressed to her twin children, and in the clarifying light of that testimony all of life is reconfigured. How to be a daughter, a mother, a wife, an elite climber, a breadwinner, a woman of keen intelligence tangled up but trying to stay true, a citizen of the world. In Burhardt's story we get the untold tale of all mothers, the sorrow of the unsaid, the grief that trails after it, the choices made. You might think a mountain guide and world-class climber would be all bravado, but the model of courage in this memoir isn’t found in feats of daring, but down the aisle of a grocery store, or on the side of the road, where a woman cries in a minivan, then decides on love and joy, on difficulty, on more, and drives home."

— Charles D’Ambrosio, New York Times notable book of the year author of The Point

"More is riveting. Burhardt's writing is so raw and immediate that her journey through motherhood, marriage, climbing and building a conservation organization is our journey, day by day and indeed hour by hour. It is full of joy, fear, frustration, passion, possibility, and the intensity of love -- a woman's story, but above all an enthralling and motivating human story. Highly recommended!"

— Anne-Marie Slaughter, Author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family. 

More Information
Book Tour
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LEGADO

Majka’s work helping secure Thriving Futures for both people and the places they call home via the international organization she founded and directs.

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SPEAKING REEL

Impact, inspiration and passion from overtwo decades of personal experience on change leadership, teamwork, intuition, and going big.

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NEW PRESS

New York Times, Outside, Business Insider, Kirkus Reviews,  Alpinist, Parent Data, Working Mom Hour, and more

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LEGACY: A Legado Film

Watch Legacy, ​Legado's 4-minute film, showcasing the true power of legacies and what it takes to build Thriving Futures around the world. 
Watch Now