“The Forbidden Island.” Active Times 5-Part Series. December 2012. View Online “In the two-plus hours since we’d entered the smoky air-conditioning of Havana’s Casa Musica to see a performance by Pupy y los Que Son Son, one of Cuba’s hottest fusion-salsa acts, photographer Holly Wilmeth and I smoked cigarettes, drank mojitos, and waited. Our seatmate, Clara, assured us that this was on par … Read More
Delta Sky Magazine | Essay
“Bozeman with Majka Burhardt” Delta Sky Magazine. December 2012. Download PDF | View Online “I’m a professional rock climber and ice climber, but the reason I’ve tried to live in Bozeman (twice) has to do with the skiing. Montana is one of my favorite winter playgrounds, and when I’m not going vertical on frozen waterfalls, I head to Bridger Bowl for dreamy downhill … Read More
Cuba on the Rocks | Afar Magazine
“Cuba on the Rocks.” Afar Magazine. February 2012. Download PDF “Cuba was in my memory long before I ever knew it in reality. Graham Greene’s words and Celia Cruz’s music were partly responsible for this, but the elements of Cuba that loomed largest in my subconscious were its towering rock faces. I’ve spent the past 20 years climbing and guiding—from Namibia to Corsica, and … Read More
Global Dialogue | SCAA
“Creating a Global Dialogue Via the Culture of Coffee.” The Specialty Coffee Chronicle. 2012. Download PDF “Coffee can erase a famine. Agree? Disagree? Wonder just how literally I mean for that statement to be? How about this one: Coffee can create greater global understanding. If you’re reading this, you’re involved with coffee. If more than one billion cups of coffee … Read More
Taking Flight | Skiing Magazine
“Taking Flight.” Skiing Magazine. October 2011. Download PDF “On the third morning of any ski-touring trip, certain things are guaranteed. Your legs will be sore, you will already have had too much alcohol, and you will question the wisdom of filling every day with as much vertical as possible. Today is no different. My alarm goes off early and my left hip flexor reminds me I’ve skinned 9,000 feet in the … Read More
The Economist | Interview
Famine in the Horn of Africa: How have things changed? Economist Online. September, 2011. View Online Jonathan Ledgard, the Africa correspondent for The Economist magazine, released an article on September 5th that asked how much further we’d come as a global society since the famine of the 1980’s. He interviewed Majka for the piece, and what follows are her extended answers about the response to … Read More
Torn
“Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood.” Coffee Town Press. 2011. Edited by Samantha Walravens. Majka Burhardt, contributor. Striking the right balance between career and motherhood is one of the most stressful, heart-wrenching tasks facing women today. In Torn, forty-six women examine the conflict between the need to nurture and the need to work, and reveal … Read More
Whipped: Bolting for Tomorrow
“Re-Creating Climbing and Self in East Africa.” Climbing Magazine Column. January 2011. Download PDF “Some dreams die hard. Take Ethiopian rock, for example: It shimmers with the promise of high quality. Ribbons of ruddy sandstone arc high and cleave into precise cracks, and convex buttresses offer singular summits. But I’ll be the first person to tell you that, despite its appearance, Ethiopian stone … Read More
Whipped: Opportunity Lost
“My Misguided Effort to Shortcut the Learning Curve.” Climbing Magazine Column. November 2010. Download PDF “I’m back on the sharp end. Kind of. After six months of healing, following two back surgeries and complications, it might be more accurate to say I am on the dull, blunted end. It’s not a place I have spent much time in my climbing career—not … Read More
Waypoint Namibia | Petzl
“Waypoint Namibia.” Petzl Catalog Feature 2010. Download PDF “What makes a climb impassable? I’m 215-meters up a first ascent of a granite crack climb in the heart of Namibia, and all I have to hold onto is a bush. Lots of bushes. Trees, too. In order to get where I’m going – the summit – I need what’s behind the … Read More