Helga Hengge

About Helga Hengge

Helga Hengge is an inspiring keynote speaker, author, and extreme mountaineer. She was the first German to successfully conquer the summit of Mount Everest – the highlight of an exciting life between the extremes of creative work and athletic performance.

In 1991, the Munich native moved to New York, worked as a freelance fashion editor, and studied marketing, philosophy, and film at New York University. In 1996, she discovered her passion for free climbing and quickly ascended many peaks on her way to becoming an extreme mountaineer.

On May 27, 1999, she reached the summit of Mount Everest via the difficult and dangerous north route in Tibet. With the summit of the highest mountain in the world, the challenges on the mountain were not yet over. Helga Hengge took on the Seven Summits. In May 2011, she reached the seventh of her Seven Summits, the summit of Mount McKinley in Alaska, becoming the first German woman to stand on the highest peaks of the seven continents.

In her inspiring lectures, Helga Hengge takes her audience on a journey to the highest mountains in the world. Accompanied by spectacular images, she shares the adventure of great challenges, physical and emotional boundaries, and the courage to venture beyond the map. The enthusiasm and joy of having realized her dream make her lectures and presentations a memorable experience.

Her book “Only the Sky is Higher – My Journey to Mount Everest” was published by Droemer Verlag. She is the author of numerous publications and became well-known through her appearances on Beckmann, Johannes B. Kerner, and Harald Schmidt. In 2007, the English edition “Mount Everest – Only the Sky Above” was released, followed by her audiobook “Only the Sky is Higher” in 2008.