Mrika Nikçi: Climbing the "Seven Summits" at the age of 17

I used to ski when I was young.  My dad brought my mother and I to the mountains when I was young, so we spent a lot of time together as a family climbing mountains. That gave me the feeling I could be myself up there. And exactly that feeling made mountains my passion. The Mountains I started with were here in Kosovo. I spent a lot of time in a village in Rugova. My grandfather was born and raised there and we have a cabin there and spent the summers in the mountains. I am still in love with that place.

I came up with the idea after I climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa. It was a really tough climb because I was just 16. When we arrived at the top it was 7 in the morning and I really enjoyed the view so much and thought how cool it would be to see the sun rising from all the highest points of every continent! So I asked my dad if we could do that? And he agreed to it and when we got home and I started reading about the 7 summits and I realized that I would be the youngest woman to have done it. I would have one year. But for me at the end the toughest part was that we just had this small period to climb all the peaks. We did them all within 15 months. Which is a very short time because just for Everest you would need at least 2 months of preparation and flights and everything. So that was the biggest pressure.

My dad told me that he was planning to climb it.

Actually one year before that we wanted to climb Mont Blanc and Grand Paradiso. But I had altitude sickness and also the weather was too bad. I was very devastated. I had already failed at my first mountain. I thought, "ok this sport is nothing for me. I should just climb here in Kosovo and have fun and that´s it".

But my dad saw how I was so demotivated by that experience and encouraged me to climb Kilimanjaro in Africa with him...and as a 16 year old girl from Kosovo I was convinced as soon as I heard 'Africa'. Not just for the mountains, but also because it is far away and warm. So Africa motivated me again.

I think it is one of the best things I could do. People should go to the mountains because it is relaxing and I think everyone can find themselves there. At least I was able to. I can be myself without being judged. When I am up there I am very positive and I think a lot and take my time. When I come back to the city, I come back to stress and I am doing this and that, going out, seeing people. People can be judgmental and say negative things but in the mountains it is just you...

Also, I think people who go into the mountains do change into a better version of themselves. I realized that in myself. Having my own company means I can bring people to the mountains and that is good for them. It is also good for me because I share experiences with them and have an exchange with them. We just have fun in the mountains because it is simply the best place to be anytime.

Especially for people who have stress and responsibilities in their work, but in the mountains they can be relaxed.

Now as I work also (not in the mountains) and I have stress all the week from Monday until Friday, but Saturday and Sunday we just go in the mountains and relax and prepare ourselves for the next week.

I used to do motivational speeches for young people at schools and at different types of events, and I still do sometimes. What I try to teach young people is to keep moving, and to dream big. You will have lots of ups and downs but you should never give up. Besides all the things that these young people know already (because it is said all the time), I have an experience I share with them: On Mount Everest, I saw death. There were a lot of dead bodies up there. I also missed my family and friends very much and I was afraid not to come back. I was also afraid of what would happen to my dad because he was there with me. And I learned that we should appreciate people and we should show love to others as much as we can. No fighting, no hate, no violence. The things that really matter are spending quality time with the people you appreciate and who go to the mountains with you. When you are in the mountains these values are so much more important than in your everyday life but also after the climb, you should still aim to live by these values...

What works for someone may not work for others. Before I climbed the big mountains everyone told me that I should go running because it would build up fitness, strength etc. But to be honest: I hate running.  My record is 8 kilometers.

However, I did a lot of cycling. This worked for me. I used to train 2-3 times per day.

Starting early in the morning with a 20 kg backpack and hiking up and down for 2.5 hours. I think hiking with a heavy backpack is the best preparation you can do for climbing a big mountain because that is exactly what you will do up in the mountains: Going up with a heavy backpack. You learn how and when to rest, and how you hike. At midday, I do spinning on the gym bike for 1.5 hours. And in the evening I do some cross-fit or Yoga to build strength.

At the weekends I am climbing bigger mountains with my dad. We are very close and do this all the time together.

We also did some mental preparation together: We discussed all the possibilities that could happen. Even the death of one of us. And I think I was ok with everything that could happen. I think that is how I got prepared mentally. Whatever happens, it's ok and these are the sacrifices you have to give living that life: to risk injury or loss.

I think what is required is 60 percent mental and 40 physical. More often the mind says you have to stop but the body could actually continue. So this factor is not to be underestimated.

Not from the Seven Summits. But back then I was not able to climb Mount Blanc and Gran Paradiso because of the weather and the conditions. I was devastated I tried not to get emotional and I tried to hide it from everyone. But I was 15 so people knew it and focused on it and I felt so bad...

Another example was at the mountain Dinali. Climbing Demali it is a 22 days expedition. You have a heavy backpack and a sled that you pull. And you are climbing in a group with two packs. That means that you take half of your stuff from base camp and go to 'camp one' then you go back and get the rest of the stuff on the same day. But we didn´t have time to do it that way because we had to climb Elbrus immediately after Denali so we did it all in one.

That meant that my backpack was 43 kilograms. So the backpack was heavy and I was still exhausted from Mount Everest where I reached the top of the world 1,5 weeks earlier.

On the way to the 4th camp, I suddenly felt my batteries were really empty so we decided to rest for 2 days.

On the third day, we were motivated to continue climbing. But I was just not able to move anymore. I just couldn't do it. So my dad gave me the option to go back but I didn´t want to give up, I just wanted to stay there. So I just stood there for 15 minutes. And then I suddenly felt ready and pushed to the edge of my limits and we climbed to camp 4. That was one of my toughest moments. I think I knew since the beginning that nothing would happen. You need that mindset. You have to tell yourself you can do it! When you have the feeling you can't climb further and you think you will fail something just happens, I guess I accepted that I would fail but then I gave it my all to climb it and it worked.

And for sure I also had a lot of scary moments. I had for example frostbite on my nose, when my oxygen mask froze. My dad ran out of oxygen and the sherpas didn´t want to change it. There were a lot of avalanches. A team partner died at Everest...

So we really had a lot of scary moments...

I would love to climb K2, Nanga Parbat, and Anapurna. All of these 3 are 8000 m.

I would also like to go to the North Pole. Then I could complete the explorer's grand slam which is a challenge where you climb the 7 summits and the north and south pole's highest mountains.

And I would also like to climb some peaks in the Alpes. We wanted to climb Matterhorn this year but because of the melting ice and falling rocks, they closed everything so it was not possible. So I have big dreams and I am looking forward to new adventures!

This story was developed as part of the Open Tourism Data Initiative for Emerging Destinations in Southeast Europe (OTDI-SEE).