Majka Burhardt is making it happen and we are stoked to be following along with her adventures. She is building

her dream of climbing, writing and finding the balance to enjoy life.  This week’s Adventure Chronicle's Friday Focus highlights Majka’s balance, her passion for story telling, and her ability to find the strong balance that life needs.

What are the challenges you face as an adventure writer and professional climber?

I find trying to do both at the same level is the major challenge I face with my passions. Trying to do them at the highest level possible, because I don’t want to just be a recreational climber or for that fact a “recreational” writer. Just trying to find the balance between writing and climbing help me balance out my life while enjoying and succeeding at everything that I am doing. Balance is my biggest challenge.

How do you embrace those challenges?

I am able to find the balance I need by going on expeditions. They really allow me to create the best contrast between my writing and my climbing. While on the expedition, I can focus on the climbing, the place, the culture, and the people and stories. As soon as I return it allows me to write about the experience and embrace my expeditions through my writing.

What’s next for Majka?

I have spent the past three years of my life focusing my work, learning, and inspiration on Africa. I am co-leading an expedition to northern Ethiopia for a first-ever journey of adventure, global stewardship, and sacred connection. I will be joined by imagine1day's founder Shannon Wilson, Executive Director Sapna Dayal, and lululemon athletica's Director of Possibility, Susanne Conrad. (Check out more about this Journey at http://vimeo.com/7675306)

A lot of my time recently is being spent on my next book : Coffee: Authentic Ethiopia. It is going to be published

and due out this June. It is the story of coffee as life and coffee as opportunity. Ethiopia is home to more that 10,000 kinds of coffee. The question is asked what if the ultimate expression of going local is going to Origin?

What inspired you to write Coffee: Authentic Ethiopia?

Going local and understanding the coffee trade really interested me during my first trip to Africa as a journalist. Some of the best coffees in the world come from Ethiopia and it is the 6th poorest country in the world. The first time I went was as a journalist and investigating this coffee that sells for $150 per pound. Coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity next to oil. In Ethiopia alone there are over 10,000 varieties of coffee, as many tastes and smells as there are of stories to tell about the coffee. So just enlightening the culture to understand where their coffee comes from will hopefully help expand this country and the coffee trade. There is no reason that you shouldn’t understand the full understanding of where your coffee comes from when you grab that cup.